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68-547: Fort Myers (or Ft. Myers ) is a city in and the county seat of Lee County, Florida , United States. As of the 2020 census , the population was 86,395; it was estimated to have grown to 95,949 in 2022, making it the 25th-most populous city in Florida. Together with the larger and more residential city of Cape Coral , it anchors the Cape Coral–Fort Myers metropolitan statistical area , which encompasses Lee County and has

136-526: A Superior Court and Sheriff (as an officer of the court ), both located in a designated "shire town". Bennington County, Vermont has two shire towns; the court for "North Shire" is in the shire town Manchester , and the Sheriff for the county and court for "South Shire" are in the shire town Bennington. In 2024, Connecticut , which had not defined their counties for anything but statistical, historical and weather warning purposes since 1960, along with ending

204-843: A border, with the Dane-zaa to the North and the Cree to the South. In 1794, a fur trading post was built on the Peace River at Fort St. John ; it was the first settlement established on the British Columbia mainland by Europeans. The rich soils of the Peace River valley in Alberta have been producing wheat crops since the late 19th century. In the early 21st century, the BC Grain Producers Association

272-410: A county seat may be an independent city surrounded by, but not part of, the county of which it is the administrative center; for example, Fairfax City is both the county seat of Fairfax County, Virginia and completely surrounded by Fairfax County, but the city is politically independent of the county. When the county seat is in the independent city, government offices such as the courthouse may be in

340-646: A county was the magistrate , who oversaw both the day-to-day operations of the county as well as civil and criminal cases. The current number of counties mostly resembled that of the later years of the Qing dynasty . Changes of location and names of counties in Chinese history have been a major field of research in Chinese historical geography, especially from the 1960s to the 1980s. There are 1,355 counties in Mainland China out of

408-595: A four-year term. Council members must continue to reside in that particular ward. Policing of Fort Myers is performed by the Fort Myers Police Department . See: Lee County School District for other public schools in the area. Institutions of higher learning in the city include: Library Services include: The City of Palms Classic is an annual high school basketball tournament held in Fort Myers since 1973. By 2015, 120 players that had participated in

476-530: A national reputation. Despite an initial offer by Edison to light the town, on New Year's Day in 1898 Fort Myers was first electrified by the Seminole Canning Company, a local company that canned and preserved fruit. In 1898, the Royal Palm Hotel was constructed. This luxury hotel attracted tourists and established Fort Myers nationally as a winter resort destination. On May 10, 1904, access to

544-551: A population of 834,573 as of 2023. Fort Myers is a gateway to the Southwest Florida region and a major tourist destination within the state. The winter estates of Thomas Edison ("Seminole Lodge") and Henry Ford ("The Mangoes") are major attractions. The city takes its name from a local former fort that was built during the Seminole Wars . The fort in turn took its name from Colonel Abraham Myers in 1850; Myers served in

612-598: A result of his years of service delivering mail and supplies to the Union Army at the fort during the Seminole Indian Wars and Civil War. When the U.S. government abandoned the fort following the Civil War, Gonzalez sailed from Key West to found the community. Three weeks later, Joseph Vivas and his wife, Christianna Stirrup Vivas, arrived with Gonzalez's wife, Evalina, and daughter Mary. Gonzalez settled his family near

680-568: A total of 2,851 county-level divisions. In Taiwan , the first counties were first established in 1661 by the Kingdom of Tungning . The later ruler Qing empire inherited this type of administrative divisions. With the increase of Han Chinese population in Taiwan, the number of counties also grew by time. By the end of Qing era, there were 11 counties in Taiwan. Protestant missionaries in China first romanized

748-771: A two-story blockhouse that was pictured in Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper , and a 1,000-foot-long (300 m) wharf at which ships could dock. Irvin Solomon notes that Fort Myers was described "as 'one of the finest and largest' forts of the Seminole Wars". It was abandoned in 1858, at the end of the Third Seminole War . During the American Civil War , Confederate blockade runners and cattle ranchers were based in Fort Myers. These settlers prospered through trading with

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816-593: Is a section of Middle Township , an incorporated municipality. In some states, often those that were among the original Thirteen Colonies , county seats include or formerly included "Court House" as part of their name, such as Spotsylvania Courthouse, Virginia . Most counties have only one county seat. However, some counties in Alabama , Arkansas , Georgia , Iowa , Kentucky , Massachusetts , Mississippi , Missouri , New Hampshire , New York , and Vermont have two or more county seats, usually located on opposite sides of

