 Broward asked James O. Wright — an engineer on loan to the State of Florida from the USDA 's Bureau of Drainage Investigations — to draw up plans for drainage in 1906 . Two dredges were built by 1908 , but had cut only 6 miles ( 9 @.@ 7 km ) of canals . The project quickly ran out of money , so Broward sold real estate developer Richard J. <unk> a million dollars worth of land in the Everglades , 500 @,@ 000 acres ( 2 @,@ 000 km2 ) , before the engineer 's report had been submitted . <unk> from Wright 's report were given to the IIF stating that eight canals would be enough to drain 1 @,@ 850 @,@ 000 acres ( 7 @,@ 500 km2 ) at a cost of a dollar an acre . The <unk> were released to real estate developers who used them in their advertisements , and Wright and the USDA were pressed by the real estate industry to publicize the report as quickly as possible . Wright 's supervisor noted errors in the report , as well as undue enthusiasm for draining , and delayed its release in 1910 . Different unofficial versions of the report circulated — some that had been altered by real estate interests — and a version hastily put together by Senator Duncan U. Fletcher called U.S. Senate <unk> 89 included early <unk> statements , causing a <unk> of speculation . 
