The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-03-02
bitches FILLED WITH DEBRIS.
GRAND JURY URGES IMMEDIATE
DRAINAGE AROUND THE CITY.

GRAND JURY URGES IMMEDIATE
DRAINAGE AROUND THE CITY.
If The Available Convict Force Is Not
Sufficient TO Open and Clean the
Drains and bitches the Jury Rec
ommerds That II he Done by Paid
LRbor-The importance of Keeping
the Drains Free Emphacised-The
Condition OF oGeechee Canal Con-
demned.
The grand jury of the Superior Court,
in it's general presentment submitted yes
terday. dealt emphatically with the drain
age question. After reviewing the condi-
ton Of the county drainage, 1t says in re-
ercnce to the drains around the city; We
recommend that all drains and bitches
near the city be thoroughly cleaned as
soon as 1t can be done. If there is not
a sufficient force of convicts available for
this work. we recommend that it be done
by paid labor"
Touching upon the drainage west and
southwest Of the city, the Teifair swamp
and undrained portions OF the Musgroye
watershed the grand jury says: The
close proximity to the city of this UNI
drained territory emphasizes the import
ance of its early and thorough drainage"
In reference TO the Ogeechee canal, the
Jury SAYS: eve found it in very bad
condition grown up with weeds and the
water stagnant and not running in any
part of the canal We consider the canal
in its present condition most unsanitary
and a menace TO the health of the city as
well as to the county. We recommend that
the owners be required to put
it in proper sanitary condition and falling
TO do so promptly after sufficient notice
that the work be done by the county at
the owners expense"
While the grand jury was unable to de-
termine the utility of the canal for drain
age purposes, it recognized the importance
of its being put at once in thorough sani-
tary condition. The jury also recon-
mends that sufficient force Of convicts
be employed TO keep all the canals and
bitches free from obstruction at all times,
instead of doing the work once or twice
year, and allowing the drains 10 MI up with
weeds and mud the rest of the time. In
reference TO private drains the County
Commissioners are urged to compel prop
erty owners TO keep them I'm proper condi-
ton.
A considerable part of the county drains
is clogged up with weeds and sand. Very
little work has been done on any of the
drainage since last summer and fall when
portion of it was opened no during the
yellow fever scare. The work in Buckhal-
ter swamp where sixty-three convicts are
employed, is the only drainage work
being done. There are 20i convicts in the
countys charge. Besides those at work in
Buckhalter swamp there are Y at work
on Dale avenue, and 50 at the county farm.
About two-thirds of the latter are women
and boys.
The grand jury said of the Buckhalter
canal that the good effect of the work is
apparent in the draining of lands in and
on either side of the swamp, as far up as
the work has been done. 1t dealt most
emphatically however, with the drainage
nearer the CITY, the Telfair swamp, which
extends from Musgrove swamp, part of
which is in the city limits, though the Tel
fair lands adjoining the car works, to the
divide, mile and a half further west
along the Ogeechee road. This swamp has
never been drained and there are no
bitches of any kind in 1t.
The Dundee canal, which drains a con-
siderable territory west of the city, the
grand jury reported to be in very bad con-
dtion and in urgent need of attention.
The new DeRenne canal, which drains
the lands Immediately southeast of the
city, Sackville and the section south of
Estill avenue, and west of the Waters
road, the grand jury says is in a bad con-
dition. 1t recommends that not only the
canal but the bitches leading into 1t be
given early attention The banks are
caved in in places, particularly in that
part of the canal east of the Waters ROAD
and the sand has been carried down to its
outlet into the new Casey canal, where a
sand bar has formed, partially damming
UP the latter canal and stopping the
drainage from points east of there, and
in the section south of AVondale and the
Thunderbolt road.
The Placentia canal, which carries off
the drainage from Bonabela and the sec
ton west of the colored college, Thunder
bolt and Bonaventure, and part of Avon
dale, the grand jury reported in a thor
oughly bad condition. For some distance
the canal is blocked up with fallen trees
and debris from the storm of 1896.
The drainage of the sections south and
southwest of the city, tributary to the
Hampstead and Harmon canals the lands
drained by the Minis canal, and the Vale
Royal and McAlpin drainage, the grand
jury reports in good condition. For three
months there has been an almost unore-
cedented drought and the lands ordinarily
wet and soggy, are comparatively dry.
FEWER ROVES OFT or ORnER