Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1900-03-03
The DISMAL SWAMP.
Visit to a Region Of Many Strargs
Conditions.
The Deeper Recesses Of the Virginia Wilder.
ness UnexpIored.

dtel-soakeu forest known as the Dis
mai swamp has been visited bv the
Woodman in quest Of its treasures 81
cypress and juniper. To facilitate his
enterprise. small canals. locally know
as bitches, have been cut through t,
Lake Drummond at its center. o.
THESE one was named for Genera
washington, who visited the swami
Wheh a young man of "a, encompass
ing the WHOLE" to use his own words
Another bears the quantity irrelevant
name OF Jericho ditch. At the end OF
the last century large waterway, the
Dismal Swamp canal, which has beer
| recently widened and deepened. was
| eXcavated near the eastern border. AS
| result of its construction much of the
land lying to the eastward was drained
and is now in cultivation.
y wilderness the Dismal swamp re-
mains. Even today its deeper recesseS
are hardly known, save to such un-
tanned denizens as deer and bear, and 3
peculiar race of cattle that have rur
wild and live upon the reeds. Not .
few people in quest of game, or curious
| to know what place so weirdly
named may be like, penetrate the
swamp from Suffolk by way of the
Jericho canal, or on the eastern
through the Dismal Swamp canal. But
away from these recognized arteries OF
commerce stretch thousands upor
thousands of acres Of dense tangled
forest, usually covered with water to 3
depth OF one or two feet, untraVerscC
by waterways and untraversable afoot
In such Businesses the black bear is al
| home, ana he does not let himself be
seen, if he can help it. But in hard
| winters he is sometimes driven from
! his haunts and has been seen by
| startled Wayfarers even in the out
skirts Of Portsmouth,
1t was on n beautiful May day that
| first saw the swamp. Our route that
| day was the Jericho canal, which one
| reaches, riding or driving, about two
miles from the sleepy old town of Suf-
| folk. our craft was a skiff built of
! juniper wood. and propelled by pole
and paddle. At first the way lay
| through q comparatively open tract
which has been burnt over from time
| to time. ana which, despite the bur
geOning green of such vegetation as
| had survived the fires, has a look I'M
| utterably desolate and forlorn. The
trees here are small water oaks and
COW oaks, sweet bay. holly. cotton
gums. short-leaf pine, and some juniper
| (white CEDAR. Big game cane, which
| inhabitants know as reeds, grows
| everywhere. bending its graceful
sprays over the water. or with stems
standing stiffly erect, in great clumps.
| To this bamboo. more than to any
II, g l.,
nal and other Southern swamps owes
| its REGULARITY of aspect. The cane
was in bloom when we came into the
swamp. and made one think of the
marvels travellers tell concerning the
rare Towering Of bamboo in India.
The young stalks. which are used for
making pipc-stems. are cut and tied in
sheaves. Many Towering shrubs We're
there. mostly heathWorts, but heath
wOrts with large. shiny leaves. hardly
to be recognized by their humble cous-
| ms Of the Northern moors and peat
| hogs. Most delightful Of all to eye and
nose was a pale pink aZalea. much
sought by country people for the curl
Gus green swelling produced on its
leaves by certain fungus. These
they eat, knowing them as honeysuckle
apples.
AS we pursued our lazy way along
| the canal the trees became always
| higher, and the fringing canes more
| dense The woodland voices that had
been lifted high in the early morning
sank to a whisper. The chorused
chanting of the frogs spring song died
away. Now and then the sweet note
Of Il warbler reached the ear. Once a
great gray crane rose into the air with
| a discordant cry. Ever and anon we
would beat up a blue heron, to see him
| disappear in fright down the long ar
| cade before US. Then we glided into
| what is known as the Black Gum
swamp. where the straight columns Of
| the tree trunks lowered 100 feet or
more above US, and the light was soft
as in q cathedral. Two miles or so
we went between the solemn, vine
| hung black gums. and then emerged
upon the margin of Lake DrummOnd,
having Travelled II miles in something
less than four hours. Naturally, every
one who has read MoOre's poem, The
| Lake Of the Dismal swamp" recalls it
to mind when he sights Lake Drum
mond for the first time. And even
when seen in the full tide Of MONDAY,
there is something Of weirdness in the
| look Of this forest bordered sheet Of
water. Invnluntarily ones eyes go
searching for that mysterious maid
who has:
Gone to the lake Of the Dismal swamp,
| Where All night long by freely lamp
| She paddles her white canoe
That the Irish poet w~otr Of the
| Dismal swamp with all the authority
| Of actual experience, witness the
| lines:
His path was rugged and sore.
Through tangled Juniper, beds Of reeds.
Through many a fen where the serpent
! feeds.
Mans foot never trod before.
But to descend from the poets flight Of
IMAGINATION to the details of prosaic de-
scription. Lake Drummond is a small
body of water only three miles long ana
two and half wide, 50 that the lake
in, presses one as being much larger than
y is 1t would be Il thoroughly monot-
mons Iandscape. this. were it not for the
nictIIresdue belt of old cypress stumpi
mar margin the lake. almost disappear
ms NJ very high water but usually IN
ni9in view. Gnarled and gray are the
raIics Of ancient forests. worn ny years
~ weather and storm-daShed water INTO
j tbnusand strange. unearthlY forms ole
I;l,as IN nicturP to oneself the noble trees
,hat n,ust have once stood in serried ar
NV about Lake Drummond a lew are