884-479: Is land and 8.6 square miles (22 km) (21.25%) is water. Fort Myers has a tropical monsoon climate ( Am ). The temperature rarely rises to 100 °F (38 °C) or lowers to the freezing mark. Rainfall averages just over 57 inches per year, strongly concentrated during the rainy season (June to September) with its frequent showers and thunderstorms; on average, these four months deliver 67 percent of annual rainfall. From October to May, average monthly rainfall

952-613: Is less than 3.5 inches. In years with drier than average conditions from winter into mid-spring, drought can develop, and brush fires can be a significant threat. Reflecting the June to September wet season, Fort Myers has 89 days annually in which a thunderstorm is close enough for thunder to be heard, the most in the nation. The monthly daily average temperature ranges from 64.7 °F (18.2 °C) in January to 83.4 °F (28.6 °C) in August, with

1020-705: Is the 13th longest river system in the world . The regions along the river are the traditional home of the Dane-zaa people , called the Beaver by the Europeans. The fur trader Peter Pond is believed to have visited the river in 1785. In 1788 Charles Boyer of the North West Company established a fur trading post at the river's junction with the Boyer River . In 1792 and 1793, the explorer Alexander Mackenzie travelled up

1088-532: The Edison Bridge , named for Edison, the city's population steadily grew. The bridge was opened on February 11, 1931, the 84th birthday of its namesake. Edison dedicated the bridge, and was the first to drive across it. In the decade following the bridge's construction, the city had a real estate boom. Several new residential subdivisions were built beyond downtown, including Dean Park, Edison Park, and Seminole Park. Edison Park, located across McGregor Boulevard from

1156-611: The Edison and Ford Winter Estates . Fort Myers suffered catastrophic damage from Hurricane Ian on September 28, 2022. The approximate coordinates for the City of Fort Myers is located at 26°37′N 81°50′W  /  26.617°N 81.833°W  / 26.617; -81.833 . According to the United States Census Bureau , the city has a total area of 40.4 square miles (105 km), of which 31.8 square miles (82 km)

1224-493: The Peace and Myakka rivers, which had mixed results, operations were moved to the mainland. Troops from the 47th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment and the 2nd Regiment of Florida Rangers, later reorganized as the 2nd Florida Cavalry Regiment , left Key West, Florida for Fort Myers early in January 1864. The Union soldiers reached Fort Myers quickly enough to capture three Confederate sympathizers before they could act on orders to burn

1292-723: The People's Republic of China . Xian have existed since the Warring States period and were set up nationwide by the Qin dynasty . The number of counties in China proper gradually increased from dynasty to dynasty. As Qin Shi Huang reorganized the counties after his unification, there were about 1,000. Under the Eastern Han dynasty , the number of counties increased to above 1,000. About 1400 existed when

1360-765: The Rocky Mountains of northern British Columbia and flows to the northeast through northern Alberta . The Peace River joins the Athabasca River in the Peace-Athabasca Delta to form the Slave River , a tributary of the Mackenzie River . The Finlay River , the main headwater of the Peace River, is regarded as the ultimate source of the Mackenzie River. The combined Finlay–Peace–Slave–Mackenzie river system

1428-474: The Slave River , it has an annual discharge of 68.2 billion cubic metres (55.3 million acre-feet). A large man-made lake, Williston Lake , has been formed on the upper reaches by the construction of the W. A. C. Bennett Dam for hydroelectric power generation. Prior to its flooding, the confluence of the Finlay and Parsnip Rivers at Finlay Forks was distinct. A half mile east of that location were

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1496-539: The Sui dynasty abolished the commandery level (郡 jùn), which was the level just above counties, and demoted some commanderies to counties. In Imperial China, the county was a significant administrative unit because it marked the lowest level of the imperial bureaucratic structure; in other words, it was the lowest level that the government reached. Government below the county level was often undertaken through informal non-bureaucratic means, varying between dynasties. The head of

1564-650: The Thomas Edison National Historical Park ). Through Edison's efforts, the royal palms lining Riverside Avenue (now McGregor Boulevard) were imported and planted. They inspired Fort Myers' nickname as "City of Palms". After testing around 17,000 plant samples, Edison eventually discovered a source in the goldenrod plant ( Solidago leavenworthii ). The rubber project was transferred to the United States Department of Agriculture five years later. In 1916, automobile magnate Ford purchased

