Lake Hancock

Lake Hancock, in northern Polk County provides the primary water flow source of the Peace River. Despite heavy pollution from years of phosphate mining and encroaching development, the 4,500 acre lake is home to a rich variety of wildlife, ranging from wading birds and waterfowl to bald eagles, ospreys and a large population of alligators. The lake’s average depth is approximately four feet with two to three feet of organic muck lying underneath. The high nitrogen levels due to decaying phosphorous and other organic matter have led to large-scale algae growth on the surface of the lake. Lake Hancock boasts a sizable tilapia population which is taken advantage of by a small local fishing industry. In recent years, controversy has stemmed over the Southwest Florida Water Management District’s plan to raise the level of the lake by approximately two feet in order to increase and control water flow down the upper Peace River during the dry season. This proposed level modification would raise the lake back to its historic height of 100.5 feet above sea level. Decades of phosphate mining in the lake bed is believed to be responsible for the deepening of the lake by at least two feet. SWFMD is currently analyzing the feasibility of undertaking such an extensive waterway alteration project.

Along Highway 60, just west of the Peace River, lies the town of Bartow, “the city of Oaks and Azaleas.” Bartow began in 1851 as Fort Blount, an outpost and refuge for U.S. troops fighting the Seminole Indians. It was later incorporated as the county seat of Polk County in 1882. The town takes its name from Francis S. Bartow, who is believed to be the first Confederate general to fall in battle during the Civil War. Southern heritage is taken seriously in Bartow as it attested to by the Confederate markers scattered throughout the town as well as the legacy of racial violence in the area throughout the late 19th and early 20th centuries. For a disturbing exercise, imagine standing on the banks of the Peace River east of Bartow in 1901 and witnessing the mob lynching of Fred Rochelle, burned alive in a barrel on a bridge for the his alleged murder of a white woman. He begged for mercy as onlookers poured drinks.

Shortly after the discovery of phosphate along the Peace River, Bartow became known as the “Atlanta of South Florida” as it rode an unprecedented economic wave of prosperity that characterized the phosphate boom of the late 1880s. Throughout the 20th century the Bartow area has continued to serve as one of the largest phosphate producing regions in the world. Still today, the majority of the nation’s and one-fourth of the world’s phosphate supply comes from Polk County. Bartow’s economy is also largely agricultural with large herds of beef and dairy cattle populating the countryside. Polk County is also one of the leading citrus producing counties in the United States, producing more citrus fruit within its borders than the entire state of California. The current population is approximately 15,500.