The Orangeburg news. [volume] (Orangeburg, S.C.) 1867-1875, 1873-09-13
The Wateree swamp.
A BOLD PLAN FOR STRAIGHTEN-
ING THE RIVER.
One Hundred and Twenty
Acres of Land TO be Reclaim
ed at ~ Cost OfOne Million
Dollars,

[CoRKEsPoYpEScE OF THE News COURIER.
Leigh Hunt has touchiugly remarked,
81 for my par. must still endeavor, till l
die, to push the world little further
into the sunshine" Although my
world is a very narrow one, ] trust that
a somewhat kindred motive prompted
me to intrude my thoughts upon those
of your readers most directly interested
in this matter, and whom l can better
reach through your generally circulated
Journal than by any other means. |
beg leave to premise that ! am very
conscious that there are many better
able to present this subject in its true
light than ! am, but as they have not
done so, upon my repeated invitation,
venture again, more at length, to bring
it to view. l have repeatedly expressed
the opinion that the
uNREcLAIMED LANDS on THE WATER EE,
now comparately useless, would feed the
State If brought into safe cultivation
If this proposition can be substantiated,
surely a State badly provisioned will
make great efforts to reclaim these
lands. This is no new idea. Fifty years
since Col. Adam Blandng was most
earnest in this matter, aud just before
the war intelligent and patriotic geutle-
men bad devised and were prepared to
execute scheme to effectuatc this great
work. 1t may be well to observe that
in the opinion of many of more enlarged
experience and observation than ca n
assume to have, there are. in this State,
NO LANDS COMPARABLE TO THOSE
of the Watoreo for the production of
corn, except, perhaps, those on the
upper Pccdcc. Indeed, | have known
person of experience who have examined
carefully the river lands and prairies of
the southwest, who regarded tho
Wateree lands superior for corn pro
duct. We have cotton lands in abund-
anoe all over our State, but our uplands
are unsuited to corn and the grasses
Wo have lands suited to these products,
but our Nile which cnriches the land
dcvours remorelessly its products. The
product, per acre, in corn on Wateree
lands equals that Of the Ohio Valley
and the prairics of the great West, but
freshets and want Of drainage render the
crops uncertain in the extreme. There
are between the shoals at Camden and
the junction with tho Congaree one
hundred aud twenty thousand acres of
swamp land, now of little value, with
the exception of a few plantations near
Camden, which are capable Of produc-
ing, without manure, over
FIFTY BUSHELS OF CoHN FER ACHE,
if we'll drained and cultivated, or
surprising in native grasses the blue
grass of Kentucky. Now it is equally
impossible to Gu tivate these lands, or to
expose sheep to the inroads of the
freshcts. When labor was abundant
and compulsory the lands could, to a
moderately certain extent, be protected
by embankment, and were valued at
fifty dollars per acre : now the greater
portion of them is deserted y few,
somewhat protected, even now arc valu-
ed at thirty dollars per acre, while
thousands of acres of the richest lands
in the State could be bought at two
dollars per acre, and some at one dollar
per acre. Suppose these utilized and
producing millions OF bushels of grain,
thousands Of horses, mules, cutie, sheep
and hogs, and reflect that many of these
things are now imported into the State
at an expense of transportation exceed
ing their prime cost The whole of
these lands would not now sell at an
average of ten dollars per acre. Indeed,
L know places where, subdivided, the
swamp lands, hitherto most valuable,
will not sell at all even at two to three
dollars per acre, while open uplands
adjoining sell readily for twenty five
dollars per acre. The good uplands in
this State near railroads are pretty we'll
appreciated, and can soon "begin to
stand alone" although their infcriority
ts bottom lands for grain is universally
acknowledged. Lands which will pro-
duce fifty to sixty bushels of corn per
acre, OF bale Of cotton without man.
ure, are surely worth fifty dollars per
acre, probably one hundred dollars; but