1632-515: The United States , a county is an administrative or political subdivision of a state that consists of a geographic area with specific boundaries and usually some level of governmental authority. The city, town, or populated place that houses county government is known as the seat of its county. Generally, the county legislature, county courthouse, sheriff's department headquarters, hall of records, jail and correctional facility are located in

1700-411: The provinces of Ontario , Quebec , New Brunswick , Prince Edward Island , and Nova Scotia have counties as an administrative division of government below the provincial level, and thus county seats. In the provinces of Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia the term "shire town" is used in place of county seat. County seats in China are the administrative centers of the counties in

1768-442: The Alberta government and private producers were studying the possibility of hydroelectric development on the Alberta stretch of the river with one run-of-the-river project currently being proposed. ( MW ) This river is 1,923 kilometres (1,195 mi) long (from the head of Finlay River to Lake Athabasca). It drains an area of approximately 302,500 square kilometres (116,800 sq mi). At Peace Point, where it drains in

1836-587: The Arcade Theater was constructed in Downtown Fort Myers. Originally a vaudeville house, Edison viewed films here for the first time with friends Henry Ford and Harvey Firestone . With the growth of the film industry, the Arcade Theatre was converted into a full movie house. A wall divided the stage in order to form two screening rooms. Changes in moviegoing habits since the late 20th century have led to

1904-640: The Caloosahatchee River to a site named Fort Harvie. Fort Harvie was abandoned in 1842, as the Second Seminole War wound down. After a white trader was killed by Seminoles on the Peace River in 1849, the Army returned to the Caloosahatchee River in 1850. Major David E. Twiggs , then stationed at Fort Brooke (present day-Tampa), gave orders for two companies of artillery to "select a suitable place for

1972-711: The Caloosahatchee Valley. He planned to dredge and drain the Everglades for development. Diston connected Lake Okeechobee with the Caloosahatchee River; this allowed steamboats to run from the Gulf of Mexico to Lake Okeechobee and up the Kissimmee River . On August 12, 1885, the small town of Fort Myers—all 349 residents—was incorporated. At that time, it was the second-largest town on Florida's Gulf Coast south of Cedar Key . In 1885, inventor Thomas Alva Edison

2040-579: The Confederate Army from Florida every week. As 1864 progressed, Union troops and sympathizers began driving cattle to Punta Rassa to supply Union ships on blockade duty and Union-held Key West, reducing the supply of cattle available to Confederate forces. The increased shipping from Punta Rassa led the Union Army to build a barracks and a wharf there. By one Confederate estimate, the Union shipped 4,500 head of cattle from Punta Rassa. The Battle of Fort Myers

2108-614: The District of Key West and the Tortugas, intended that action to be an irritant to the Confederacy. The presence of the black soldiers, who made up the majority of troops used in raids into Confederate territory, played on Confederate fears of armed blacks. It was reported that Woodbury took pleasure in placing a "prickly pear cactus under the Confederate saddle". By the spring of 1864, Fort Myers

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2176-524: The Edison and Ford properties, includes a number of Fort Myers' most stately homes. The population of Fort Myers City had been 575 citizens in 1890. By 1930, it had climbed to 9,082. In 1947, Mina Edison deeded Seminole Lodge to the city of Fort Myers, in memory of her late husband and for the enjoyment of the public. By 1988, the adjacent Henry Ford winter estate was purchased by the city and opened for public tours in 1990. The combined properties today are known as

2244-653: The Fort Myers area was greatly improved with the opening of the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad , connecting Punta Gorda to Fort Myers. This route provided Lee County both passenger and freight railroad service. The arrival of the railroad, however, also led to greater segregation in Fort Myers. With the railroad came the need for more unskilled labor and the arrival of a more uneducated workforce, compared to many African Americans who had already resided in town, some of whom had been tradespersons, vendors, and landowners. These more middle-class black citizens, as well as

2312-610: The Peace River was the Grahame , a Hudson's Bay Company vessel built at Fort Chipewyan , on Lake Athabasca . Brothers of the Oblate Order of Mary Immaculate built the St. Charles to navigate the upper reaches of the River, from Fort Vermilion to Hudson's Hope . Approximately a dozen vessels were to navigate the river. Most of the early vessels were wood-burning steamships, fueled by wood cut from

2380-523: The Seminole and Union soldiers. The United States Army set up a camp on Useppa Island , near the entrance to Charlotte Harbor , in December 1863. It was intended as a place from which to recruit Union sympathizers and Confederate deserters and conscription-evaders and to raid into the interior and interfere with Confederate efforts to round up cattle for supply to the Confederate Army. After some probes along

