Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1916-03-23
Dixie Goes Ahead
yI-OLD AND NEW PLANTATION
BY FREDERIC J. HAsKIN

Charleston. s. c., March l9.--The
south is going back to its plantations
Lands that have lain fallow for gem
Grafton are being titled again and
long deserted mansions repaired and
opened, sometimes as permanent
homes. oftener as country places and
! shooting lodges. Wide fireplaces
blaze again on autumn evenings;
halls that have been silent for fifty
years are filled with music and
, voices; swamps and pine forests echo
! the horns of hunting parties and the
trumpe ting bay of hounds.
, There is something peculiarly ap-
/ pealng about the rehabilitation or
! these old mansions, some of which
have stood through the whole Ameri-
can story since colonial days. and
have sheltered the soldiers of three
American wars. After Lees surren-
der. a variety of conditions forced the
southerners to leave their plantations
on the coastal plains. The rice indus
try could not stand the competition
from the west Sea island cotton,
; which lad long ruled the market,
dropped in price. There was no mon
ey in the south to begin agriculture OF
new lines. The people left their lan3s
and crowded to the cities. Now they
have found prosperity again and they
are going back. @ n.
The movement is not primarily a
sentimental one, by any means. a
few weeks ago three brothers here
Fought back ten thousand acres when
-! had belonged to their family before
, the war. They are going in for sclen'
! tiHc agriculture Companies have
been formed to reclaim the rice fields.
There are two experts from the ma
ticnal department of agriculture In
town now to advise some Charleston
| men on such project. They believe
that by strengthening the old dykes
and using steam pumps, these rich
alIuvial lands can be placed under cul-
tivation again. Other lands are being
divided into small tracts and colon
| lied
Most UNIQUE is the utilization OF
these old plantations as hunting pre-.
serves Nearly all of them contain
great areas of swamp and woodland
and these are alive with game. Deer.
| wild turkey, foxes, wild fowl and par
, tridges are abundant within few
miles of Charleston. There is prob,
ably not another city Of its size In
the United States that commands nm
er hunting. Now those estates which
com bine excellent game covers with
comfortable mansions are being pur-
! chased by clubs. The old homes
make excellent hunting lodges. Men
from as far north as Boston and as
far west as st. Paul gather here in
November. often bringing their fam.
lilies with them and staying the whole
season. Some Of the clubs have thirty
or forty members, and a force Of game
keepers. The initiation fee is usually
five to ten thousand dollars and the
annual dues run from seven hundred
,, to thousand. There are many small
Ter clubs and some large tracts of
land are kept by individuals as hunt
ing grounds.
This conversion Of plantations into
shooting preserves has many sadvan-
tages. 1t keeps up and improves
these historical homes, brings no in
considerable amount of money to the
south, and saves the game. For all
of the clubs have the most strict of
game LEWIS and vigorously suppress
pcaching.