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
Lake Okeechobee one point near the center of the lake. The name "Okeechobee" comes from the Hitchiti words "oki" (water) and "chubi" (big). Mayaimi, meaning "big water," is the oldest known name, as reported in the 16th century, by Hernando de Escalante Fontaneda. Slightly later in the 16th century René Goulaine de Laudonnière reported hearing about a large freshwater lake in southern Florida called "Serrope". By the 18th century the largely mythical lake was known to British mapmakers and chroniclers by the Spanish name "Laguna de Espiritu Santo." In the early 19th century it was known as "Mayacco Lake" or "Lake Mayaca"