The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1888-10-11
The I1isnaI Swamp.

The rerlon of the Dismal Swamp,
saws j. Bovle O'Reilly in the Boston
Herald, was intended by nature to be a |
pleasure ground, health resort and |
game preserve for the eastern side of
the continent. In spite of all that has |
been done and left undone to destroy |
it. the swamp itself is probably the |
heaithiest spot in America. Its de-
licious juniper water prevents malaria
more effectually than the far-famed
eucalyptus of Australia The flying
game of the country ccnterS IN this
region, and the lake in winter is the
best shooting ground in the country.
Now that wealthy clubs and indivld-
uals are buying up the coast shooting,
this incompatible natural reserve ought
to be secured for the nation or the
state.
Its original undoing was probably
some accident or cataclySm of nature,
changing a watercourse or opening
Il crater-like spring or number OF
springs. But the remedy from the
first was as easy and open to intelli-
gence as the tapping of Il vein to pre-
vent plethora. The lake, it is proba-
Bile, was the center and the cause of
the swamp, and is proved by the
streams flowing out of instead of into
| it. Its oyerf1owing waters, when
swelled by rains or springs, finding no
natural channel to escape, rose foot by
foot to the very lip of the cup, cover
ing the beach and threatening the
densely wooded shore.
In this way has been brought the
| singular conditions of the lake, which,
| Instead of being the lowest, is the
highest portion of the Dismal Swamp.
1t could be pierced and drained at any
point and reduced To natural and
brilliant proportions. Its overflow, in
stead of constantly deluging the sur
rounding land. could be guided in ten
thousand sparkling channels to enrich
and adorn its wonderful environment.
The lake of the Dismal Swamp is, by
| survey, about twenty-three feet higher
than the sea, and it is not fifteen miles
| from tidewater, the intervening land
being level slope, and except for the
| trees exceedingly easy to channel.
And. stranger still, the channels have
been dug for over hundred years, but
they are locked up at the outer ends
with wooden gates.
Ponder on this marvellous fact: The
lake of the Dismal Swamp, three miles
by two and Il half in extent. and from
seven to fifteen feet in depth, is situ-
ated on the side and almost on the top
of hill. and yet it creates by overflow
all around it for about 1000 square
miles one of the densest and darkest
morasses on the surface of the earth.
In 1868 George Washington surveyed
the Dismal Swamp and discovered that
the western side was much higher than
the eastern. and that the rivers ran out
of the swamp and not into it. He then
wrote that the swamp was neither a
plain nor hollow. but hillside" A
member of the National Geological
Survey entered the Dismal Swamp.
proceeded westward from the Dismal
Swamp, came toward the lake and
found that the rise in the land was five
and one-half feet in seven miles. We
met this gentleman, Mr.. Atkinson,
within the bounds of the swamp, and
on hearing his statement asked him,
Gould the lake be lowered and the
swamp drained with such an inclineP"
"Certainly," he said. at is a very-de-
cided watershed. An opening from
the lake to the tide, on the Elizabeth
river on the one side and the Pasquo-
tank on the other, would have a fall of
twenty-five and six-tcnths feet in a
distance of less than fifteen miles.