Where Paradise Lay

Where Paradise Lay
A Trilogy
Everyone has their own idea of paradise. It might be an afternoon on the golf course with friends, a day in a favorite fishing hole with one’s grandson, a week at Pawleys with family, or being at Death Valley when the tigers rub the rock and run down the hill. There are many moments and places we enjoy with family and friends that we love and cherish as being in paradise. This evening I will share some thoughts on three spots not far from us that some might consider paradise. They are woven together by common threads that will become apparent as we explore this trilogy. We will primarily move chronologically through this saga which will sometimes take us from one spot to the other and then back again. As we near the end of the story, however, we will fly freely about through space and time.

The Cowasee Basin
After the War Between the States, thousands of acres of land across South Carolina that had been under cultivation before the war were left fallow because there was no more slave labor to manage the fields. Much of this land grew up in trees. Likewise, those areas in the hardwood river bottoms, most commonly called swamps by us, that had been diked and the tree’s cleared for agricultural purposes returned back to their natural state as well, with trees growing rapidly in the fertile alluvial soils made rich by the periodic flooding of the rivers. Of course, there were many large areas in the swamps that contained virgin timber that had never been cut. Such was the case in the flood plains along the Congaree, Wateree, and Santee rivers, today known as the Cowasee Basin.

Flowing 413 miles from it’s headwaters to the Atlantic Ocean, the Santee River, which is the final leg of the Cowasee Basin, is the second largest river system on the east coast, draining 16,800 square miles. Its headwaters begin at Old Fort, NC, near Black Mountain, as the Catawba River. The Catawba becomes the Wateree as it enters SC. At Columbia, the Saluda and Broad Rivers join to form the Congaree. The Congaree and Wateree join together just southeast of Columbia and form the Santee.

After the War Between the States there was also an influx of businessmen who saw opportunities in the south. This phenomenon of northern businessmen moving or expanding their operations to the south has continued even until today. In the period from the end of the Civil War to the turn of the century industrial growth and railroad expansion were major factors in the movement of business and industry from the northeast to the west and the south.

In the mid 1890’s Francis Biedler I, started purchasing swampland along the Congaree, Wateree, and Santee Rivers. In short order Beidler had purchased over 165,000 acres all bought at bargain prices of $1 - $2 an acre. The swamp land was no longer used for agricultural purposes. There was a lack of capital and industrial capacity in South Carolina to harvest the timber, so land owners were eager to sell the swamp land which many considered to be of little value.

Biedler and B.F. Ferguson formed the Santee River Cypress Company and began harvesting Bald Cypress and many other varieties of timber from the river bottoms of the “Cowasee Basin”. Beidler and Ferguson, both from Chicago, had worked together for several years with Beidler’s father in the lumber business. Cypress was in demand because of it’s renown resistance to rot. Used for shingles, building exteriors, railroad ties, pilings, and bridges, cypress was known to last longer than any other wood, with cypress shingles often lasting a century or more.

In order to process the timber Beidler and Ferguson built a sawmill, around 1895, on a patch of high ground just off the Santee River near present day Eutawville. The mill manager beginning in 1896, working off and on for many years, was Fred Seeley, who you shall see is one of those threads moving through our story. A boom town developed at the mill which came to be known as Ferguson, SC. The mill was massive, capable of processing 80,000 board feet a day, with a drying kiln heated with electricity. The town of 800 people in its heyday included a hotel, houses for white and black workers, a hospital, company store, school and a bank. Way ahead of the surrounding areas, Ferguson boasted running water, a sewer system, gas lights and electricity provided by a 10 boiler power plant. Railroad lines connected Ferguson to the outside world and were used to transport the lumber from the mill to markets in the north.

Logging the swamps was difficult work to say the least, with all the timber being harvested by hand with cross cut saws. Mosquitoes and the malaria they carried were a real danger. Many workers and members of their families died a terrible death from malaria. The hot humid environment in the swamps that were often flooded contributed to the tough working conditions. Many of us know from personal experience how hot and humid it can be in the swamp during the summer. Most of the harvested timber lay close to the rivers or along the creeks, sloughs and guts that flowed into the rivers so that the logs could be floated down stream. It was found that the cypress logs were too heavy to float “green”. The trees were girdled to kill them and allow them to dry out making them lighter and better able to float. An early technique to move the logs from where they were cut through flooded swamps was called “bull hunching”. Logs were pushed by hand down a ‘track” made from other logs that led to the higher ground where mules could be used to move the timber on to the river.