2448-585: The US, as of 2020. The population of the Cape Coral-Fort Myers-Naples, FL Combined Statistical Area in 2020 was 1,188,319, and it was the 47th highest populated combined statistical area (CSA) in the US, as of 2020. As of the 2020 United States census , there were 86,395 people, 31,598 households, and 18,313 families residing in the city. As of the 2010 United States census , there were 62,298 people, 24,352 households, and 14,192 families residing in

2516-796: The United States Army, mostly the Quartermaster Department, in various posts from 1833 to 1861 and was the quartermaster general of the Confederate States Army from 1861 to 1864. Fort Myers has substantial African American and Latin American populations. Centennial Park downtown along the Caloosahatchee River , the IMAG History & Science Center , Calusa Nature Center and Planetarium , and other historical sites are among

2584-728: The United States. He sought one that would contain enough latex to support his research endeavor. In 1927, the three men contributed $ 25,000 each, and created the Edison Botanic Research Corporation in an attempt to find a solution to this problem. In 1928, the Edison Botanic Research Corporation laboratory was constructed. It was in Fort Myers that Edison conducted the majority of his research and planted exotic plants and trees. He sent results and sample rubber residues to West Orange, New Jersey , for further work at his large Thomas A. Edison "Invention Factory" (now preserved in

2652-472: The W. A. C. Bennet Dam's large reservoir storage to further develop the river with the Peace Canyon Dam opened in 1980. The Site C dam is under construction and scheduled to be finished in 2025; it will further benefit from the upstream dams and generate additional electrical capacity to meet British Columbia's growing demand for green energy and reduce the carbon footprint of residents. As of 2020 both

2720-450: The abandoned Fort Myers, where he began the area's first trading post. He traded tobacco, beads, and gunpowder, and sold otter, bobcat, and gator hide to the neighboring Seminole. A small community began to form around the trading post. In the late 19th century, northerners began to travel to Florida in the winter. Some saw development opportunities. In 1881, the wealthy industrialist Hamilton Disston of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania , came to

2788-491: The annual mean being 75.4 °F (24.1 °C). Records range from 24 °F (−4 °C) on December 29, 1894 up to 103 °F (39 °C) on June 16–17, 1981. Fort Myers is one of two cities that make up the Cape Coral-Fort Myers, FL Metropolitan Statistical Area of Lee County . The 2020 population for the metropolitan statistical area (MSA) in 2020 was 760,822, and it was the 73rd highest populated MSA in

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2856-451: The area. In April 1864, after the troops from the 47th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment had been transferred to Louisiana, Companies D and I of the 2nd United States Colored Infantry Regiment were transferred from Key West to Fort Myers, and remained at the fort until it was abandoned. Company G of the regiment had also been sent to Fort Myers by early May. Solomon argues that Brevet Brigadier General Daniel Phineas Woodbury , commandant of

2924-468: The attractions. According to some historians, the Calusa capital was located near Fort Myers. Following European contact, Spain had colonial influence in Florida, succeeded by Great Britain and lastly the United States. During the Second Seminole War , between 1835 and 1842, the U.S. Army operated Fort Dulaney at Punta Rassa , at the mouth of the Caloosahatchee River . When a hurricane destroyed Fort Dulaney in October 1841, army operations were moved up

2992-484: The city. Fort Myers has a council–manager government in which the city council consists of a mayor and six council members. The city council is responsible for establishing policy, passing local ordinances, voting appropriations, and developing an overall vision for the city. The mayor is elected by registered voters city-wide. The mayor of Fort Myers is Kevin B. Anderson. Council members are elected by registered voters in their ward and represent that particular ward for

3060-432: The county seat is the entire county. Ellicott City , the county seat of Howard County, Maryland , is the largest unincorporated county seat in the United States, followed by Towson , the county seat of Baltimore County, Maryland . Likewise, some county seats may not be incorporated in their own right, but are located within incorporated municipalities. For example, Cape May Court House, New Jersey , though unincorporated,

3128-491: The county seat, though some functions (such as highway maintenance, which usually requires a large garage for vehicles, along with asphalt and salt storage facilities) may also be located or conducted in other parts of the county, especially if it is geographically large. A county seat is usually an incorporated municipality . The exceptions include the county seats of counties that have no incorporated municipalities within their borders, such as Arlington County, Virginia , where

