Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-01-12

Dor of refuge for hun
dreds upon hundreds Of
fleeing slaves seeking es-
cape in its tangled solitudes from
baying bloodhounds hot upon their
trail, rings today with the staccato
bark of deer and bear hounds as
sportsmen from all sections of the
country trail these aristocratS of
the wild In what is probably the
finest natural game preserve on
the Atlantic Seaboard.
Year by year, as wild life gradu-
ally disappears in other sections OF
the country, the fame Of the Dis
NAL Swamp game trails is spread
ing until now its half-a-million
acres are dotted in more than a
score of places by hunting lodges,
where, with the opening of the
hunting season, huntSmen from far
and near foregather with gun and
dog to join in sport that for
sheer thrill can hardly be sur
passed anywhere in the United
States.
The cunning this season has
been unusually good. Harry Levey.
wealthy New York sportsman, who
has a hunting lodge on the shore
of Lake Drummond, in the center
of the great swamp, recently bag
ged five deer and four bears In two
weeks of hunting.
ITS the best hunting I've had
I'm more than 10 years" Mr.. Levey
said. 1--WE hunted in practically
every section of the United States
and for real thrills and something
worth while to burn powder at, III
take the Great Dismal Swamp
every time"
In addition to the bear and deer,
MIR. Levey and his party during
their stay in the swamp shot more
than 100 cartridges, half this many
wild geese and five wild turkeys.
THE Great Dismal Swamp lies
between Norfolk, Va, and Eliz-
abeth City, N. C. Roughly, it is an
oblong 80 miles long and 20 to IS
miles wide, embracing TOO square
miles of virgin wilderness, whose
innermost depths have never been
penetrated by man. About half of
the swamp lies In Virginia and the
remainder in North Carolina. AL
most as an arrow through its CEN
ter is the Lake Drummond Canal
or the Washington Ditch, historic
waterway, dating back to the early
years of the Nation. The canal is
paralleled all the way by the
George Washington highway, a
hard-surfaced road, so named be-
cause of the interest manifested by
the Father of His Country in the
first proposals to cut a canal
through the wilderness to connect
Hampton Roads and Chesapeake
Bay, on the north, with North
Cardinals broad sounds and rivers
on the south.
A bit of the fanciful Legendary asst
the Great Dismal Swamp was wove
by Thomas Moore, the Irish poet, dl
to Norfolk in the early years of tt
fury. 1t tells of beautiful Indian I
pinned away and died, as was the
maidens in the good old days." aft
had met an untimely fate in the g
and is entitled, THE Lake Of
Swamp" Its most famous lines fol
They made her a grave too cold
For a soul so warm and true;
And she's gone to the Lake OF !
Swamp,
Where all night long by FREELY i
She paddles her white canoe.
TN it's towering gum and cypress
- fully festooned in gray Spanish
in the dank depths of its scum-cc
the Great Dismal Swamp today is
ent from the moraSs of Moore's
that it is greatly reduced in area.
it comprised approximately 2,l00 81
being nearly double the area of RI
but gradual reclamation through dl
TENS has reduced 1t to third Of
size
Curiously enough, the Great Dis
is much higher than the surroundin
Federal typographical surveys hay
that it is from 10 to % feet abov
and that IN effect it Is huge sponl
defying complete drainage unless
on a scale calling for the expendit
lions of dollars. Despite the stupe
there are many who predict that