The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1899-04-19
What May he Done with Swamp Lands

ApropoS OF the oft-rcpratrd sugycs-
tiOns with regard to draining certain
swampy tracts in various parts of this
State, and in North Carolina. and 50
redceming valuable lands for ngricm!-
tural and other purposes. the following
statement of the indianapolis Ncmx de-
scriptive of the success and profitable
results OF Il very extensive enterprise
of the same character undertaken by
one man in its State is interesting. II
says:
"What may BE- done with swampy
lands under an intelligent system of
cultivation is told in II story of the sue
cess of Il. +. Clifford, whose land hold.
Jugs are in Jasper County, Indiana, and
who is said 10 De the owner OF the larg-
est amount of swamp land under cult
vation i'll the world. Mr.. Clifford bought
$4,000 acres of swamp land from the
State at little more than II song, and he
now has nearly that number of tillnble
acres, whose fertility is the wonder of
other farmers. Scvcnty-tive miles of
broad bitches, supplemented by several
hundred miles of tile piping, drain the
land, and from it Mr.. Clifford last year
marketed over 200, 900 bushels of corn,
100000 bushels of onions and great
quantities OF other vegetables and
grains, harvesting, III addition, an
abundance Of hay for his hundreds of
horses. The crops raised on this cnor-
nous tract afforded sufficient traffic to
keep small railroad busy, and as Mi.
Clifford estimated he could with profit
build his own line haul his corn, stock.
hay, vegetables and other products to
the Chicago market. he surveyed n line
from the center of the tract. and is now
constructing Il freight line from the
center of his farm north toa point of
junction with the Indiana. Illinois and
Iowa line. which gives him direct con
nectiOn with Chicago.
We direct the especial attention of
the State board of education and the
press OF North Carolina to this highly
instructive narrative. The board, as
reported, recently sold $4,000 acres of
swamp land in that State, most of it
heavily timbercd, to the saw mill men
ut the price of dollar an acre, and one
OF the State papers notes that there are
100000 acres of similar lnn,ls belonging
to the State awaiting sale on the same
or lower terms. 1t would pay the State
nicely, we are sure, to appoint COM
petent commission to visit Mr.. Clifford
and study his methods, and apply them
Mt leisure to some, if not all, of its
thousands of acres of now waste lands,
with view to obtaining results COM
parable mt least to those which he has
achieved with like property. Mr.. Gift
ford, it will be noted, bought $4,000
acres OF swamp land" from the State
OF Indiana "for song" and has made
CT Etie::, nearly that number of tillable
acres, "whose fertility is the wonder of
his neighbors.' 1t is the same kind of
lands that North Carolina is now sell
ing for song. and the authorities and
people OF the State might we'll profit by
the object lesson that is presented to
them in the experience of their Indiana
neighbOrs.
The same suggestions apply with
equal point to the State and some of
the communities and private citizens of
South Carolina. II Mr.. Clifford, one
man, i'll Indiana can cut seventy five
miles of bread bitches, supplemented
by several hundred miles of tile drains" :"
the State of South Carolina, or any
community iii it, and some of its larger
landowners, can afford certainly to DO
similar effective work on. smaller
scale, and the profitable returns Of such
work are abundnntly exhibited in Mr..
GiffOrd's enterprise.
The State and county cOnvicts, at
any rate, could scarcely be employed to
better purpose for the lasting benefit
of the State, OF of any county interest
ell in such an undertaking.
While on the general subject OF re-
deeming swamp lands by effective
drainage, we may add suggestion
which we have been asked to make
public for the sake of its possible use
fulness in certain cases. 1t is that not n
few of the smaller ponds and "swamps, :,
which are to be found in this part of
the State, and which cannot readily or
economically be drained by bitches.
could doubtless be dried out very
quickly by sinking shallow wells few
feet i'll diameter within their limits.
Numbers of these ponds and swampy
places, on and off farms, there is good
reason to believe, are simply natural
reservoirs of water, which is held in
place by thin substratum Of "hard
pan," clay OF mari, forming Il shallow
basin, from which the surface water
cannot escape. TWAS n matter of gem
erai remark just after the earthquake
OF 1896 that nearly all such reservoirs
had "gone dry in few days as re-
suit of TINT dist urhnnce ransonal,ln