The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1904-04-03
MERIDIAN ROAD AS PART OF
PROPOSED AUTO SPEEDWAY
The Plan Revival in Another Form Of What
Was Contemplated When the Road Mas
First Projected

Editor Morning News: The move
ment in the Chamber of Commerce
toward establishing a speedway and
ridian road is a revival in another
form of what was contemplated by
the original projectors of that road
some fourteen or fifteen years ago.
The drainage and roads improvement
of the county had then passed its
incipiency and was just developing
along systematic lines, but there was
at that time a large conservative ele-
ment among the people which COM
PEELED the County Commissioners to
move slowly. However the wisdom of
their views has since been demon
, strated as sound and progressive and
| some of their projects have been car
ried out. 1t is only question of time
| when others will be.
In this connection it may be of in
terest to give a bit of county his
| tory.
Bit of County History.
The fearful ravages of the yellow
J fever in 1876 aroused the people of
| Savannah to an investigation of the
sanitary condition of the city and
! it's suburbs. The unanimous conclu-
| sion was that the prevalence of ma
larial and other pernicious fevers was
] caused by the undrained state of the
| surrounding country, particularly the
| two great swamps, Musgrove in the
west and Cuyler on the east of the
city. The tributaries of the former
| surrounded the city on the southwest
| and discharged into the Savannah riv-
er through the old Springfield canal
| at the Central Railroad wharves. The
| tributaries of the latter headed in the
eastern and southern suburbs, and
| sweeping around to the south, dis
| charged into Vernon river, some six
| miles from the city.
| Early in 1877 a drainage commission
| was organized, with Dr. ]. G. Thomas
as president, and Gen. Gilmer as con-
| sulting engineer who, after having
| had some preliminary surveys made,
| recommended the drainage of these
| two great swamps. Work was COM
| menced on the west and afterwards
| opened up on the east and was pros
| ccuted as vigorously as the scanty
1 1ullOS III lHG 44dlluo VI TIC SOAAlililoSlOlA
would permit.
CuyIer Swamp's Drainage.
In digging the canal for the drain
! age of Cuyler swamp an obstacle was
| encountered which caused a consider
| able expenditure of money and labor
! without a very satisfactory result. Two
miles of the lower part of the swamp
lay in the lands of DR.. Paul Pritch-
ard and formed his backwater and
rice plantation. To cut the canal
through these would virtually destroy
the value of the plantation for rice
culture. 1t was necessary, therefore,
to divert it through the highlands for
mile and a half, so as to discharge
| into Vernon river below the rice
lands. The excavations for this part
of the canal was consequently deer
and the sandy nature of the soil
through which it passed caused con-
tinued filing, so that to make the
drainage any way effective a force was
| required nearly all the time to keep il
| cleaned out
/ In 1887 the drainage commission had
| virtually turned over all the work tC
| the County Commissioners and the
| drainage was being done by the small
J force of convicts then at the command
of that body The problem that worried
| the commissioners most was the large