BULLETIN OF THE 
UOTIfflIOFA«ffini 
No. 114 
Contribution from Office of Experiment Stations, A. C, True, Director 
July 13, 1914. 
(PROFESSIONAL PAPER.) 
REPORT UPON THE BLACK AND BOGGY SWAMPS DRAINAGE 
DISTRICT, HAMPTON AND JASPER COUNTIES, S. C. 
By F. G. Eason, Drainage Engineer. 
INTRODUCTION. 
While in some respects all the swamp lands of the Atlantic Coastal 
Plain are alike, the problems to be met in draining the lands differ 
somewhat from one section to another. In Georgia and the Caro- 
linas are many areas that have little slope as a whole, but in detail 
are somewhat rolling. From the higher parts, scattered among the 
flat open woodlands and the timbered bays and branches in which 
water stands the greater part of the year, the timber has been cleared 
and small farms have been established. The watercourses, which are 
broad, shallow, winding depressions, with no marked channel, are 
usually filled with growing timber and thick underbrush. 
The topographical conditions require that these lands be drained 
in units of considerable size, necessitating the cooperation of many 
landowners. In order that a few owners may not prevent a greater 
number from reclaiming their wet lands, when the few can not be 
excluded from the district to be formed, most States have passed 
general laws providing for the organization of drainage districts and 
an equitable distribution of the cost. In accordance with such a 
statute enacted in 191 1 by the Legislature of South Carolina, the Black 
and Boggy Swamps drainage district was organized in March, 1912. 
Because the Black and Boggy Swamps drainage district is in many 
respects typical of other areas in the same and bordering States, and 
because it is the first district organized under the above law, and as 
the landowners are naturally cautious about beginning an unfamiliar 
kind of undertaking, Drainage Investigations of the Office of Experi- 
ment Stations, United States Department of Agriculture, at the 
request of the landowners and in cooperation with them, made a 
Note.— This paper is intended for engineers and others interested in drainage enterprises in regions 
where the conditions are similar to those here described ; it is suitable for distribution in. the South Atlantic 
States. 
45582°— Bull. 114—14 1 
