The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-05-22
oKEFINoKEE SWAMP.
escription OF the Lands and Their
Value II Reclaimed.

EECI4DL4OA Oh lnC 44c-1Ao o-~o NS--
Value If Reclaimed
From the Atlanta (Ga.) Journal
iCapt. Henry jackson has returned from
Visit TO Okefinokee swamp. and gives
host interesting account of his trip and Of
he wonders of the vast wilderness
Cant. jackson gives vivid and intensely
Interesting account of his varied experiences
bn this expedition
I While the boats in which the party were
making their way further into the swamps
kyere being forced along large trout would
Iactual!y flop into the boat, so filed was the
IsbsIIoy swamp water with them. He en-
loved fishing, alligator shooting. deer hunt
linz. bird hunting, and enjoyed them in a
manner wholly surprising any similar ex-
perience of his life.
| Z ae was conducted by his excellent guides,
Allen and John Chesser, to where grand
and imposing Indian mound was to lie seen
and examined. He slept in the swamp four
NIGHTS. where only sheer exhaustion from
the davis work kept him from losing sleep
altogether on account of the wild chorus Of
froqs and wild animals, the peStiferous
mosquitoes, red bugs and ticks.
sslJe came into the CENTER said he, "of
a large open space called a prairie, though
il was anything but a prairie. As far as
the eve could reach in every direction was
open Space, QOJSoQ ncic anu Iuclo ny
what are termed houses which mean
small hemmocks from twenty feet in diane
fer to larger proportions These so-called
.nrair;es' are vast to an extent to which
had no conception.
"The swamp is about forty miles in
length, with a width of about eighteen
miles, and should say at least four-fifths,
il not a greater proportion. insist of
I,rairies. We took careful notes of timber
49, <zto of Of fha n1I1Plx rf tho
vegetation, and number of other things,
which would be valu bic in determining
what disposition should be made of the
property"
The governor is about to appoint an engi-
neer to make the survey Of the swamp
property, under the provisions Of the act
providing for its sale. Col. James Ia. Krae-
mer will bs appointed. He is chief engineer
of the Atlantic and Gulf Coast Canal and
Okefinokee Land Company.
rs it an assured fact" asked the re-
porter, "that this swamp property will be
drained and reclaimed"
Nothing is assured that has not already
been accomplished. To do this work will
require an expenditure of large sum of
money, but ] am free to confess that my
ambition is to be one of a number of gen.
tlemen who will do this work for the state
of Georgia. To reclaim this vast area of
swamp and to make it subject to taxation,
productive, etc., is a public work which
presents to me many attractive features.
and indicates line of action which will be
of great benefit to my state aud people, as
we'll as to myself and my associates.
THE people in the countieS adjoining this
swamp" he continued, "are all poor, and
to spend among them possibly several mil
lions of dollars in carrying out this great
project would add much to their comfort
and happiness, and would give employment
TO every man in that section ready and
willing to work. l believe the scheme is
thoroughly feasible, and if my associates
concur with me in this view I am most
assuredly prepared TO risk what | have in
the effort to accomplish what seems to be
result as patriotic as it may prove remu-
neratlve. Necessarily it will be years
before the members of the Suwannee Canal
Company can have any returns from their
work, but patient effort accompanied by
energy and capital, GAG, am sure, make
this now valueless swamp fertile and pro-
ductive. Upon the lind thus reclaimed
feel confident that crops of the most pro-
ductive character can be produced, and
that counties which now appear to be poor
will become among the richest in the
state"