The Miami River Rapids

Long before overloaded freighters bound for the Caribbean, lobstermen, homeless dudes, toxic waste, ship yards and the boundless cast of characters that currently make up the Miami River - it was actually a beautifully flowing body of water vital to the Calusa, Tequesta, Seminole and early settlers of the region.

It was the lifeblood to so many for so long and in a sense, it still is, but just in a very different form than what Mary Brickell and early native tribes might remember. In fact, the Miami River actually had rapids in it at one point. Over the centuries of flow out of the Glades and Lake Okeechobee, the mighty river had worn its way through the limestone basin at the edge of the Everglades falling about 10 feet over a distance of several hundred yards. The Miami River Rapids as they were come to be known were located around present day SW 27th Avenue. In was actually a very popular picnic spot for early Miamians and has been described as a place of incredible beauty.

Unfortunately, as in the case with a lot of Miami, the rapids were dynamited in the early 20th century (1908) in the name of progress. But it's all part of what makes up our Brickell Life now. There are not many images of the original rapids but managed to find this one through a Google image search.