On this day in Florida history - April 8, 1923 - News of 'lost' Tamiami trail blazers heats up

April 8, 1923 - News heats up about 'lost' Tamiami trail blazers

Photo: State Archives of Florida, Florida Memory

It was a saga that drew news coverage not unlike today's lost Malaysian airliner story -- but with a likely happier ending. When 24 Southwest Florida men set out on April 4, 1923 to drive across the Everglades to Miami on an unpaved trail, newspapers reported they expected to complete the trip in three days. The men, mostly Fort Myers civic and business leaders, embarked upon the drive to publicize the need for state funding to pave the "Tamiami Trail" through the Everglades. When the 10-car motorcade failed to arrive by April 6, Miami papers declared the group lost -- and began a week of stories documenting efforts to locate the group with unsuccessful search parties and airplane expeditions, mixed with speculation about likely hunger, battles with wild animals, savage Indians, and other dangers of the brutal Florida swamp.

In reality, the men always knew where they were and had assistance of Seminole guides familiar with the Everglades. But the team did face hardship. Three cars broke down. The men ran out of food, and some were injured while swinging axes to construct "cordoroy roads" out of tree trunks so their cars could traverse impassable sections of the swamp. By April 12, three men who had broken away from the group on foot reached a camp of road graders who were working west from Miami. They reported that the group was safe but hungry, prompting Miami civic leaders to send a plane with food, cigarettes and coffee. All of the men arrived in Miami to great fanfare on April 21. A news documentary company filmed a re-enactment of the arrival, and Miami threw a parade on Flagler Avenue. The publicity generated by the trip worked. Funding to pave the road through the Everglades was obtained, and the paved Tamiami Trail opened in 1928. The explorers went into the history books as the "Tamiami Trail Blazers."

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