The Atlanta constitution. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19??, 1892-12-20
A STEAMBOAT
Has Found It's Way Deep into the Okefeno-
kee swamp

Captain Harry Jackson came home from
the Okeelenokee swamp FRIDAY ana Is
happy over the progress of the work
lnroUghout the day he wore one OF tloSe
happy smiles which is the well-knoWh pa
rometer of the captains feelings and with
those TO whom he talked he spoke III the
most encouraging manner OF tue future :,
Before / left there yesterday morning.
said the captain, Il stood upon the top OF d
steamer away down in the swamp where
no foot has rested since the Semno!es
made their last stand Within short dis
lance of the same spot three pears were
killed only short time ago.
How large is the boat" the captain
was asked.
It's about seventy feet long and fifteen
feet wide and is there for the purpose OF
supplying the dredge. The work has gone
so far into the swamp that we must carry
the supplies in for the people. The cana!
is about fifty feet wide and ten feet deep,
And your work Is progressing nicely
Just as well as we could desire. By
the LIST of April we will begin to get
out timber, and then the burden will not be
so heavy. The trip l took III on the boat
was made in ten minutes. Before the canal
was cut it took more than half day to
reach the point to which | went Since we
have started the canal we are moving dirt
for one and one-half cent per cubic
yard which would have cost us from 70 to
80 cents using the mules.
This great decrease is due to the use we
can now make of the water. The sluice
ways carry out more dirt in minute than
all the mules and plows could take away
in hours. Wa can, with the hydraulic
pressure we are now using, command 80
600 gallons of water per minute. We
have had about three hundred men at work
and a number of them came from the gold
mines in White and Lumpkin counties.
They have been working in those mines up
there and are just the men we needed
I'VE have not had a sick man since they
went down there. Some people think that
the swamp is unhealthy. but that Is
wrong. There is no healthier place in the
world. | think it is even better than Sara
toga. | go there every summer and am
going to take my family down next week
to spend the Christmas. 1t is hard to cal
Culate the great good that will be done
when that swamp is drained A tract of
land forty-five miles long and twenty-five
wide will be reclaimed and placed on the tax
books of the state. That alone will be
great benefit to the people of Georgia. The
swamp is flied with the finest timber i'll
the country. There is the long leaf pine,
the cypress, the maple, the mahogany, and
i'll fact almost every timber that can be
thought of. No one has any idea of the
greaa wealth that is hidden away down in
that swamp. In time the canal will be built
from one side of the swamp to the other,
and on into St. Marys river. The canal
does not yet connect with the river, but
will in q short time The margin has been
heretofore penetrable and as soon as we get
as far in as we want for the present we
will open with the river. About three
months work remains to remove the top of
one ridge between the river and the east
ern margin.
But, just think of it. powerful tug
boat is now blowing the waters of the Olee-
fenokee and civilization has made itself at
home in this vast wilderness. AS ! stood
upon her deck, feeling the throb of her pow
|
home of the alligator. the bear and the deer.
! saw in the future fertile plains, happy
homes and a territory equal to two large
counties redeemed for dear old Georgia"