In 1905 Ferguson sold out his interest in the Santee River Cypress Company to Beidler. When Beidler began losing his sight around 1912 he turned over operations to M.B. Cross. Within a couple of years Beidler decided to close down the mill altogether. Beidler sold the existing lumber and timber rights south of Ferguson around Black Oak Island, to Brooklyn Cooperage, at that time operating in New York and Missouri, which subsequently established a barrel making plant in Sumter a decade or so later. By 1916 Ferguson was literally a ghost town. With the lumber mill shut down, the main source of income vanished and so did the inhabitants of Ferguson.

Information from Fred Seeley, manager of the lumber mill at Ferguson for several years, indicates that although the lumber operation at Ferguson was the largest in the southeast at that time, it was not profitable. One of the problems was an abundance of lumber being cut in the United States at that time, causing supply to exceed demand. Around 1912 Francis Beidler loaned the company $621,000 of his own money to keep things going but ultimately ended operations in 1915.

Francis Beidler I died in 1924 leaving his estate to his two children, Francis II and Elizabeth Beidler Carton. After the death of Francis I, most of the land was held together with Frank II and then Frank III managing the affairs of the estate. Over the ensuing years timber contracts were issued to numerous timber companies which harvested timber in various places along the rivers about which we shall have more discussion shortly.

The Wateree Swamp
For many of us who grew up in Sumter County the Wateree Swamp is synonymous with great hunting and fishing. Many sportsmen who knew of the wonderful opportunities in the swamp joined together to form clubs in order to lease areas of land for hunting and fishing. One such organization was the Columbia Sumter Club.

Originally known as the Columbia Hunting Club, all the members were from Richland County. During the early days of the Great Depression many members dropped out as money was tight and some in the club were having trouble paying their dues, which in 1929 were $5 per year. It was decided by the remaining members, all from Columbia at that time, that to keep an adequate number of dues paying members in order to pay the lease on the land, some sportsmen on the Sumter side of the swamp should be asked to join. The charter members from the Sumter side included Johnny McKnight, Mac Boykin, Dr. Edgar Durant and a few others.

As the Depression deepened and times got even tougher other members were recruited from Sumter. For a number of years there were actually more members from Sumter than from Columbia. Eventually it was established there should be an equal number of members which was twenty-five from each city. The presidency of the club was alternated each year between a Sumter and then a Columbia member. In later years the membership was raised to thirty from each side of the river for a total of sixty members. In the late thirties dues were $10 per year.

The land leased by the Columbia Sumter Club was located roughly between Millford Plantation and Poinsett State Park. The land was owned by the Beidler family. The Beidler family is the most important of those common threads running through the fabric of our trilogy. The hunting rights were leased by the Columbia Sumter Club from the timber companies that held the timber contracts from the Beidlers. Over the years those timber companies included several that are familiar to us such as Georgia Pacific, Vestel, and Williams Furniture Company.

There were many well known and sometimes colorful sportsmen from both Columbia and Sumter that were members of the club. Some Sumter members during the 1950’sincluded, A.C. Cribb, Stuart Burnett, R.E. Dunn, Dr. Eddie Durant, J.R. Fidler, Hugh Humphries, H. C. “Briggs” McLauren, Ernest Newman, D.I. Reardon, John Terry, Burke Watson, J.O. Barwick, W. O. Staley, and Mallard Marshall. Perhaps the most notable from the Columbia side were Frank and Harry Hampton of The State newspaper about whom we shall hear more shortly.

The origin of the old clubhouse is unknown as it was built prior to 1929 before sportsmen from the Sumter side of the river were members. In the early days, the deer dogs were kept in a pen directly under the clubhouse. This sometimes led to cursing and shouting from those trying to sleep or play cards when the dogs were barking at the moon. The original road leading to the clubhouse was the old Starks Ferry Road, which back in the day went all the way to the river to the sight of Starks Ferry which crossed the Wateree over to Richland County. In the sixties much of the old roadbed was still visible as it ran through the swamp towards the river.

