The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1909-09-07
DRAINING T0|sNCT SWAMP
About 1000 Acres Will Be Re.
claimed of Profitable Soil

ed Parties-E is Progressing Nicely
and it is Expected That 1t VIII Be
Completed by Next January.
Wilson, n. c., Sept 4.-Undoubtedly
the very best step and the most i'm
portant of all undertakings in Wilson
county is the drainage of Toisnot
Swamp. For a long while this i'm
portai,t step has been talked of by
the land owners along the route from
Wilson to Moccasin river, and it was
not all talk. for the work is progress
ing along finely. When the intelligence
of Wilson put their heads together to
do a certain thing that same hin is
as good as done if by doing it Will
prove Of benefit to the people at large.
Acting on the instruction of The
News and Observer this correspond
emf interviewed Mr.. Lawrence Brett,
who is superintendent of the work,
and from land owners who are inter
ested in the work,-the following facts
as to the probable cost of the work.
the number of heretofore worthless
acres of land that will be reclaimed.
and the stamping out of much mala-
ria produced by stagnant water. For
many years it has been thought that
Toisnot Swamp has to a great de-
SESC bSOA LIN oOc III LID Ii iIpSI
as yellow chills"-but when the
dredging has been finished and the
drainage is made complete it is believ-
ed that the deadly yellow chills'' Will
be known along the run of Toisnot
Swamp nc more.
Mr.. Brett says the Toisnot Drainage
Company (incorp1fated) is composed
of Lane owners along the stream, and
that each one, according to the mum
Der Of acres reclaimed, will be taxed
in accordance; that eight miles OF
dredging n draining was in the con-
tract, the cost Of which will be about
three thousand dollars per mile.
About two thousand acres will be re-
claimed, which, until the work is COM
pIeted, remains practically worthless;
but when the drainage is complete it
Will easily be worth $50 per acre.
The width OF the canal will be in
some places twenty-five feet; a long
stretch Of it will be thirty feet long.
and at some points thirty-six feet.
Depth from s IL to 9 feet feet,
with an average of Z IL feet.
After the project is finished The
force of the water Will keep the canal
clean, and all the land owners will
have to do to make the lowlands the
finest for the production of corn is to
keep the bitches open that the water
after heavy rains may find it's way to
the channels.
Aside from the reclamation of the
many acres ToisnOt canal will furnish
a free outlet for the sewerage of Will
SON, and this in itself viii prove of I'M
told eneft to the health of the city
and will not be detrimental to those
in the rural districts-as water puri-
ies itself after running certain dis
This is one Of the first of a dozen or
more projects of this kind that is now
going on and being contemplated in
Eastern Carolina.
Hundreds of visitors-many of them
from other sections-are watching
with interest the being made
by the wonderful dredge and the pow
erful stump-pu1ler as the work goes
forward The work begun in juno
last, and it is thought will be finished
by January 1, 1919.
The cost of dredge and machinery
{property of contradictory for this stu
pendous undertaking was SLIP, 900. 1t
only three men to operate. but
a force of from twenty-five or thirty
are employed to fell. trees and clear
away heavy underground.
Hyde county can feed US all when
it's lands are drained. Drainage is the
question in Eastern North Car