3196-420: The county. Examples include Harrison County, Mississippi , which has both Biloxi and Gulfport as county seats, and Hinds County, Mississippi , which has both Raymond and the state capital of Jackson . The practice of multiple county seat towns dates from the days when travel was difficult. There have been few efforts to eliminate the two-seat arrangement, since a county seat is a source of civic pride for

3264-493: The establishment of a post and immediately throw up such light works as may secure [their] stores, and remove from the Indians any temptation to which [their] isolated position may give rise." The new Fort Myers was built on the burned ruins of Fort Harvie. The fort was named for Brevet Colonel Abraham Charles Myers , quartermaster for the Army's Department of Florida and future son-in-law of Major Twiggs. It covered about 139 acres (56 ha), and soon had 57 buildings, including

3332-409: The fort to keep it out of Union hands. Beyond the principal cause for occupying the fort of providing support for Union sympathizers and local residents disaffected with Confederate taxation and conscription, the fort provided access to the large cattle herds in southern Florida, support for the blockade of the southwest Florida coast being conducted by the U.S. Navy, and a haven for any escaped slaves in

3400-459: The half-mile long Finlay Rapids and a further seven miles east is the Peace Pass , which separates the Muskwa Ranges and the Hart Ranges of the Canadian Rockies . The only river cutting completely through the Rockies, it nowadays flows into Dinosaur Lake, a reservoir for the Peace Canyon Dam . After the dams, the river flows east into Alberta and then continues north and east into the Peace-Athabasca Delta in Wood Buffalo National Park , at

3468-419: The home next to Edison's from Robert Smith of New York. Ford named his estate "the Mangoes". Ford's craftsman-style "bungalow" was built in 1911 by Smith. Ford, Firestone, and Edison were leaders in American industry and part of an exclusive group titled "the Millionaires' Club". The three men have been memorialized in statues in downtown Fort Myers' Centennial Park. In 1924, with the beginning of construction of

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3536-463: The independent city under an agreement, such as in Albemarle , or may in be enclaves of the county surrounded by the independent city, such as in Fairfax . Others, such as Prince William , have the courthouse in an enclave surrounded by the independent city and have the county government, the Board of Supervisors, in a different part of the county, far from the county seat. The following counties have their county seat in an independent city: Bedford

3604-462: The members of the regiment stationed at Fort Myers were never mounted. Escaped slaves that came to the fort were recruited into the 2nd United States Colored Infantry Regiment . The Union achieved control of the full length of the Mississippi River after the fall of Vicksburg in July 1863. The Confederate Army then became dependent on Florida for most of its supply of beef. By the end of 1863 between 1,000 and 2,000 head of cattle were being shipped to

3672-465: The new African-American laborers, were increasingly pressured to move to the segregated area that would become known as Safety Hill. This area of town, as can be seen by contemporary photographs, had a lower quality of houses and street surfaces. The area, now known as Dunbar, is still highly segregated from the rest of Fort Myers. In 1907, the Seminole tribes' Federal Agency headquarters was relocated to Fort Myers. It remained there until 1913. In 1908,

3740-443: The renovation of the theater for use again in live performance. It is now host to the Florida Repertory Theatre, a performing arts hall. During World War I, Edison became concerned about America's reliance on foreign supplies of rubber. He partnered with tire producer Harvey Firestone (of the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company ) and Henry Ford (of the Ford Motor Company ) to try to find a rubber tree or plant that could grow quickly in

3808-407: The river to the Continental Divide . Mackenzie referred to the river as Unjegah , from the Dane-zaa meaning "large river." The decades of hostilities between the Dane-zaa and the Cree , (in which the Cree dominated the Dane-zaa), ended in 1781 when a smallpox epidemic decimated the Cree. The Treaty of the Peace was celebrated by the smoking of a ceremonial pipe . The treaty made the Peace River

3876-528: The river's shore. The last cargo vessel was the Watson's Lake , retired in 1952. Hydroelectric development began on the Peace River in 1968 and continues to be an important source of renewable energy for British Columbia's main electricity provider, BC Hydro . The river’s first dam, the W. A. C. Bennett Dam , was completed in 1968 and is British Columbia's largest dam and the third-largest hydroelectric facility in Canada. It supplies over 30% of British Columbia's total power demand. Engineers took advantage of

