[1] On Garnier's Bayou near the present Eglin Air Force Base housing development in Shalimar, a $29,000,000 Port Dixie Harbor and Terminal Company was chartered to build wharves for liners, a rail line north, and a city of one square mile, with streets 100 feet wide.
Use as a deep water port was contingent upon the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers dredging East Pass at Destin, the only outlet to the Gulf of Mexico for the Choctawhatchee Bay, and despite claims by the optimistic developers that the ocean liner SS Normandie could be berthed without dredging,[3] the Corps determined that the required work to deepen East Pass for deep-water vessels was not feasible.
[5] This positive view was based upon receipt of a letter from J. M. Hodgskins, president, from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, stating that necessary groundwork was running ahead of schedule.
[6] Details were announced by Hodgskins at a mass meeting attended by some 1,500 in Camp Walton, Florida, as he outlined the grandiose plans including a realty company, railroad, port facilities, shipbuilding plant, steamship lines, a rubber tire plant, a nightclub and townsite.
The excitement lasted through the July 3, 1931, publication of an article in the Okaloosa News-Journal, Crestview, Florida, stating that the port plans had been perfected.