The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1901-04-10
OKEEFENOKE SOLD
$4,000 ACRES of SWAMP LANDS
HAVE CHANGED HANDS.
BOUGHT BY MICHIGAN FIRM.
THE PRICE PAID THE JACKSON ES-
TATE S175,OOO.

Charles Hebbard 81 Sons of Michigan
the Purchasers-$S7,5 500 Has Been
Paid Hon. Pope Barrow, Trustee.
The Second Payment of $ST, 500 Is
Due in JuIy-Purchascrs Will Es-
tRbIish Saw MilIs-EnOrt VIII BE
Made to Organize n Company to
Protect the Fish and Game of the
swamp.
The Okeefenol1e swamp will have its
primeval trees cut down and converted
into lumber. The land owned by the Gen.
Henry r. Jackson estate has been pur-
chased, and the purchasers are to soon
begin the process of transferring the hard
woods of the swamp into merchantable
form. An order for the sale was grant
ed by Judge Falligant in the Superior
Court
The purchasers are Charles Hebbard &
Sens of Michigan. The trade fer the prop
erty tsd been on for some months but
was not concluded until about ten days
ago. Last Friday Hebbard & Sons paid to
Hon. Pope Barrow of Savannah, trustee
of the estate of the late Gen. Henry r.
Jackson, $500 as the first payment on
the purchase money. The property was
sold for $4,000. The first payment was
not due until April 10, but was paid Fri
day so as to save the interest of six per
cent. from the day that the sale was
contaminated. The second payment of
SS7, SEQ is due in July, but will likely be
forthcoming before that time, as Heb
hard & Sons will wish to save the inter
est on the balance due.
The property was surveyed by Mr..
Howell c. Jackson of Atlanta. a son of
Gen. Jackson, several years ago and was
found to contain S54,OOO acres. The cir
cunference of the swamp is 1877 miles.
The safe carries with it the land, timber,
water courses and the game with which
the swamp abounds in large quantities.
Mr.. Jackson will make an effort to in
duce Hebbard & Sons to allow him to or
ganize company for the purpose of pro-
tecting the game and fish in the swamp.
AS the purchasers bought the property for
its timber and the land after it has been
cleared, there is hardly a doubt but that
they will agree to allow a game preserve
to be organized and maintained.
The timber consists of cypress
and pines, the former on the swamp
lands and the latter on the Islands of up
lands that here and there are to be
found in this immense tract of wild land.
The timber in Okeefenoke is in vast
quantity and is very valuable, and the
soil, when the land is cleared and drained,
will be used for farming. The uplands
are now made to produce sea island cot
ton, and the swamp lands can be made
to yield immense quantities of sugar cane.
The soil under the water is composed of
decomposed vegetable matter, and i'm
mensely rich.
Hebbard & Sons have been engaged IN
the milling business in Michigan for q
number of years and are no novices in
the matter of cutting timber and convert
ing it into a merchantable product. They
are now making arrangements to con-
struct several lumber mills near the edge
of the swamp, and as soon as the water
is drawn off, will build several Other
mills at interior points. 1t is not believed
that the firm will complete the work of
constructing the canal through Okeefeno-
Ike un til after the timber is cut and
Goated out. To draw off the water and
then clear out the timber would be a
dangerous experiment, as the dry vegeta-
BILE matter at the bottom of the swamp
If it once caught on fire would burn so
fercely as to threaten the destruction of
the timber as well as the milling enter
prises of the firm.
Hebbard & Sons a few weeks ago closed
a deal for little Okeefenoke swamp, which
is small affair when compared with the
big swamp This property is located about
ten miles south of the large swamp, and
in it is an abundance of hard wood
timber