3944-657: The state's area, has no borough government or borough seat. One borough, the Lake and Peninsula Borough , has its borough seat located in another borough, namely King Salmon in Bristol Bay Borough . In Louisiana , which is divided into parishes rather than counties, county seats are referred to as "parish seats". In New England , counties have served mainly as dividing lines for the states' judicial systems. Rhode Island has no county level of government and thus no county seats, and Massachusetts has dissolved many but not all of its county governments. In Vermont , Massachusetts , and Maine county government consists only of

4012-470: The term as hien . When Taiwan became a Japanese colony in 1895, the hierarchy of divisions also incorporated into the Japanese system in the period when Taiwan was under Japanese rule. By September 1945, Taiwan was divided into 8 prefectures ( 州 and 廳 ), which remained after the Republic of China took over. There are 13 county seats in Taiwan, which function as county-administered cities , urban townships , or rural townships . In most of

4080-438: The tournament had been named McDonald's All-Americans and 94 had been drafted into the NBA . The Florida Eels is a Tier III junior hockey program in the USPHL with two teams; one in the Premier Division and one in the Elite Division. Both teams have performed well in their regular season and playoffs, advancing to Nationals on multiple occasions. The Fort Myers Skatium is their home rink. County seat In Canada ,

4148-416: The towns involved, along with providing employment opportunities. There are 33 counties with multiple county seats in 11 states: Alaska is divided into boroughs rather than counties; the county seat in these case is referred to as the "borough seat"; this includes six consolidated city-borough governments (one of which is styled as a "municipality"). The Unorganized Borough, Alaska , which covers 49% of

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4216-484: The use of county seats in particular, will fully transition with the permission of the United States Census Bureau to a system of councils of government for the purposes of boundary definition and as county equivalents. Two counties in South Dakota , Oglala Lakota and Todd , have their county seat and government services centered in a neighboring county. Their county-level services are provided by Fall River County and Tripp County , respectively. In Virginia ,

4284-733: The western end of Lake Athabasca. Water from the delta flows into the Slave River east of Peace Point and reaches the Arctic Ocean via the Great Slave Lake and Mackenzie River . Communities located directly on the river include: Many provincial parks and wildland reserves are established on the river, such as Butler Ridge Provincial Park , Taylor Landing Provincial Park , Beatton River Provincial Park , Peace River Corridor Provincial Park in British Columbia and Dunvegan Provincial Park , Dunvegan West Wildland Provincial Park , Peace River Wildland Provincial Park , Greene Valley Provincial Park , Notikewin Provincial Park , Wood Buffalo National Park in Alberta. A few Indian reserves are also on

4352-469: Was an independent city from 1968 to 2013, while also being the county seat of Bedford County . Bedford reverted to an incorporated town, and remains the county seat, though is now part of the county. The state with the most counties is Texas, with 254, and the state with the fewest counties is Delaware, with 3. Peace River The Peace River (French: rivière de la Paix ) is a 1,923-kilometre-long (1,195 mi) river in Canada that originates in

4420-423: Was cruising Florida's west coast and stopped to visit Fort Myers. He soon bought 13 acres along the Caloosahatchee River in town. There he built his home "Seminole Lodge", as a winter retreat. It included a laboratory for his continuing work. After the lodge was completed in 1886, Edison and his wife, Mina, spent many winters in Fort Myers. Edison also enjoyed local recreational fishing, for which Fort Myers had gained

4488-400: Was fought on February 20, 1865, in Lee County, Florida , during the last months of the American Civil War. This small engagement is known as the "southernmost land battle of the Civil War." However, see Battle of Palmito Ranch . The Fort Myers community was founded after the American Civil War by Captain Manuel A. Gonzalez on February 21, 1866. Captain Gonzalez was familiar with the area as

4556-442: Was protected by a 500-foot-long (150 m) breastwork , 7 feet (2.1 m) high and 15 feet (4.6 m) wide, extending in an arc around the land side of the fort. The Seminole War-era blockhouse had been repaired and another two-story blockhouse built. The fort was soon harboring more than 400 civilians and Confederate army deserters. Many of the white men enlisted in the 2nd Florida Union Cavalry . Although designated as cavalry,

4624-413: Was researching the productivity of wheat and other grain crops near Dawson Creek . The Peace River region is also an important centre of oil and natural gas production. There are also pulp and paper plants along the river in Alberta and British Columbia. The Peace River has two navigable sections, separated by the Vermilion Chutes , near Fort Vermilion . The first steam-powered vessel to navigate

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