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edge of the Okefenokee, and a lot of the surrounding swampy areas
were very low hence their tendency to be easily flooded. Not, so much
of problem there in the business/residential section, the water
usually didn't get so high as to flood any of the homes or
businesses. But, it sure got close many times, and with a little more
rain I'm sure someone would have had a problem with a little too much
of the wet stuff.

Years ago the US Government went into the swamp and cut drainage
canals, they also did this to many of the satellite swamps and
hammocks, by the late forties and early fifties so many had been
drained so low that fire was a big problem. After the soil dried out,
it left nothing but fuel to burn. When a fire did start, it burned
very deep as all the organic material was several feet thick, and
usually only a fall storm would dump enough water to eventually put
it out. This happened in Tiger Hammock in about 1954. When the Cone
Highway, a.k.a. 82 as US441, was built through the western side of it
they cut a canal and drained it. It took about 25 years for it to get
dry enough for disaster to happen, but it did. The fire burned for
several weeks in the fall before we got enough rain to put it out. Up
the river the head waters have to a great extent been drained off.
However, they are now going in and trying to reverse some of the
original work. Only time will tell whether it will do any good to
help save a very old wilderness/wetland/swamp. Now in all the river
flood plains when there is timber to be cut they cannot use clear cut
method. They must use older less damaging methods of harvesting
timber. This applies to timber management companies i.e. paper
companies as well as privately owned and operated lands.

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