Fact Finder - Geography

The Everglades in Florida is often called a 'swamp,' but geographically, it is actually a massive, slow-moving river. Known as the 'River of Grass,' it is about 60 miles wide and 100 miles long but only a few inches deep in many places. It flows extremely slowly (about 0.25 miles per day) from the Kissimmee River into Lake Okeechobee and then southward over a limestone shelf into Florida Bay. This is a unique geographical feature because it is essentially a sheet of water flowing through sawgrass. It is the only place on Earth where alligators and crocodiles coexist in the wild, thanks to the mix of fresh water from the river and salt water from the Gulf of Mexico.