THE NAPLES CANAL

The Naples Canal was a monumental prehistoric construction achievement. It was 4,150 feet long (0.8 miles) and bisected an area between the Gulf of Mexico and Naples Bay. The Naples Canal was dug perhaps as early as A.D. 200 by local American Indian inhabitants of the Ten Thousand Islands or by the neighboring Calusa Indians. The central section of the canal, dug through a sandhill with a relatively deep water table, is the deepest Indian canoe canal ever found in Florida. The Indians’ decision to dig down to access ground water demonstrates their understanding of the land and hydrology. They created a channel that was deep enough to penetrate the water table and able to consistently hold enough water for the traverse of dugout canoes. The canal shortened the distance between Gordon’s Pass and Doctor’s Pass by half, and was more efficient and safe for canoe paddlers and their possessions than open water travel. The canal’s construction would be a dramatic achievement even today. The Naples Canal was still clearly visible in the late 1800s, but by the 1960s it had been totally destroyed by land development, leaving no trace of this remarkable prehistoric engineering achievement.