I started hunting in the Columbia Sumter with friends when I was in high school. My father joined the club in the late seventies. I learned firsthand that the hunting and fishing opportunities in the Columbia Sumter Club were second to none. Deer drives were the big group activities. Duck hunting was excellent because back in the day there were plenty of ducks in the swamp. When the water was at the right level and the “color of Tetley Tea” the fishing was extraordinary. The club house was the scene of many a card game. The cook shed boasted a fish fry every Wednesday afternoon during the spring and summer months, with fish so fresh they were still flipping in the pan. There was a long tradition of “camping” at the clubhouse during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. Hunting, fishing, and napping during the day; eating, drinking, telling stories of previous adventures and the “characters” of the club both living and dead; capping it off by a late night poker game, the night before merged into the cold starry morning as the potbellied stove in the cook shed was stoked up and the coffee put on at 5:00 a.m. to do it all over again. It would be just another day in paradise in the Wateree.

The Santee River
Formed by the confluence of the Wateree and Congaree rivers 25 miles southeast of Columbia, the Santee meanders 143 miles to the Atlantic. As it nears the coast it divides into two channels which flow parallel to each other for about 10 miles, reaching the ocean roughly 15 miles south of Georgetown. In the early days of our State the rivers played an important role in commerce as the primary means of transporting products to market. In 1800 construction was completed on a canal to link the Santee River with the Cooper River which would allow goods to be transported directly to Charleston. The Old Santee Canal, as it is now known, was abandoned near mid-century because the railroads proved to be a cheaper and faster mode of moving goods.

The idea of linking the Santee and Cooper rivers was reincarnated in the 1920’s by T.C. Williams, owner of the Columbia Railway and Navigation Co. He envisioned building two lakes with navigation locks to provide his steam-powered paddlewheel boats a route from Columbia to Charleston. He was well on his way with the development of this project when the Great Depression brought an end to his dream.

The idea was revisited in 1933 when Strom Thurmond and James F. Byrnes realized that President Franklin Roosevelt’s “New Deal” held promise to provide the rural areas of South Carolina, one of the last areas in the nation without power, the benefits of electrification. In 1934 the S.C. General Assembly created the S.C. Public Service Authority whose mission was a hydroelectric and navigation project that would connect the Santee and Cooper Rivers. The project was challenged by private power companies all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. The court, of course, ruled in favor of Santee Cooper.

There was opposition to the project from many individuals in the local communities as well. The project called for the construction of two large lakes. The 200 square miles encompassing 170,000 acres that would be inundated by the lake waters included much more than just swampland. The plantations in historic Saint John’s Parish to be covered by the rising waters included Francis Marion’s Pond Bluff, William Moultrie’s Northhampton, Peter Gaillard’s The Rocks, and the St. Julian family’s Pooshee. There were dozens of churches and cemeteries, working farms, and several small communities below the high water mark as well.

Despite the opposition, construction began in the spring of 1939. Nearly 13,000 workers, many that had been on government relief, went to work with the WPA (Works Progress Administration) on the largest land clearing and earth moving project in U.S. history. During the clearing operation 200 million board feet of timber were harvested. In order to expedite the completion of the project there were large areas in Clarendon County that were not cleared of trees. In some instances trees were cut down and cabled to the stumps. Years later when their tethers decomposed, these logs rose to the surface causing hazards for boaters. (Many of us have had personal experiences at Santee with floating logs or logs with one end sticking up near the surface of the water.)

The eight mile Santee Dam was the longest earthen dam in the world at the time it was built. The Santee spillway, with 62 gates, was 3,400 feet long when completed. The various dams and dikes that formed the lower lake combined to run 26 miles. A hydro-power station and navigation locks were built at Pinopolis. These locks are 60 feet wide and 180 feet long. Raising or lowering boats 75 feet from the tailrace canal to the surface of the lake, they are the highest single lift locks in North America and were the highest in the world at the time of the project. (Making the “river run” and passing through the locks is an exciting experience and a little scary when your boat is lowered and the gates high above you are holding back what seems to be all the water in the whole lake.)

The project was completed in less than three years with the formation of Lake Marion and Lake Moultrie which are now very familiar to all of us. The generators did indeed provide power to Berkley, Georgetown, and Horry counties with electricity first being generated in February of 1942. My father’s family whose homeplace is in Berkeley County was a beneficiary of the power that flowed as a result of the Santee Cooper Project. My father was 18 years old and out of high school before their home had electricity.

