 Territorial representative David Levy proposed a resolution that was passed in Congress in 1842 : " that the Secretary of War be directed to place before this House such information as can be obtained in relation to the <unk> and probable expense of draining the everglades of Florida . " From this directive Secretary of the Treasury Robert J. Walker requested Thomas Buckingham Smith from St. Augustine to consult those with experience in the Everglades on the feasibility of draining them , saying that he had been told two or three canals to the Gulf of Mexico would be sufficient . Smith asked officers who had served in the Seminole Wars to respond , and many favored the idea , promoting the land as a future agricultural asset to the South . A few disagreed , such as Captain John Sprague , who wrote he " never supposed the country would excite an inquiry , other than as a hiding place for Indians , and had it occurred to me that so great an undertaking , one so utterly <unk> , as draining the Ever Glades was to be discussed , I should not have destroyed the scratch of pen upon a subject so fruitful , and which cannot be understood but by those who have <unk> the water belly deep and examined carefully the western coast by land and by water . " 
