Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1882-01-03
a REMARK STORY.
An Interesting Visit 20 the Della
ware Peninsula Swamp.
Wilmington Nows.l

W llAlubNVu ADhFfl
Cypress Swamp, in the lower end Of
this State, is a place of interest at any
time. In the fail, however, when the
little attractiveness with which sum-.
mer clothes il has become the with
cred leaves at fall time, its wide acres
are positively dismal. Last week |
rambled over a portion of it. With
the consoling thought that snakes and
other creeping things, with which the
soft earth abounds, were beginning to
lose interest in things human gave
freedom to my inclination and had a
~tolerably good time. The rain Of the
two weeks previous had extinguished
the last smoking ombers OF the fire
that had been burning through the
summer, and the atmosphere was free
from the sitting smoke that a month
or two before hung heavily
over the tree tops. These
fires occur frequently, and are caused
by the carelessness of some Que. The
peculiar nature of cyprus swamp at
these times are better understood.
For ten or fifteen feet below the sur
face the devouring element burrows.
finding everywhere material upon
which to feed. The soil is but de-
cayed vegetable matter accumulated
through centuries, Sometimes these
fires insidiously cat their way beneath
the fields Of corn which grow here apd
there on the edge Of the swamp, and
frequently the rural inhabitant, upon
waking in the morning TO SEQ fields
scalloped with holes big enough in
some places 10 comfortably take in
his granary. The swamp is a mystery.
AT a time, with regard to which even
tradition is silent, it has been a basin
"a basin Of considerable width and
breadth, for the Indians had sat on its
bottom, fed upon clans and oysters,
and indolently smoked pipes in
the shade Of the cypress The
shell strata found in many places
rrove this. The Expresses which had
shaded these aboriginal epicures
many centuries ago now lie, or did
many centuries ago, before tho single
hunter came into the swamp, a fallen
forest, with fifteen feet OF swamp, and
acres of trees of another age growing
thrifty above it. The swamp is an
alluvial deposit. In its depths creeks
of Indian River Bay find source. and
the waters, dark with the soakings of
vegetable matter, are carried by these
on the one side in the Atlantic Ocean,
and by the Poccomoke River on the
other side into the Chesapeake Bay.
The theory is that the streams Of
which are now mere creeks were the
channels up which elements in the
process Of gradual formation were car
ried and deposited. The forest of
cypress timber gradually gave way
until the trees became completely
buried. This matter, which in time
filled up the basin, has served to pre-.
serve the cypress. Very few of them,
however, now lie buried; for almost a
century single hunters have thriyed
in the swamp. Among the many
things Of Interest | saw were the cab.
inc Of these men. The single hunt
ing industry is now almost extinct.
Those engaged in the business would
90 in.o the swamp and work there for
weeks. In dry weather, such as Of
last summer, the soil OF the swamp
would crack in many places, and with
tho instinct which experience gave,
the hunters would search for
these assures. Every crack iudi-
Gated the spot where was buried
eypressl timber. q The sign rarely
failed. After the tree had been resur-
rected, thensthe rivers" would come,
and in a very short time the once
buried trunk would be converted into
a large pile of shingles, which we're
then moro profitable than now.
Almost all the old buildings in Sussex
county arc rooted with these, and
many thousands are shipped to other
States. This being before the time of
railroads, the shingles were carried to
Milford and other to sns on noighbor.
Ing streams, and thence shipped to
dealers in large cities. Nothing now
remains of this once lucrative bust
ness but the cabins in the swamp and
the few gray haired rustics living
horeabout who made their dollars in
this way.