The land to be flooded, which was all private property, was taken by the State through eminent domain. The rising waters required that hundreds of families be relocated. The owners of the property were paid $12.00 per acre, which was well above the market value for farmland at that time. Most of those relocated were poor African-Americans. In some instances small communities and family groups were relocated and kept together to some degree. Each family that was relocated was also given 100 chickens to compensate for the disruption of their lives.
Many cemeteries were relocated with nearly 6,000 graves having their bodies exhumed and then reinterred on higher ground. Numerous churches and houses were relocated as well. Many structures, however, were abandoned and all those left behind were submerged by the rising waters. Ferguson, the previously mentioned lumber mill town built by Francis Beidler and B.F. Ferguson, deserted since 1916, was covered by the rising waters. Here again, we find those common threads running through the fabric of our trilogy. The Beidler family lost about 74,000 acres to the lakes, but of course was paid $12 an acre like all the other property owners.

The project caused many to suffer personal sacrifice, being uprooted from their homes and farms where they had lived for generations. The concept of eminent domain, of course, is that private land is taken for the public good. There is no question that our state benefited from the damming of the Santee River. The economic development resulting from the presence of electrical power can’t be understated. The economic impact from the business and tourism related to the lake system is measured in the hundreds of millions of dollars. Recreational activities such as boating, fishing, hunting, and golfing will continue to insure economic growth for the counties that surround the lakes.

We all know from personal experience the pleasure associated with “Santee”. Many of us grew up on the lake, swimming, water skiing, and boating at Wyboo, Church Branch, and Potato Creek. My grandmother had a house on Church Branch where my family and friends spent a lot of time. I can still hear the whine of propellers going by as I would hold my breath and see how long I could stay under. Sometimes we would wait until dusk dark for that last ski of the day when the water was like glass and the bugs would hit you in the face. I’m sure some of the wrinkles I have today are a carryover from so much time in that dark water. As we grew older there was a lot of “social interaction” at the Lake. We all did a lot of growing up down there. I dare say there were more than just a few “firsts” for many teenagers near the waters of the Santee. Not many of us are still jumping the wake and cutting sharp on a slalom but we are still on the lake. Now we are getting to enjoy the lake again as we watch our children and grand- children growing up on the water. We’ve exchanged the slalom for a pontoon boat full of family and friends, with a well stocked cooler, headed for a cheeseburger at Scarborough’s Landing which is somewhere close to paradise.

The Congaree Trees
As previously mentioned, Francis Bieidler I had two children, Francis II and Elizabeth Beidler Carton. After the death of Francis I in 1924, most of the land was held together with Frank II managing the affairs of the estate. Francis II had three children, Francis III, Betty and Eleanor. Mrs. Carton had two daughters Mrs. Louise Beidler Desfrancs and Mrs. Anne Marie Biedler Boardman. Again in this instance, the namesake of the founder of the Santee River Cypress Company, Francis III managed the affairs of the land in South Carolina for his sisters and cousins. In the 1960’s foresters advised Frank III that certain areas of the Congaree Swamp contained trees that were over mature and should be harvested. Some small parts of this area may not have been logged at all in previous years.

Those areas of the swamp that had been logged were left to nature for close to fifty years and had reverted to near “virgin” conditions. Hunters and naturalists during the 1950’s and 60’s had been finding huge pine and cypress trees that had been spared the axe. High timber prices in 1969 brought about a resumption of logging by the Beidler family on some of their holdings in the Congaree Swamp. This brought about an outcry from sportsmen and naturalists that the “virgin cypress” on the Congaree would be lost forever.

One sportsman that had been calling for preservation of this area since the 1950’s was Harry Hampton. Here is another example of those common threads running through the fabric of our trilogy, for as previously noted, Harry was a member of the Columbia Sumter Hunting Club. Hampton had been a lone voice lobbying for the state of South Carolina to provide protection for the flood plain forest. For years, in his column “Woods and Waters”, in The State newspaper, he promoted preservation of the Congaree Swamp. Hampton had identified a huge bald cypress which he often used as an example of what would be lost if logging continued. He was joined at this critical time in the early 70’s by others including Jim Elder, Jim Welch, Dick Watkins, The Sierra Club, and Friends of the Congaree Swamp which campaigned to stop the logging of the swamp and preserve the massive trees. Despite opposition from the timber industry, some local property owners and hunting clubs that leased the hunting rights, the grassroots effort was a success. In October of 1976, legislation introduced by Fritz Hollings and Floyd Spence was signed by President Gerald Ford establishing the Congaree Swamp National Monument. In 2003, as a result of legislation sponsored by Jim Clyburn, the area was declared The Congaree National Park. The original purchase by the federal government in 1976 was 15, 138 acres for a price of over $30 million paid to the Beidlers.

