The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1885-07-23
FORESTS OF STONE.
Probing for Logs Beneath the Sur
face in New Jersey.
Trying to Chop . Tree of Rock-Trunks,
Boughs and . Turned to Stone
"A Description Of Some OF
Natures Wonders.

IF you want to see something
curious said q friend who was a mem
Der of a Government survey. Ego down
with me to Woodbine." Four miles be-
yond Woodbine, put on the sandy
stretch of old sea bottom or beach that
is termed the Cape May Peninsula, we
came upon Dennisville, where all the
Dennises of all time had evidently
settled. A local Dennis said there were
twenty-five hundred of them and nine
tenths were evidently children. They
lived in scattered shanties or houses ON
q long narrow street, on each side of
which malaria stalks abroad from the
great swamps that constitute their
boundary. The latter, however, that
are perhaps yer twelve square miles in
extent, are the means of providing a
living to nearly all the inhabitants of
Dennisville, though the nature of their
occupation would never be suspected
from external observation.
We're all in the loggin' business"
said a tall, thin Dennis, vet as far as
the eye could reach not a tree could be
seen standing that would make even
the ghost of a fair log. They amt
a-growin'," continued the man.
They're underground. We dig for
them, or spear them, as you might say.
Here's the tool" and stepping into a
low hut he brought out a crowbar that,
Ike everything else. seemed attenuated
and was stretched out into a long,
slender-pointed rod. I'VE wade along
continued the man. land probe with
this feeler, and when we strike a log
we feel around. and if it's a good one
we dig her up, and if it amt we let her
soak; that's about the way of it."
$50 down in Jersey you burrow for
your logsP"
That's about it" replied the man.
You know we're obliged to be a whit
odd or so; we've got the name of it.,
onnyhow."
The secret of this business" said
my friend, the geologist, '.is that ages
ago all this area was covered with q
fne growth of large trees. and the same
are found growing in some parts of the
swamp yet, but they have died out and
fallen down and sunk into the soft mud,
and SO been covered up by mould and
mud, until many other layers have
grown over them; but in some remark
able way the wood is preserved and
these sunken ancient logs are just as
good for shingles and other articles as
they were when alive; hence. for many
years there has been q steady hunt for
them. and Dennisville is a result of the
industry. To the botanist the tree is
the evergreen white cypress or
cypressus thyoides sempervirens, and
the numbers that n grew over this
swamp and that have been entombed
are beyond conception. The trees
upon or near the surface are the only
ones available, and fortunately are the
best. but far below there are probably
myriads of others turned to stone and
representing the past geological ages
of the earth. The logs were worked
out by the men who are nicknamed
'Swampoodles.' and who live in the
midst of the malarious district all their
lives. When a log is found a ditch is
made about it, into which the water
soon flows. A great saw is then applied
and the roots removed, and as a rule
the log will rise to the surface and can
be cut up and carried of. though in
many localities the shingles are made
right on the spot and dragged over the
swamp on roads in many cases made of
boughs and twigs. This curious bust
ness is not confined to New Jersey, but
over in Delaware and Maryland there
are similar swamps, where the single
business has been carried on for years.
One of the swamps in Delaware extends
over twenty-five square miles, and
hardly a house in Sussex County but
what is shingled with the ancient de-
posit."
II tell ye," said an old farmer from
this region, ..that we're alvin on a Gu
rious kind O. crust round here. In pint
Of fact, my farm might be said to be
perched on q regular wood-pile; there
amt no end to it. / built a foundation
to a barn some years ago down in Del.
aware on the swamp lot, and the furth-
er down l dug the more logs I came on
to. and.I reckon way down it's clean,
solid wood, and when a fire breaks out
in the swamp you want to keep your
eyes peeled. now I'm a-taIkin'. How
SOP Well. I'll jest give you a little oil
my experience. When 1 first married
my old woman l bought a patch right
on the edge of the swamp, and the land
ran right into it about half a mile.
That summer it was monstrous dry, and
after awhile the fires began to break out,
and afore we knew it it had crept up tc
within a thousand feet of the house
But we got at it with brush, and, as We
thought, Put it out, and did; but thai
night | was awoke by hearin' a crash sc
loud that you'd although the hull house
had gone down. and when l got Out
there wa a blazing fire right over by my
fodder house. l got there in about two
minutes. and l tell We 1 was scared
There wasn't hide nor hair OF the house,
but a deep yawnin' hole about fifty feet
across. and the Lord knows how deep,
and burning gsd bot, just Like . yeloany'