Back in the 1900s, the area now known as Deep Lake was acquired by Walter Langford and John Roach, with plans to develop the land into a grapefruit enterprise. Over 200 acres were cleared of pine trees and planted with a variety of marsh seedless grapefruit trees. Due to a lack of infrastructure in Southwest Florida at the time, a railroad tram system was built in 1913, with a gas-powered railroad car built from a Ford engine and flatbeds to transport their crop output. The line eventually extended to Everglades City and by 1915, 17,000 boxes of grapefruit were brought to market.