Today the park encompasses 24,000 acres containing the largest contiguous area of old growth bottom land hardwood forest in the United States. The park has hiking trails, board walks and a marked canoe trail on Cedar Creek that all go down into the swamp so that visitors can experience the awe of being in the presence of some of the oldest and largest trees east of the Mississippi. Trees that have attained record sizes in the park include bald cypress, loblolly pine, oak, elm, and water tupelo. The largest pine is more than 15 feet in circumference and 167 feet tall. The largest bald cypress is 26 feet in circumference and 131 feet tall. The visitor’s center at the Congaree National Park is named for Harry Hampton and the giant bald cypress tree that Hampton used to promote the preservation of the swamp is now named the Harry Hampton tree. It has a circumference of 23 feet and is the tallest bald cypress in the park at 148 feet. Regarding the age of the trees, Fred Seeley, manager of the Santee River Cypress Company saw mill at Ferguson indicated that most of the cypress trees brought through the mill during the period of 1895 – 1914 were 500 – 700 years old. The oldest cypress recorded at the mill, however, had 1,600 growth rings, and Seeley indicated there were larger trees but no one took the time to count up the growth rings.

When one visits the Congaree National Park the serenity and peace found there among the oldest living things in our state that were around long before any European set foot on this continent is truly a journey back to what some would call paradise.

Paradise Purchased
In July of 1987 Mike Watson noticed Roy Belser, a forester with Shaw, McLeod, and Belser, (now American Forest Management) coming out of the “north gate” of the Columbia Sumter Club. Along with Roy Belser was Lang Rivers and several other gentlemen. Being curious, Mike called Roy and inquired what they were doing. During the ensuing conversation Mike learned that Mrs. Louise Desfrancs, the granddaughter of Francis Beidler I, wanted to sell her portion of the swamp being leased by the Columbia Sumter Club, which consisted of approximately 3,800 acres. He also learned that the gentlemen with Lang Rivers were clients looking at the property as potential buyers. The property for sale was the lower portion of the Columbia Sumter Hunting Club, starting at the clubhouse on Big Lake and heading south towards Millford Plantation, Dow Lake and the “State Line” which was the northern boundary of land owned by the Santee Cooper Authority. The ownership of all the lands in the Wateree Swamp had been divided between the Beidler family members in 1981, with each heir gaining ownership of specific sections of the swamp. Prior to that time the lands had been held in common by all the heirs of Francis Beidler I.

The division of the property was precipitated by the sale of the Congaree tract to the federal government. When Frank III’s sisters and cousins got their share of the sale price, they became curious regarding exactly what they owned in South Carolina that generated the kind of money. As a result, the land was divided into equal tracts among the heirs. As just mentioned, the portion up for sale was owned by Mrs. Desfrancs who wanted the money to put a new roof on her “castle” in France.

Upon learning the property was for sale, Mike Watson went to his father for advice. “Big Burke” suggested that a small group be put together to discuss the feasibility of purchasing the property. It was decided that this small group should include three members of the Columbia Sumter and a couple of individuals that were not members. All those approached by Mike were in agreement that purchasing the property was a good idea and agreed to work together toward that end. In addition to Mike, the original five included Bill Cockerill, J. B. Hilton, Tee Dee Allesandro, and Burke Watson, Jr., the latter two not belonging to the Columbia Sumter Club. The committee of five began negotiations with Mrs. Desfrancs, with Shaw, McLeod, and Belser acting as her agent.

In September of 1987, a contract was signed by Burke Watson Jr., with a commitment from the other four members of the committee to Burke, to purchase 3,749 acres at a price of $915,000.00 with $10,000.00 earnest money put up, to be forfeited should there be a failure to perform. There was a stipulation in the contract that Mrs. Defrancs would have five years after the closing date to harvest the existing timber on the property. It was decided that the committee should now approach the Sumter members of the Columbia Sumter Club about the opportunity to purchase the property.

