The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-10-29
IN THE GREAT DISMAL SWAMP.
80, PARADISE OF THE BOTANIST
AND THE SPORTSMAN.

.,e sVVamp-SubNerr mean Logs
,-,,mense Size Exhumed for
- valuable Timber-Lake
-,,,umond "a Picturesque Body
l,,+v Feet Higher Than the
s.,rrounding Country.
Ron, the Louisville Courier-Journal.
-, spot was so truly misnamed as
W.. Great Dismal Swamp. That it is
Great" even Tin mouths of wis
..,-nre" witness the facts of history,
nothing of the now well nigh for
a,,tsn legend embalmed in verse by the
Moore. But dismal"
r,.-e The juniper and the cypress min
th.,r feathery foliage. The reed rises
s.t,r4Iv ranks, and filings its long green
-s TO the air The jasmine tinkles
-o,5sn bells at the marriage of wood
,'.s and eglantine, while the love-vine
.-,,ss lis meshes over them in sweet en-
tangement.
- tba heart of this paradise lies the
..rgrar lake known as Lake Drummond.
:, ,.,s discovered about the year 1860 by
..a william Drummond, first governor of
49, ..A1hemarle Country" North Carolina.
T-nmmond was a Scotchman by birth,
-so settled in Virginia, and was a friend
~ GOV. Berkley of bloody fame, al whose
hands Drummond himself suffered death
LAST for the part he played in Bacon's
rsbe,ion. The lake is egg-shaped, three
r1ss long. and about two miles wide at
The larger end. Everybody knows, of
r,nrse that it is situated about twenty
miles from Norfolk, Va.
II, snringtime the alder "hangs all its
tassaly forth" the tulip-tree bursts into
r5,llti-colored glory, and the laurel, or bay
The miniature magnolia-opens its
creamy buds amid lustrous leaves, and
Ills the air with fragrance. The exquis-
H. fringe-tree; the dogwood, to coarse
f,e close inspection, but enchanting with
distance: the wild crab-apple, most de-
Iieious of odorous poisoning trees-all
lend their delicate beauty 10 the bewitch-
ing season. Autumn, too, comes to the
swamp with a fine prodigality of color.
Then the golden rod lights its yellow
torches; the passion flower unfolds its Ii
lac fringe; the sumach shows its pink cor
onals. and the red trumpet-1ower blases
aloft with its companion climber, the
brjer vine notable for its spotted foliage
and clusters of purple berries
And these are only a few of the varied
end marvellous swamp fora. Nothing has
Been SdlQ OIL tllS SlOl NUS iDdSn OlldS anu
fair water lilies, of the ferns and vines,
Of MOSES and mistletoes, blue flags and
bright holly berries though these, too,
help to make the vest wilderness despite
its somberness a paradise of beauty
But the lake. Its waters are clear am
bcr. scarcely distinguishable in color from
brandy, deeply imbued as they are with
the properties Of the juniper trees in which
the lake is uncovered. The health-giv-
inc and DrpsprVa b1a Oua lilies Of iupinar
water are known perhaps the world over.
It may not be so well known that these
qualities give to the water peculiar value
Tor ships bound on long voyages.
Prof Shaler of Harvard accounts for the
lake with the hypothesis that its western
edge was at one time near the coast of
the Atlantic and that when the sea re-
coded, it left this sink or cavity. The pop
ular belief of years ago was that it was
burned out by forest fires during a season
of drought Aboriginal superstitution fur
ther believes the lake to be bottomless.
Once in this forest primeval birds broke
silence with unaffrighted song, wild geese
honked southwark in unbroken line, hares
bounded, frogs croaked turtles summed
themselves without fear, and bears RECALLED
on gum berries in grim serenity. But into
thlS Eden came man. He felled the trees
ana caught the hares, the birds he shot
the bears he killed And yet, if he de-
slroyed he also fulfilled, building saw mills
Tor turning timber into shingles and planks
and slaves, and factories for converting
reed pulp into paper and peat into coal
lie drained the lands, constructed roads.
fields
Today one sees. file after file, a grand
ana peaceful army of Indian corn with tas-
SEIZED caps and waving banners glittering
N me sunlight. How different the scene
VI 'nlr'y years ago, when the camp fires
VI North and South here alternately
teamed! This country was then debata-
' ground and its beautiful grass farms
were licked with tents and trodden by
the blue and the gray.
rom the days of the Father of his
country down to the present time, Lake
DtuluInohd has ever been an object of
lu'eres' 10 the seeker after the picturesque
~ Iue curious. Poets, yes, and presidents
qua Statesmen, TOO, have been attracted
~ 'lS waters and enjoyed meal Of fish
o~ught on their hooks. fried by a sable
al1eua8nt and served on a single with
compartment of cornmeal Johnny
IKE Chief among these celebrities
W george Washington, who made the
iIeilulihary survey of the canal, and had
,u9 iet scheme the drainage of the land
ioI"' Lake Drummond. Recently John
4 NE reilly trod in the footsteps of his
i Thomas Moore, N'''i '-''''''
y remarkable feature of both lake and
"dHlP is their elevation of twenty feet or
iGore above the surrounding country. The
,oie oil The land being toward the sea,
q rl g western swamp drains into the lake,
,,llln M turn supplies, through a narrow
4 t9''dl or feeder" the great waterway of
oue swamp. This canal is sixty feet wide
.u zen feet deep, with the Elizabeth
W. az ITS northern, or Virginia end, and
te Las4uotank river at its southern, or
S ,,1eI9a end The feeder empties into
sI3Uulihlt, Level the water In the canal
,,o"Ins both ways from its mouth. Being
"s'IS teei above mean low water, its
~ ls accomplished by means of locks, |
ne north and two south of the feeder.
iuudieds of hands are employed In cut |
Il 'hper- Not only are growing trees
3 !. l1eI' but subterranean logs and stumps |
q immense size are found in seemingly |
81 AI7uslbe quantities. These are exca-
from depth of one to five feet in !
p''i soil, and are in a state of per
pIesel Vat4on. One stump unearthed |
ie original digging of the canal meas
81 ~ over ten feet across, and, as in that
81 mere We're no means of removing the |