“The St. Johns River, the longest river in Florida at 310 miles, never got connected to the Gulf of Mexico.
Had the Cross Florida Barge Canal project been completed rather than abandoned in 1971, St. Johns River traffic possibly would be floating out through Inglis today.
Still, Port Putnam in Palatka, created at the same time as Port Citrus in 1967, developed as a barge port in 1970 and never looked back. The river flows north to Jacksonville.
“Economic and feasibility studies were conducted by engineers and a committee of citizens and they recommended in 1966 that the Putnam County Board of Commissioners proceed with action to establish and construct the barge port,” said Ray Bunton, Putnam County Industrial Coordinator, quoted in the Nov. 6, 1970, edition of the Daytona Beach Sunday News-Journal…”
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