The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1905-11-15
NUMERICAL USE
|. FOR The BRANDYWINE
S+ream Riley Made Famous to
Be Changed Into a Ditch.
manning ITS MARSHES PROPOSED

Ance the Creek Is Strengthened and
naeuened, Farmers Owning Marsh
fond viii Be Able to Raise BOunti-
a .nI Corn CrOps-HOOsier Poets "Oltt
s,,immin' Hole" Not What 1t Used
70 Be-OId Rail Fences Gone.
They are going to commercialize the
srandywine-to market the ripples of
sTbe Old Swimmin' Hole" at so much
ripple or, in other words, make the
rpam earn it's board and keep" says
4 Greenfield Qnd) correspondent of
he Indianapolis News. Instead of a
amy little wonderland wanderer it is
be imprisoned and desecrated with
he name of ditch"
If was James Whitcomb Riley that
lave the world heart interest in the
srandywine. The poet of Lockerbie
4reet spent many days of a happy
&ovhood on its tree bordered banks.
he Brandywine is only a creek, a
lid, crooked, go as it pleases creek.
begins it's journey toward the sea
|bmewhere above the little town Of
EaxweI, Hancock county, and winds
Round toward Greenfield, passes there
IA the eastern side of town and
Ibuirms and twists until the Blue river
haims it some twenty miles below
reenfeld. It's bed is of mosses,
sEamp grasses and is much more SOM
Her than any child Of Africa. But the
ystal goblets of the gods could not
Il clearer than the waters of the
8randywine. 1t is one of natures mir
8rs. The shadows of the saplings and
De sycamores dance upon the ripples.
Die water grasses wave to and fro
the will of the varying currents, and
Be whole family of woodland crea-
hreS seems to be constantly a picnic
a the Brandywine.
The creek has changed little in char
eter since Riley was a boy, although
Aere are those who say that the err
stic stream has changed its course
hst enough to leave 1.-THE Old Swim
Pin Hole" of Riley's day forty feet
Shore However, it is still the Bran
Twine, the trees still shade its wa
#rs as of yore and altogether it is
bOut the same as when they called
Nm Jimmy" But the old rail fences
Ne gone. Instead there are long
Brands Of barbed wire, and along the
Fandywine they seem as one of the
HPrses Of progress.
zRiley's "Old Swimmin' Hole" was
pout a quarter of mile back of Kit
Airkpatrick's barn "a landmark in
8reenfeld - and something like a mile
st of the Hancock county courthouse.
was marked by an old "sickamore'
Pat stood about a hundred yards be-
" what is now the Park avenue ford.
Riley's day it was simply the
Rrd,' a treacherous spot on the Bran
#wlne where more than one venture
Ylne youth has been cast into a swirl
Il torrent in attempting to drive
gross the stream when it was out of
amor.
lhe "Old Swimmin' Hole" had only a
eal reputation prior to June II, 1882.
4 that date Riley, writing under the
Rmely nom de plume of Benz. F..
Bhnson of Boone" gave to the old In
annapolis Journal the poem that
fought the Brandywine to fame.
ne Brandywine flows for a consld-
2aole distance through a marsh land.
#undreds of acres of ground that is in
& Present state unfit for agricultural
eipoSeS borders the creek on both
Is and it is for the purpose OF re-
plllllng this land that the farmers OF
sancock county propose to deepen and
Falghten its channel. Several months
" Ten owners of property along the
"ndyWine filed a petition with the
unity commissioners asking that the
'eeA be deepened to drain the marsh
Jus Immediately there was an out
or disapproval, and thousands OF
mes were affixed to remonstrance.
u matter has gone through numerous
gut procedures, but by virtue OF
wal legal technicality the petitioners
we Won their fight thus far, and it
practically settled now that the
andyWine is to lose its poetry and to
Ecome a ditch.
1ne Improvement will cost the farm
OF Hancock county and the prop
y owners of Greenfield more than
'"oOo In fact, there are those VINO
y mat before the work is completed
VIII reach into six figures. The argu-
suI Is made by the petitioners that
eenheld will be benefited by the
opening of the creek because it VIII