OK, so perhaps you have read my blog posting on the what is called the Earman River and the issues with North Palm Beach Properties. In fact though, the “earman River” is NOT a river. It never was a river. It’s the C-17 canal managed by the South Florida Water Management District. Why do we call it the Earman River? I thought we had picked it up as a marketing name from the the developer of North Palm Beach. No one would pay more to live on the ‘C-17 Canal’ but the ‘Earman River’, that sounds VERY nice, someone just might pay me extra $$ to live on that. But as usual that’s about 1/2 the story.

Way back when the state of Florida was granted statehood, what we today call Lake Worth was an actual fresh water lake. On the west bank ONE WOULD ASSUME there was a small creek around where the C-17 is. Basic laws of human action are that we take the ath of least resistance whenever possible. Why do more work than we have to. So I would assume there was something there but perhaps not. I found this survey of the area done in 1859 and it clearly does NOT show any inlets or rivers. Thus it’s appears safe to say that the C-17 canal was not navigable in 1845 when florida entered the union as it was not “meandered” in 1859. Earman was the guy who farmed that area in the early 1900’s. Story is that he and a few other guys dug out this ( I assume) already low lying creek to drain the adjacent land for farming. It was “officially named for Earman after his death in 1932” according to a PB Post article anyway. But to be clear it was NEVER a river and we really should stop calling it that as it’s the farthest thing from it. Not only is it overflowed lands BUT the SFWMD controls it and they can dredge it anytime they want without much regard for permits. This is an aerial image from 1958, and it is very clearly a man made canal. Thus, adjacent property owners would not enjoy “Riparian Rights“.

I copied this from the Palm Beach History web site…

“From 1918 to 1923, in what is now Lake Park, there was an Earman Post Office. John Sites Earman was voted the first mayor of West Palm Beach when it was incorporated in 1894. Although he lived with his family in downtown West Palm Beach, Earman farmed north of town in the area that is now Lake Park and North Palm Beach. As preparation for the dredging of the Florida East Coast Canal in 1897, a ditch was dug south of the haulover from Lake Worth Creek in order to help drain the land for farming. Joseph Borman, before he became Palm Beach

04/17/25 Update. You may recall that a section of this bridge in North Palm Beach fell into the canal.

The plans for the bridge replacement are below but basically the bridge is being raised to 11.22 feet above Mean High Water from 9.61 feet, adding 1.61′. The existing canal bottom within the FDOT right of way is being dredged, which will happen after the bridge is demolished. The existing canal bottom is around elevation (-)8.44, and the new bottom will be at elevation (-)14.5, an additional depth of approximately 6’.

Florida DOT paid of the Schwenkee family for some sort of clarification on the right to go over the C-17 that the plans for to replace the US-1 bridge over the C-17 in North Palm Beach by Frigates is moving forward. I got a letter from the Coast Guard as sort of a notice to abutters. THE BRIDGE IS GOING TO REMAIN OPEN DURING CONSTRUCTION. The plans now have the ‘opening’ for a boat to get both wider by about 10′ and taller by about 1.61′ but honestly though, who knows. The CURRENT mean high water clearance of that bridge is a little under 8′. I go under every time I’m out in the boat and I drop my bimini so I can but I can reach over my head and touch the beam no problem. They are reporting that Bridge Clearance is NOW 9.61′ ABOVE MHW. Maybe to the bottom of the deck but not the beams holding it up. The section they provide below shows the ‘Low Member’ Elevation at +11.58 (NAVD) and the MHW at +0.35′. Call it 11′ clear at MHW under the new bridge or 3′ more clearance than the now +/-8′. Someone important must live behind that bridge.