The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-09-08

IS not only unsanitary, but. also an In /
Jury to the lands in the swamp.
The plan adopted By the board of county |
commissioners In 1880 for the utilization /
of this canal as a main drainage chan |
mel we think. if carried OUT would not |
only be of great benefit to sanitation, but J
would as well, by its drainage. develop |
a very large area for cultivation.
CuYIER WATERSHED.
This is the most extensive as wen as the |
most important of the watersheds around |
misunderstanding as il does in its linn |
It's part of the city and all of its subur- |
ban villages to the east. southeast and |
south, extending from the battle-ground !
road on the west around to the |
Causton Blun road, taking sin the |
Catholic cemetery, a part of East
Savannah and Avondale and a I
large territory further south, il |
covers within its boundaries a drainage |
area OF thirteen square miles. Its main
canal forms the head of Vernon river, into |
which it discharges some six miles to the |
south.
The drainage of this watershed was be-
gun by the drainage commission in 1880 |
What is now known as the "Old Casey ca
NAP was commenced by that body and !
continued by the board of county commits
soners TO its completion after six or seven,
years of labor. The OH DeRenne canal.
Hampstead and some other of its laterals
were also dug by the same body most of
them subsequent to the completion of the
"old Casey" II was soon discovered that,
owing to faulty location and construction,
this canal could not be made to drain the
section, and that at every heavy rain 1t
would overflow its banks and inundate The
swamp. To rtmedy this evil the board of
commissioners then in office had surveys
and plans made for the construction OF a
new canal through Cuyler swamp
and a system of, drainage for
its watershed. In the spring of
1892 the work on the new canal was com
menced and after four years of many Vi
cisstudes nearly four and half miles
OF il were more or less completed. The
remaining two miles of the project have
not been completed.
The Avondale and East Savannah tlibu-
tary bitches were dug in lS90-9l. and the
new DeRenne canal in the last four years
about two-thirds of il having been tione
in the past ten months.
Our inspection of the watershed CON
vinces us that its drainage is in bad
condition throughout, from neglect TO take
care of the canals and bitches already
built and failure to construct many others
that are necessary for the proper san
ton and drainage of its area.
From its outlet on up for about TWO
miles and half, in the county lands, we
found the main canal, it's side bitches and
| laterals grown up in aquatic vegetal ION
| ana WeeuS, anu 0bHAi utltu III PihNe0 " NN
posts of sand and mud. The trunks APP
peared 10 be entirely neglected. From the
| upper part of the county lands on throllgh
| the Smith and Kelly tract, JoneSville ana
some other lands, north of the CITY emo
Suburban railway, the banks OF the cahal
| had been roughly built and showed tllat
they were washing into the channel. There
| are but few, if any, tributary
bitches built along this part and
no trunks to admit the water
! TO the canal. We found at
! places trenches have been cut through tho
| banks As a natural result the obJec
| of the canal is defeated-in heavy and pro ,
| tracted rains the food coming down FRO n
| above overfiows the swamp through the 81
| trenches rendering IL unhealthful M
| uncutivable At the time of our Isl
| we found the swamp along here wet tnC
| sogey, and the canal INSTRUCTED by AMI
growth of vegetation and deposits of lud
! Through Sackvil.e the same condluo n o
| affairs exists with reference to the OBJ
| structing bars and rank vegetation II tn
| canal and side bitches, which along her
are dug as this part of the canal was bull
from two and half TO four years age
Above Sackville the new cana. has no bee
continued The old Casey canal iron
this point on up to its head, VIII ereve
we examined, we found 1t and its later
ais Distracted by a dense growth { # veg
citation and deposits of mud. IN wild
4
the Bee road northward. about three
quarters of a mile towards the city, j.
without county drainage and in a yer!
unsanitary condition.
The new DeRenne canal from : ackvill'
TO the Waters road which was &C mpleteC
within the last four mont MS, W,
found in very bad condition
indeed. Owing to the steep ness OF
its slopes. the want of surface ditchinl
in the adjacent wet fats and the cuts
made in the sides where the can al passes
through high ground, the side of the
canal are caving in and filling it up. There
was hardly any flow through it and near
its head the water was damned up by
bars of sand.
Between the Waters and White Bluff
roads. from Estill avenue southwark, we
found the canal and bitches in DeRenne
swamp in a very bad condition.l Not only
overgrown with rank vegetation, but OBJ
structed by deposits of sediment and in
some places trees and stumps were found
lying i'm them which, we were told by
| MIR Guilmartin, the lessee of part of these
| lands had been blown down 10y
the September storm of last year. He
informed us also that the county forces
had done no work whatever on these
| drains since that storm and that in times
of heavy and protracted rains, the swamp
and adjacent lowlands are over
flowed and rendered uncultvabhe
and many wet and soggy places
in the swamp This unsanit AIRY
| condition extends right UP to the corpOr
| ate limits A revised system of CANALS
and bitches should be constructed in this
section.
our examination of the canal anc
| bitches of Hampstead swamp deV elopet
| that the same general condi
ton exists in its territory. The
main canal Of that swamp Ii
inadequate to carry the wateG' coming
into it. This has been recognized foi
years. 1t should be deepened, regarded
and enlarged, its laterals revised AM
more of them dug.
The old DeRenne canal, which is righ
at the southeastern suburbs of the city
we found with its lateral bitches in the
same condition as the old Casey canal
into which il scbarges-obstructed by
a dense. rank growth of vegetation anC
deposits of mud. We were told by per
son living nearby, that in spells of rainy
xayaatlher the canal oVerflOWs. making tho