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This is one of the three historic Walking Dredges "that were primary working machines that made the Tamiami highway construction project possible. The dredge's patented engineering played a pivotal role in the speed, safety, and financing in the struggle to build the Tamiami Trail through the Florida Everglades." [1]

Florida Memory has other photos of the Walking Dredge in their collection -- including this additional photo of the Walking Dredge at work on the construction of the Tamiami Trail.

One of the three dredges, "The Bay City Walking Dredge #489" has been preserved by the National Park Service's National Register of Historic Places, as a National Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark, and can be visited in a somewhat remarkable display at Collier-Seminole State Park in Naples, Florida.

Photos of the dredge can also be seen on the National Register of Historic Place's Flickr pages, and you can read and see more about how this unique dredge works here.

Florida Memory uploaded a photo that shows the end result (in 1927) of the construction through the Everglades!

 
"Cars parked along the Tamiami Trail (1927)"

 

Florida Memory uploaded some photos a few days ago that showed some of what it took to build this "little trail" through the Florida Everglades:
 
"Dredge at work on the Tamiami Trail (1921)"