A meeting was held shortly after the contract was signed with all Sumter members of the Columbia Sumter Hunting Club requested to attend. The committee presented a plan to the Sumter members that the property would be purchased as a corporation with thirty certificate holders, each putting up an equal amount of money to cover the purchase price. At this meeting it was decided that the Columbia members should be brought into the discussion.
Within a few days a meeting was held a Sikes Bar B Que with all sixty members requested to attend. The proposal to form a corporation with thirty certificate holders was presented to the entire membership.

There were many members of the club who had very negative feelings about the plan to buy the property. In addition, there were many members who had negative feelings about those who were leading the effort to purchase the property. Some members of the club believed that the club would be able to continue to lease the hunting rights for the property even if a ‘third party” purchased the property. There were others who believed that the ability to continue to lease the hunting rights would be in jeopardy if it were sold and that buying the land themselves was the only way to insure the opportunity to hunt and fish on the property.

An alternative plan was proposed by several club members which called for the money needed to purchase the property to be borrowed by the Club. The dues of the sixty members of the club would be used to make the loan payments. One shortcoming of this plan was that it would require a substantial increase in the dues for each member, which some might not be able to handle. In addition, there was discussion as to who would be the signatory on the loan. The committee rejected this proposal as they felt it was best to find potential investors willing to commit to provide the capital up front so that there would be no loan or indebtedness associated with the endeavor.

Over the course of the next few months interested sportsmen began to commit to purchase the property. Each person that committed put up a $5000.00 deposit. By March of 1988, thirty had signed on to purchase the property at a cost of $30,500 each. The closing was held April 4, 1988. Curiously, only nine of the sixty members of the Columbia Sumter Club decided to take advantage of the opportunity to purchase the property. Those were Mike Watson, J.B. Hilton, Bill Cockerill, Burke Watson Sr., Dr. Charlie Andrews, Dr. J.J. Britton, Gee Dew, John Rowland, and Mars Sapp from Columbia.

Another circumstance in this saga that is also most curious to your presenter deserves sharing. Upon the decision of Louise Defrancs, in the early summer of 1987, to put the “lower track” up for sale, a letter was sent to the secretary of the Columbia Sumter Club by Shaw, McLeod, and Belser. This letter was sent as a courtesy to the club informing them of Mrs. Defrancs’ decision to sell the property, not giving the club “first refusal” but giving the club “first crack” at the opportunity to buy before the property was put on the market for sale. There was no response from the Columbia Sumter Club. After receiving no response from the club, Shaw, McLeod & Belser then started seeking potential buyers for the property. Here is another common thread in this fabric and this one brings us back to Mike Watson’s chance sighting of Roy Belser showing the property to potential clients at the north gate. From my perspective, it seems curious that there would be no response from the club and even more curious that there was such resentment on the part of many Columbia Sumter Club members against those buying the property when in fact the club had the first opportunity to do so but failed to take advantage of that opportunity. At the next meeting of the Columbia Sumter Club, after the property was purchased, a majority of the members voted to expel the nine members of the Columbia Sumter Club, who purchased the land, because of “disloyalty and a conflict of interest”.

The “new club” was officially named the Sumter Wateree Club but was often referred to as the “thirty thirty” and sometimes the “dirty thirty” club. Unfortunately, resentment lingered for a time on the part of some on both sides of the fence.

At the time of the purchase of the lower tract by the Sumter Wateree Club, the Columbia Sumter Club still held the lease on the upper tract. However, in just a few years Frank Beilder III, who owned that portion of the swamp, decided to sell, also. In 1995, the State of South Carolina out bid all others and purchased the property for $5,175,000.00. After the State bought the upper tract this left the Columbia Sumter Club with a membership of sixty but no property upon which to hunt or fish.

I am very fortunate that my family and I had and still have the opportunity to enjoy the Wateree. My son and I will never forget the wonderful times we had in the Sumter Wateree when he was growing up and my dad was teaching ‘Little John” how to hunt and fish. He had the opportunity to spend Thanksgiving in the swamp just as I did when I was younger. We have precious memories of the hymns that we all sang with the “old timers” after the evening meal when they were enjoying a little taste of Jim Beam. He also learned a most important life lesson that what he saw and heard in the swamp, stayed in the swamp.

In our quest to locate Paradise you need to know there is actually a spot in the Sumter Wateree known as Paradise. It’s a stretch of Beech Creek, just below where Boat Creek flows into it. It’s an unusually long straight stretch of water that is truly beautiful and worthy of the name “Paradise”.

