St. Johns River

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The St. Johns River has always played a significant role in the development of Florida. The Timucuan Indians used the river for food, water and transportation for centuries before the Europeans arrived. The French and Spanish battled for control over the waterway in the 1500s. Two centuries later, in his writings, explorer William Bartram immortalized a portion of the river as a "true garden of Eden." Later, steamboats plied this liquid highway, ferrying tourists and goods to towns and trading posts sprouting along the shore.