08/30/2024
I had been claimed that the clearing of the cypress swamps and the creation of rice agriculture from Wilmington North Carolina down to Jacksonville Florida was a super human effort on par with the building of the pyramids in Egypt. Although it created great wealth it also created great pestilence. Cypress swamps are notably free of mosquito infestations. In the earliest days settlers wrote back to others encouraging them to come to Carolina where the air was sweet. Removing the cover and adding the water created a perfect breeding ground for mosquitoes and created great suffering and malaria epidemics.
“In years to come, when all the present generation have gone,
the stranger and the wayfarer passing along mighty rivers,
seeing the great dikes and the innumerable canals and ditches large and small,
the fields divided into various sizes,
or perhaps,
roaming amongst the piles of bricks,
all that remains of the old homes,
driving up the old avenues of oaks and magnolias which led to them- -
will muse and wonder what race of men dwelt here and what all these works meant in and near the swamps.” David Doar
photo: Library of Congress
