The Overflowed Lands Act of 1850 approved 81,000 km2 of federal land to be donated to the State of Florida, marking the beginning of South Florida's economic history. The International Improvement Fund (IIF) then used these lands granted in 1855 to encourage development through land reclamation. Rail and canal companies were then granted land in an attempt to make new lands accessible to colonization. In the late 1800s, land drainage projects were spearheaded by wealthy entrepreneurs, and the first railroad completed its connection to Miami, serving to provide access to South Florida. As a result of public funding and demand, the Everglades Drainage District (EDD) of 1907 was formed by Governor William Jennings to institute a design strategy to combat overwhelming drainage. The Everglades Drainage District received its revenue as a result of its taxing capacity and, over the next twenty years, built drainage and flood control structures that laid the foundation for major aspects of the existing drainage system. The state then sold thousands of parcels of land to corporations who were then sold to private individuals in hopes that South Florida would prosper into a rich agricultural region. The total number of landowners increased dramatically from just 12 landowners in 1909 to around 15,000 landowners just three years later due to the publicized and exaggerated agricultural prospects. Landowners flocked to Florida, paying inflated land prices, to own a piece of the potential agricultural utopia that had been advertised to them, but when land proved less plentiful and drainage problems persisted, real estate markets took a hit. Miami has also created a hub for tourism and has attracted about 125,...... middle of paper......worrisome. According to state officials, alligators raise more than 18,000 complaints from residents and pose a safety hazard to the public (Floridians 1). Works Cited "Floridians Confront Fay's Fleeing Alligators." The Washington Times. Np, August 22, 2008. Web. March 21, 2014. “Historical Everglades.” Everglades Foundation. Np, nd Web. March 21, 2014. Walker, Robert, and William Solecki. “Theorizing Land Cover and Land Use Change: The Case of the Florida Everglades and Its Degradation.” Annals of the Association of American Geographers 94.2 (2004): 311-28. JSTOR. Network. March 20, 2014.Willard, Debra A., Christopher E. Bernhardt, Charles W. Holmes, Bryan Landacre, and Marci Marot. “Response of Everglades tree islands to environmental change.” Ecological Monographs 76.4 (2006): 565-83. JSTOR. Network. March 21. 2014.