Built in the 1870s to speed the transport of goods and passengers from Melrose across Lakes Santa Fe and Alto to Waldo, the Santa Fe Canal was a bold project that was never hugely profitable for its owners. It achieved its goal of getting citrus, lumber, other farm products and passengers to Waldo, where they could be loaded on trains of the Florida RR (later the Jacksonville, Tampa and Key West RR), but its operation was hindered by numerous unfortunate events, eventually becoming obsolete altogether as the roads were improved, and so, too, the speed and ease of movement.
One can still ply the course of the canla and the lakes by boat or kayak, a distance of about 10 miles.