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

Apropos OF the oft-rcpeated sngSes-
tions with regard to draining certain
swampy tracts in various parts of this
State, and in North Carolina, and so
redeeming valuable lands for agricul-
tural and otherpurposes, the following
statement of the Indianapolis News de-
scriptive of the success and profitable
results Of very extensive enterprise
of the same character undertaken by
one man in its State is interesting. 1t
says:
"What may be done with swampy
lands under an intelligent system Of
cultivation is told in a story Of the sue
cess Of B. F. Clifford, whose land hold
iugs are in Jasper County, Indiana, and
who is said to be the owner Of the larg-
est amount of swamp land under culti-
walton in the world. Mr.. Clifford bought
Sc, 900 acres of swamp land from the
State at little more thana song, and he
now has nearly that number of tillable
acres, whose fertility is the wonder Of
other farmers. Seventy-fve miles Of
broad bitches, supplemented by several
hundred miles of tile piping, drain the
land, and from it Mr. Clifford last year
marketed over 1000, 900 bushels of corn,
100000 bushels of onions and great
quantities of other vegetables and
grains, harvesting, in addition, IN
abundance of hay for his hundreds Of
horses. The crops raised on this enor-
nous tract afforded sufficient traffic to
keep a small railroad busy, and as Mr..
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 line
from the center of the tract, and is now
constructing a freight line from the
center Of his farm north to a 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 timbered, to the saw mill men
at the price of a dollaran acre, and one
of the State papers notes that there are
100000 acres of similar lands belonging
to the State awaiting sale on the same
or lower terms. Itwould pay the State
nicely, we are sure, to appoint a COM
petent commission to visit Mr.. Clifford
and study his methods, and apply them
at leisure to some, it not all, Of its
thousands of acres of now waste lands,
with view to obtaining results COM
parable at 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 .sfor song,n and has made
of them nearly that number of tillable
acres, "whose fertility is the wonder OF
his neighbors' Its the same kind OF
lands that North Carolina is now sell
ing for a song. and the authorities and
people OF the State might well profit by
the object lesson thatis presented to
them in the experience Of their Indiana
rhighbors.
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, in Indiana can cut "seventy-five
miles Of broad bitches, supplemented
by several hundred miles OF tile drains" /"
the State of South Carolina, OF any
community in 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 abundantly exhibited in Mr..
Gitford'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
ed in such IN 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 it's possible use
fulness in certain cases. 1t is that nota
few of the smaller ponds sand "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 a few
feet in diameter within their limits.
Numbers of these ponds and swampy
places, OIL and Oft farms. there IS good
reason to believe, ire simply natural
reservoirs Of water, which is held i'll
place by !, thin slbstratum of "lard
pam clay or mari, forming ashallow
basin, from which the surface water
cannot escape Itwas mattcrof gen
eral rcmark. Just after the earthquake
Of 1886 that nearly all such reservoirs
had gone dry in Il few days as a re-
suit of that disturbance. A reasonable
,,c,,,,,,t;o,, :. +l,ot +hn- -y.iOlnnt motion