Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1897-08-23
IN THE DISMAL SWAMP,
THERE IS NO HEALTHIER SPOT IN THE
WORLD, SAYS A SCIENTIST.

SAID Professor William Palmer, chief
taxidermist of the Smithsonian Insti-
tuition, who has just returned from a
trip through the swamp, to Washing
ton Post reporter.
The idea seems to be that the
swamp is low, marshy waste, with an
unhealthy, fever breeding atmosphere
"A place one enters at the peril of his
life, both from the foul air and from
the sting of snakes. In point of fact
there is not healthier place in the
world than the Dismal Swamp. There
are no unhealthy or even unpleasant
odors. Swamp, as generally known,
are wastes poorly drained and rem
dered unhealthy by the rotten vegeta
ton which is deposited in the damp
depressions. In the Dismal Swamp
the drainage is perfect. The soil is
sandy and the water percolates through
the sand, making the most approved
system of drainage. The water in the
bitches themselves is not unpleasant
to the taste. 1t is dark in color and
rather thick, much of the consistency
of coffee, yet we drank the water dur
ing our entire stay and suffered no i'll
effects. In fact, we grew to like it,
and / for one found it much more
palatable than our Potomac water.
''There is very little land; one
might almost say there is no land at
all. The soil, as L have said, is of
sand, and from this grows vegetation
of considerable size and OF great
density. This sand is few inches
below the surface of the water, and the
woody vegetation, growing and falling
during generations, has gradually
formed layer of wood and leaves
which rises. a few inches above the
water in some portions. In the dry
season this built-up layer is of sutii-
cient stability to permit it being used
in the great lumber industries.
Lake Drummond itself is nothing
more than a depression in the swamp.
1t is oblong in shape, being about
three and half miles long by three
miles wide, and in no place is it deeper
than thirteen feet. The lake is inval-
liable for transporting the lumber, and
is now being used as feeder for the
ship canal being built to connect
Elizabeth City with Portsmouth.
This will not drain the swamp; the
swamp will never be drained; it would
be of little use if it was. Some efforts
were made to drain the great area, but
the scheme only succeeded in lowering
the water in places ten miles from the
boundaries of the lake. The soil thus
disclosed is very sandy, and although
1t is being cultivated to some extent, it
is not sufficiently valuable to render
such scheme financially profitable.
The great commercial value of the
swamp is its inexhaustible supply of
timber. The region is covered to such
an extent with thick growth that one
finds the swamp dark on the brightest
days. The trees are of enormous size.
and we lind some cypress stumps
which measured fourteen feet in diane
ter. AS these stumps had been cut off
years and years ago, one can only
imagine what the size must have been
before the stumps were worn down by
the water. bitches have been dug
which traverse the swamp in all direc-
tion,, and by these bitches the lumber
men transport their logs to Lake
Drummond, and from there through
an outlet toFAlbemarle Sound. The
lumber industry is by no means in its
infancy there. Over hundred years
ago some of the same ditohes which
are now in use to-day were dug. George
Washington controlled heavy interests
in the lumber industry, and when he
died he left 920, 900 worth of stock in
the several companies. His wonderful
engineering ability was exercised here
for many years, and one of the princi-
pal waterways in use to-day was com
menced and finished under his super
vision and from plans formulated by
him.
Ihese waterways are extremely
narrow, and their great age is evident
from the great mass of moss overhang-
ing the artificial banks. On this moss
and among the branches on the banks
are to be seen enormous numbers of
snakes, with which the region is in
tested. The snakes are not poisonous
and are harmless. Still few persons
care to see snakes all the time. The
snakes are of the species known as the
King snake, like this one," and Mr.
Palmer drew from box O snake about
six feet long and of the circumference
of an ordinary inkwell. The snake
Immediately coiled itself tightly around
Mr.. Palmer's arms, and the bright
sun brought into view all the beauty of
the firm, black scales, ringed with
white. The darker scales were beau
tiful in the iridescent rainbow color
ing, and Mr.. Palmer explained how
therings and head easily showed it to
be a harmless snake
Although the snakes are every
where to be seen," continued Mr..
Palmer, "they are not pests. No
snake is pest, and a person should
never kill a snake wantonly. They are
of incalculable value for the unceasing
war which they wage against mice and