William J. Krome conducted a survey to Cape Sable, now part of Everglades National Park, in 1902 - 1903 for Henry M. Flagler, who owned the Florida East Coast Railway. He mapped, for the first time, parts of the Everglades that had not previously been known. In 1904, he surveyed a route for the Key West Extension from Homestead to Key Largo via Card Point and then to Key Largo via Jewfish Creek, discovering Lake Surprise, which also appeared on no maps, while doing so. For 5 years, Krome worked under Joseph C. Meredith, the chief engineer for the Key West Extension, and when Meredith died in April of 1909, Henry Flagler persuaded William, who had quit, to return to the job. John Norton drove the first locomotive into Key West the day before the railroad was officially opened on January 22, 1912 to be sure that Flagler's journey the next day would not experience any delays. Though it is commonly believed that the railroad was finished in 1912, it was not - there was additional work to be done to replace temporary trestles, among other tasks. The railroad was not completely finished until 1916. While under construction, the Over Sea Railroad (not Overseas) was called "Flagler's Folly," but it was described upon its completion in 1916 as the Eighth Wonder of the World and was operational until the worst hurricane to ever hit the United States wrecked substantial portions of it on September 2, 1935. All of the bridges and portions of the roadbed were then converted to an automobile highway, the Overseas Highway, which opened in 1938. Krome was also a noted horticulturalist and was well-known in those circles. When he died on October 2, 1929, his obituary was published in newspapers across the United States. Krome Avenue in Miami-Dade County, Florida, is named after him.