114 



Prockkdings 01^ Ninth Annuaiv Mii:i:TjNG 



The area in question, known as the Dismal Swamp, was a low- 

 lying, woody morass of some six hundred acres. A drainage 

 channel, commonly called Dismal Brook, courses along the south 

 side of the swamp. Through lack of care this brook had become 

 so badly choked that it was unable to drain the surrounding 

 lowlands with sufficient speed tO' prevent the accumulation of 

 standing water. As a result this six hundred acre area became 

 a great mosquito incubator and the migrations of mosquitoes 

 from this swamp to the borough of Metuchen completely over- 

 shadowed the results of the local campaigns waged by that com- 

 munity. 



At the instigation of the Board of Health of Metuchen a 

 drainage survey of the swamp was prepared together with cost 

 estimates. A profile of the survey showed that from the head- 

 waters of Dismal Brook to the lower end of the area in question 

 there was a grade of seven feet in seven thousand feet of main 

 channel. This indicated that with proper cleaning and grading 

 the surface water in Metuchen and in the swamp itself could be 

 readily drawn away. The benefits which would be derived from 

 this drainage would be three-fold — (i) elimination of standing 

 water in the swamp, (2) the elimination of large fresh water 

 mosquito breeding areas, and (3) the lowering of the water table 

 in the low-lying parts of the borough and township, thus enabling 

 the cesspools in those sections to gain in capacity. 



The drainage proposition was placed before the governing 

 bodies of the two communities interested and it was adopted. 

 An equitable financial agreement was reached whereby the bor- 

 ough of Metuchen appropriated one thousand dollars and the 

 township .of Raritan eight hundred dollars for this work. The 

 Middlesex County Mosquito Extermination Commission ac- 

 cepted oversight of all operations. 



In making the survey it had been discovered that a peculiar 

 soil condition existed under the brook bed, which would make 

 proper grade ditching difficult and expensive if done by hand. 

 It was comparatively simple to remove the silt, mud and debris 

 from the bottom of he brook with shovels, but this only ac- 

 counted for approximately a fifteen-inch lowering of the channel, 

 the survey called for a thirty-inch cut. Under this silt and mud 

 was a layer of impervious clay which could only be removed at 

 great expense and with great difficulty. However, beneath this 

 layer of clay was found a strata of white sand. 



Several years previous a similar condition had been met with 

 by the Woodbrook Farms, a large dairy situated northwest of 

 Metuchen, when they had regraded a section of Dismal Brook 



