The Cook County herald. [volume] (Grand Marais, Minn.) 1893-1909, 1907-02-16
THE GREAT DISMAL SWAMP
Eow Three Newspaper Men Invaded Its Precincts and
81: Secured Pictures Thereof

The. heart Of the great Dismal
swamp of:.Virginia is not more than
twenty miles from Norfolk and the
grounds of: the Jamestown exposition.
The region is virtually unknown even
to those residing on it's borders, and
nine-tenths of the people of Underwater
Virginia are more familiar with the
subject Of Alaska or Borneo than they
are with that Of the Dismal swamp.
Next year, when the Jamestown ex-
position is being held on Hampton
Roads, near Norfolk; the mysteries
and hitherto unknown waters and for
ests of the Dismal swamp, where now
only the occasional ring of the wood
mans ak breaks the silence Of it's soil
tude, will resound' with the voices, the
laughter land the noise of hundreds OF
thousands of human beings. It's wild
denisons will fee before the human
army, and what is now the most mys-
FERROUS, mystic, romantic and weird re-
gion of the world will become as pop:
ularly we'll known as Central Park,
New York, or Hampstead Heath, Lon
don.s The means of getting to and
from the swamp, now difficult and in
adequate, are to be improved and rem
dered adequate and comfortable, so
that even delicate ladies who desire to
visit the region can do so without dis
comfort or inconvenience.
Among those who would know of
the Dismal swamp as it. is to-day were
three newspaper men, who recently
left Norfolk to explore the region, visit
the marvellous Lake Drummond, that
is the very heart of the swamp, and
secure, if possible, some pictures of its
indescribable scenery. The spring and
summer of 1906 were notable on &C
count of the phenomenal rainfall and
the chances of getting a bright, dry
day in the swamp for the purpose OF
picture taking were very remote.
However, in this respect the trip here.
with recorded was partially successful.
The three men left Norfolk about 5
o'clock one afternoon in early Septem-
Der, their means of conveyance be-
ing "a sixteen-foot open gasoline
launch. Night closed in on them as
they sped down the south branch OF
the Elizabeth river, but not before
they had /been able to observe the
varied and interesting craft of the
American navy which lies in and
about the Norfolk navy yard. Among
them was the dismantled Olympia, IA
nous as Dewey's flagship at Manila.
The tremendous rains of the season
having greatly swollen the volume OF
water in the thousand square miles
that constitute the Dismal swamp, its
blood red waters tinctured deeply
those of the Elizabeth river, so that
the wake of the little launch looked as
though it was sailing through a sea
of Dublin stout.
Steering for an hour by moonlight
through the tortuous channel of Deep
creek, the launch reached the locks at
the village of Deep Creek which lock
holds in the waters of the Dismal
swamp canal, which is forty miles
long and connects Deep Creek, Va,
with Elizabeth City, N. G. The waters
of the canal are twelve to fourteen
feet above tidewater.
Here three huge barges doomed
vaguely in the moonlight, attended by
tiny tug. & 1t was a picturesque
sight to see these leviathans locked
and lifted into the canal. Beside
them the little launch seemed like a
pigmy as she, too, was raised to the
upper level.
The party spent the night at Deep
Creek, accepting the hospitality of A.
T. Boynton, the courteous assistant to
Capt J. B. Baxter, superintendent OF
the Lake Drummond Canal and Water
company. At. daylight, after q swim in
the dark claret OF the CANAL: the launch
was got under way and sped along the
surface of the canal, whose pictur-