1897.3
outlying portions. The Dismal Swamp is in nowise different
from many other large swamps to the south of it in general aspect,
but has long been known by reason of the fact that in the latter
part of the last century it was cut through by a canal extending
from the James River to Albemarle Sound. This canal was con
structed for the double purpose of affording an inland water-way
and making available large areas of juniper, cypress, and pine
forest. It was one of the great engineering works of its day, and
by making this otherwise inaccessible region easy of access,
afforded an attractive field for hunters and naturalists, as well as
the best known of our great swamp areas.
The geological relations of the Dismal Swamp are of special
interest from the fact that an examination of its surroundings
proves, according to Shaler, that no less than four cycles of eleva
tion and subsidence have been undergone since the early Pliocene,
there being a slow subsidence at the present time. Furthermore,
it is the nothernmost extension of the nearly continuous swamp
region which extends thence southward along the Atlantic coast
and all along the Gulf shore. This great swamp region is one of
features of the Atlantic coastal plain, a term which, for the sake of
clearness, is here defined. This plain begins at the edge of deep
water, or about one hundred miles out from the Atlantic coast,
and extends inland, varying in width from a few miles at the
mouth of the Hudson River to several hundred miles in the
Carolinas. It is terminated to the west in Virginia, the Carolinas
and Georgia by a low range of hills markiug the edge of the
“pine barren's” and the beginning of the “ uplands” country.
For its size, this range of hills, or “ falls country,” as it has been
called because the streams rush down the slopes in falls and rapids
to the low-lying coastal plain, is one of the remarkable features of
this country, as may be seen by a glance at the map. Richmond,
Petersburgh, Raleigh, Columbia, Augusta and many other places
of importance are situated along it. A line drawn parallel to the
‘ ‘ falls line ’ ’ about twenty miles to the east or west of it will not
cut through one-fifth as many towns and cities. The obvious
reason for the position of these cities is that the rapids and falls of
the streams give abundant water power, while the wide and deep
estuaries of the richly wooded coastal plain stretch back to the
very foot of the 1 ‘ falls line, ’ ’ affording a natural outlet to the
The Dismal Swamp.