DRAINING THE SWAMPS 

 rived that name is from the fact that at this 

 place is where the first wagon road crossed 

 Sandy Hook, Early in the seventies a wagon 

 bridge was built across the East Channel of 

 Sandy Hook from the main land to the Island, a 

 little over five hundred feet long, Previous to 

 the building of the bridge the channel was ford- 

 ed during low water and footmen crossed the 

 channel in boats, Getting back to the subject, 

 these ditches were dug by hand with pick and 

 shovel and were twelve feet wide for the first 

 three miles then eight feet wide to the source. 

 The two ditches that 1 have mentioned were the 

 first State ditches dug in the Kankakee Valley 

 They were practically a failure. At the lower 

 end where they emptied their waters into the 

 Kankakee they filled up on account of back 

 water when the river was high and the ditch 

 was of little use at all, as they had to be cleaned 

 and recleaned every few years costing the land- 

 owners several thousand dollars at each opera- 

 tion which means that these people have spent 



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