Man's Impact on the Lake 



By C.R. Edgerton 



The Algonquin Indians called it 

 Mattamuskeet— 'Dry Dust'— but no one 

 knows why. 



There is nothing dry about Lake 

 Mattamuskeet. At 40,000 acres, it's the 

 largest natural lake in North Carolina. 



Perhaps it was so named by the In- 

 dians during a summer of drought, 

 when peat-laden soil around the lake 

 drained and became dry as a puff ball. 



In any case, no Hyde County resi- 

 dent denies the economic and ecological 

 importance of Lake Mattamuskeet. The 

 lake's waters average two or three feet 

 deep and teem with an abundance of 

 fish. Its boundaries lie within the 

 55-year-old Lake Mattamuskeet National 

 Wildlife Refuge. 



' 'The ecological and economic 

 value of this lake go hand in hand," 

 says Kelly Davis, a U.S. Fish and 

 Wildlife Service biologist at the refuge. 

 "Hyde County depends heavily on its 

 natural resources, and here we have 

 one of the richest resources around." 



Davis says about 50,000 people visit 

 the lake each year— two thirds of them 

 fish and crab in the lake's unique 

 fishery and the others come to watch 

 the thousands of waterfowl that winter 

 there. 



For more years than man has 

 counted, this expanse of fresh water 

 has been one of the major winter 

 stopovers for thousands of migratory 



In 1925, The New 

 Holland Company 

 bought the lake 

 bottom and, with the 

 help of a pumping 

 station that could 

 handle 1.25 million 

 gallons of water a 

 day, managed to 

 drain and farm 

 12,000 acres of the 

 lake for three years. 



Engelhard 



LAKE MATTAMUSKEET 



waterfowl traveling the Atlantic Flyway. 



Swans, ducks, geese and other birds 

 depend on the lake as a safe harbor 

 from the rigors of winter and its accom- 

 panying lack of food. Though the 

 numbers of these wintering birds have 

 fluctuated over the years, Mattamuskeet 

 is a regular pit stop. 



Mattamuskeet hasn't always been a 

 protected sanctuary. In the decade 

 before the Civil War and the 20 years 

 following 1914, the lake faced radical 

 surgery from those who attempted to 

 drain its waters and change its face for 

 their own purposes. 



Lake Mattamuskeet was originally a 

 self-contained body of fresh water. No 

 streams, creeks or rivers flowed in or 

 out. Its pristine waters came from rain, 

 runoff and ground water. 



Then, in the mid- 19th century, the 

 men living near its shores had what 

 they claimed was a brilliant idea: Let's 

 drain the lake and use its fertile bottom 

 for farming. 



Slaves provided the labor to build 

 the first of what would become a series 

 of canals from Mattamuskeet to the 

 Pamlico Sound. The canal stretched 

 from Lake Landing on the south shore 

 to Wysocking Bay on the Pamlico. 



The work was difficult. Many prob- 

 lems arose and the farmers asked the 

 state legislature for assistance. By 1911 

 the General Assembly had established a 

 drainage district around the lake and 

 authorized the sale of the lake bottom, 

 which at that time was owned by the 

 State Board of Education. 



As many as four different com- 

 panies purchased the lake bottom over 

 the next decade, each one beginning 

 with the same dream and each one 

 encountering the same problems. 



In 1925, The New Holland Com- 

 pany bought the lake bottom and, with 

 the help of a pumping station that could 

 handle 1.25 million gallons of water a 

 day, managed to drain and farm 12,000 

 acres of the lake for three years. The 

 company later fell prey to several 

 problems— among them insects, low 

 prices and excessive rainfall— and went 

 belly up. The land was sold to the U.S. 

 government in 1934 and the national 

 wildlife refuge was formed. 



The Civilian Conservation Corps 

 turned the old pumping station into a 

 lodge, which was used by the public 

 until 1974. The lodge still stands on the 

 lake's southern shore and is widely 

 known as a landmark and a symbol of 

 the era in which man attempted to har- 

 ness natural forces beyond his control. • 



Photo by C.R. Edgerton 



