Okeechobee Waterway of Orlando and extending southward through the Kissimmee River Basin to the Everglades National Park to Florida Bay. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers manages five locks and dams along the Okeechobee Waterway. The St. Lucie lock was built in 1941 for navigation and flood-control purposes. In 1944, the connecting spillway structure was built for flood and regulatory flow control through the St. Lucie Canal to manage the water level in Lake Okeechobee. The Port Mayaca Lock and Dam was built in 1977 for navigation purposes, to permit the raising of water levels in Lake Okeechobee, and to moderate the
Upthegrove Beach, Florida Upthegrove Beach, Florida Upthegrove Beach is an unincorporated community in Okeechobee County, Florida, United States. It is located on US 441/US 98, on the northeastern shore of Lake Okeechobee. Upthegrove Beach was named for the Upthegrove (originally Op Den Graef) family, including Union Army Captain William Hendry Upthegrove and others. Robert Upthegrove, later one of the inaugural Okeechobee County commissioners, settled in the area "circa" 1912. His son, Clarence Dewitt Upthegrove (Dewitt), at one time worked for Thomas Edison in Fort Myers, and later owned a heavy equipment operation that helped build the Herbert Hoover Dike around Lake Okeechobee and