Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1884-11-26
UNDERGROUND FORESTS.
Countless Gigantic Trees in
New Jersey Swamps.

Countless Gigantic Trees in
New Jersey Swamps.
Did Kind of Timber which Lumbormen
Obtain with Shovcls.
A Woodbine IN, j. letter to the
New York zriJUae says: About four
miles south Of this place on Cape May
peninsula, lies the struggling and din
~ village of Dcnnsville. Many Of
It's 5000 inhabitants live in small cot
lagos, almost huts, on narrow road
between two great swamps. These
Wamps cover an area OF more than
len square miles, and though the desc
late waste appears valueless for any
Industrial purpose, it was long agodis-
covered to contain the means of comfol-
table support for the village that has
sprung up in its midst. Slow changes
through long periods of time, with
perhaps sudden catastrophe, have Sab
merged countless gigantic trees, which,
when unearthed, exhibit surprising
;oundness and are in a condition to be
made at once into a marketable commo-
lity. These buried trees are the ever
green white cypress or cedar; and on
parts of this immense swamp are now
growing large trees of the same species,
their roots embedded in several feet
Of mound, the most Of which must
have been deposited on the PROSTATE
forest before these new trees began to
grow. But the eXhumcr Of saw logs
thinks little of geological theories
when all his physical powers and the
'hrewdness gained by experience must
be put forth in plying his unique avo-
cation. lie starts out with a sharp
ened iron rod, and prodding through
the soft earth or mud soon meets with
the object Of his search, generally sew
eral feet below the surface. BY care
FULLY probing he easily determines
whether it will be suitable for his pur-
rose. An excavation is begun directly
over the desired tree by saving through
,he roots and mud, in the same man
ler, but hardly with the same ease as
n cutting ice, After digging trench
md cutting away the useless top and
roots, the log, often of enormous girth,
IS loosened and rises by its own buoy
ancy to the surface Of the water which
soon nearly fills up the ditch The
ogs thus procured are generally sawn
INTO two-feet lengths and split into
yhingles and slaves. This laborious
industry, requiring great perseverance,
experience and skill, has ilourished for
seventy years past, though always
prosecuted under great disadvantages
The treachcrous surface of the swamp
makes machinery inapplicable, and
ong intervals Of water and mud must
De bridged over with boughs and bark
before the shingles can be conveyed to
market. As the largest and best trees
! md those lying near the surface are
he only ones sought for, and as the
mpracticability of drainage would
make any attempt to dig for the next
over stratum OF trees Improbable, ii
nay be foreseen that these persistent
lelvers in the sunken forests of this
ocality will in the next generation
ind their occupation gone, as seems to
De the case already in the much larger
slough more nearly exhausted cypress
swamp across the bay in the lower
part of Delaware, and extending over
The border into Maryland. This Della
ware swamp covers and partly under
lies an area Of twenty-five square
niles. The continued dryness Of some
summers occasionally, however, in
luces the veteran shingle-huntcrs to
,ocommence their search for logs, the
arge cracks in the dried earth almost
certainly indicating the locality Of a
mitabe tree. In former years enor-
nous stacks of shingles were made in
his swamp, and besides covering most
If the buildings in Sussex county
before a railroad was built -myriads
we're teamed to Milford and other
places and shipped to dealers in all the
arge cities of adjoining states, hi
,ectlv over large portions Of this
swamp are many trees Of large size
rowing in thick bed of earth, on the
AYERS of fallen trees beneath. Since
he sale and partition OF this region
lone farms have been extended to
ong distances over this area. Forest
Tres are generally supposed to burn
lbove ground, but here the dWellers
IN the borders of this magazine of
,ombvstibles sometimes discover the
Iwamp to be on iire-not only
mouldering, but fercely raging, SC
hat the surprised farmer finds that in
, single night the consuming element
las formed fiery cavern under his
.orn-feld, and bursting through ha;
eft hole large enough to swallow his
barn. In rambling through this dis
nal region when the h dden trees are
burning one has the best opportunity
r IF estimating the immense deposits Of
vegetable matter that las accumula
=, led. The bright glow of embers some
times reveals lurid cavern fifteen OF
twenty feet deep, of enormous extent
with the fire spreading in all directions