The Opelousas courier., 1892-03-26
THE BIG DISMAL SWAMP.
ITS SOLITARY REGIONS A PARA.
Disc FOR HUNTERS,
The Story of the Canal Built by Two
Independent Parties-Lake Drum
mOnu.

If it were not for the almost 1mpene-
trable thickets of the trackless woods,
the Dismal Swamp of Virginia would
offer the greatest attractions imaginable
for the sportsman. The swamp proper
consists of about 120, 900 acres of low
swamp land, through which the bears
and deer wander unmoiested, birds Of
beautiful plumage fly from limb to limb
Of the huge cypress trees, and deadly
rattlesnakes bask in the sunlight without
fear of man. The track'ess swamp
abounds IN cypress and juniper trees,
both of which are becoming year by year
more scarce and consequently exceed
ingly valuable.
In the very center of the Dismal
Swamp Lake Drummond is situated, aud
a more lonely, solitary sheet Of water
one would have to explore the wilds of
Africa to find. The depression in which
the placid water sparkies is supposed to
have been made by a flash Of lightning
thousands of years ago.
The Tackles swamp has not yet been
entirely explored, and the surveyors
chain has never been stretched across
more than one-half of its 800 square
miles. 1t is only occasionally that par
ties OF hunters enter its iungles to shoot
the game which abounds in numbers in
the glades. The parts Of the swamp
| that have been cleared and drained are
only on the edges Of the woods, Oh along
the sides of the canal, which passes
through the swamp. This canal is
| twenty three miles long and six feet
deep.
Half a century ago this Dismal Swamp
Canal was one of the most important
highways of Virginia, but the heavy
competition of the Albenarle and Chesa-
peake Canal has forced it gradually into
the background. It is one Of the Oldest
| canals ID the United States; and i'll the
early colonial days there was no Eastern
Virginian of any prominence who was
not connected with it. The building of
the canal was a great event, and after
ward 1t figured prominently in the war
of the Revolution. George Washington
was connected with it in the capacity of
Surveyor and Director, and his knowl-
edge of it and the swan p, through which
it ran enabled him to obtain supplies that
were greatly needed when he was con-
tending with CORVALLIS at Yorktown.
When the country around the swamp
was first settled by the Virginia planters
the swamp was one impenetrable mass Of
enormous trees and dense underorush,
but the black slaves soon began to pene-
trate the dark and gloomy Willis in
search Of juniper and cypress shingles.
Nearly all the Southern honesteals were
rooted with shingles of these trees, and
a good part Of the Virginia homes had
their shingles out of the Dismal Swamp.
The greatest difficulty with which these
slaves had to contend was tie soggy con
dition of the soil, which was not strong
enough to hold the weight of man, aad
the wheels of the carts sank deep into
the mire. The further they penetrated
the swamp the greater this difficulty
appeared to grow, until at last taeJ re.
sorted to the expedient of digging /
watercourse or ditch large enough to
float the logs down. This ditch wa
only a few feet deep. At frst it
stretched from Deep Greek, a tribute of
the Elizabeth River, to a short distance
within the forest. Year by year the
timber was cut away along the banks of
the ditch, aud as the demand for juniper
and cypress increased the ditch was ex-
tended further into the almost impeno-
trable swamp. The logs were foated
down the canal to Deep Creek, and from
thence down the Elizabeth River to Nor
folk.
The digging of the canal was thus
slow and unprecedented. Il was ex-
tended only as the need of more timer
made it necessary, and as such things as
steam shovels were unheard of the prog.
ress was slow. The towering cyprus
trees were felIed by the negroes, and
many of the trees were split up into
shingles on the ground. The slaves had
a certain amount of work to do each
day, but over and above this they were
paid extra for their labor. They lived
constantly in the swamp, aud though
fever and disease abounded they APP
peared unmindful of it. The dismal
place was never visited by persons other
than the labor 4r5 and oyerseers. and the
surprise of the Workmen was great one
day when they heard the voices OF other
men far in the middle OF the swamp.
The wilds had not yet been penetrated
beyond the head OF the canal, and no.
body could guess how the men had en-
tered the swamp ahead of then.
Investigation followed. aud a peculiar
coincidence of the work was discovered.
The landowners in North Carolina, on
the southern boundary CT the swamp,
had also been using the cypress and juni-
per trees, and they had likewise adopted
the method of digging a ditch to float
the logs 10 market. Shingles and lum-
Der had been transported for years down
through the North Carolina district, aud
the two sections of the canal had o
nearly met. Only a short piece of the
uncleared swamp interviewed. The re.
suit was that a perfect canal running
through the Dismal Swamp was COM
pleted, and In a short tIns small boats
were seen carrying goois back and forth.
The canal was continued as a watercourse
Tor lumber and shingles, but it was also
found to be Of more value for other pur-
poses.
In the course of time the State of Vir-
ginia took an interest in the canal, and
q ditch was cut through the swamp to
Lake D%rummond, notfor the purpose Of
boats, but simply to supply tho canal
with sufficient water at all seasons of the