At the present time the Sumter Wateree Club is cutting some of its timber to pay for the purchase of a permanent easement into the swamp and some additional property from Emory Clark, owner of Millford Plantation. The recently purchased property will be the site for the construction of a new clubhouse overlooking Big Lake. The view from the new club house spot is just a little north east of paradise.

Paradise Lost?
Paradise can be a fragile place. There are some that would do it harm. In 1977 The Bennett Mineral Company obtained an industrial waste permit for its kitty litter operation in Pinewood SC, only 1,200 feet from the shores of Lake Marion. The location would more properly be described as only a stone’s throw from Sparkleberry Swamp. According to court records DHEC ”issued the permit without providing a public notice or hearing and prior to the promulgation of either state or federal regulations governing such facilities.” In 1978 the site was purchased by SCA Services and the permit was transferred with the purchase. Over the years the site was owned by several different companies including GSX, Laidlaw, and Safety-Kleen.

Many in our local community were concerned about the possible pollution of the swamp and lake and took action, forming a grass roots organization known as Citizens Asking for a Safe Environment (CASE). On March 14, 1988, my father and four other members of CASE were arrested as they stood in front of the gates leading into the site to prevent trucks carrying hazardous waste from entering the facility. Thoreau would have been proud of their “Civil Disobedience”

The South Carolina Environmental Law Project (SCLEP) representing the Sierra Club, Citizens Asking for a Safe Environment (CASE), SCDNR, Santee Cooper, Sumter County, and Senator Phil Leventis, sued, appealing the permit. In 2000, after fifteen years of litigation, the SC Court of Appeals made rulings which led to the closure of the landfill.
The 240 acre site now holds five million tons of industrial waste, including heavy metals, solvents, and cancer-causing PCB’s. Safety-Kleen negotiated a deal with DHEC to provide only a portion of the funds needed to cover the cost of a contamination clean-up and then filed for bankruptcy. Many believe that Safety-Kleen left South Carolina taxpayers holding the bag. Experts debate till this day whether the liners will someday leak into Sparkleberry. The potential for a disaster is actually still very real although we don’t think about it much these days since the hazardous dump is no longer making headlines. The profit motive and the protection of paradise are often at odds with each other. Paradise could be in trouble someday.

Attacks on paradise can come from different directions as well. On May 20, 1981, there was an article in the New York Times which announced the Union Camp Corporation would be building a $600 million bleached pulp and paper mill near Eastover, S.C. and would ultimately employ between 350 and 400 people. Sounds like great news, right? Well, maybe not. Going through Georgetown is sometimes a stinky passage. Not only can paper mills smell bad, they also emit a very dirty effluent into the water.

Many were concerned that the effluent from the paper mill would have an adverse effect on the swamp and the lake. The Citizens to Preserve Santee Cooper was organized to oppose the construction of the paper mill on the Wateree. Fifty Bar-B-Que fundraising dinners, one law suit and court proceedings, and one “Paper Mill Blues “song later, the mill was built anyway. This tale, however, has a much happier ending than the previous horror story, as The Citizens to Preserve Santee Cooper did have a positive effect on the outcome. As pointed out in an editorial in The Item on June 22, 1982 conservationists keeping an eye on the licensing process and on the standards placed on the cleanliness of the effluents being emitted into the river, no doubt helped to save Santee and protect paradise.

Investing in Paradise
As we said when we started this epic, we all have our own ideas of paradise. The thought I hope to leave with you this evening is that we all need to make sure we do our part to protect whatever our paradise might be. We need to be ever mindful that protecting paradise is good business and that the relationship between profits and protection must be looked at as a long term investment.

As the afore mentioned editorial points out “a clean environment is everyone’s business.” Based on a true story of strip mining in Western Kentucky, these lyrics from the song “Paradise” written by John Prine, (which is always a favorite in the swamp at Thanksgiving by the way) help me keep it in perspective.
“Oh Daddy won’t you take me back to Muhlenberg County
Down by the Green River where paradise lay?
Oh I’m sorry my son but you’re too late in asking,
Mr. Peabody’s coal train done hauled it away.”

I don’t want my children and grandchildren (If and when) asking me why I let paradise get “hauled away”.

Do you?

Presented to the Fortnightly Club
Sumter, SC
January 19, 2011,
Dr. John B. Hilton Jr.