OHC NEWSLETTER
Jackson’s Folly
By Jessica Bennett
In the late nineteenth century, an ambitious plan was devised to tame one of the most mysterious landscapes in the American South—the Okefenokee Swamp. Located in southeastern Georgia, the vast wetland had long been regarded by locals as a place that resisted human control. Yet in 1889, investors and lawmakers believed they could transform it into a profitable enterprise. What followed became one of the most notable failures
in the region’s history, remembered as “Jackson’s Folly.”
That year, the Georgia Legislature passed a bill incorporating the Suwannee Canal Company and authorizing the sale of the Okefenokee Swamp to the highest bidder. The swamp, covering hundreds of thousands of acres of marshland rich with valuable cypress timber, appeared to be an enormous economic opportunity. The land was eventually purchased by investors connected with the Hebard Timber Company, who hoped to harvest the massive cypress forests that thrived in the swamp.
To make this possible, the investors planned a bold engineering project: they would drain the swamp. If the water could be redirected out of the Okefenokee, the land could be logged, developed, and even converted to farmland. Captain Harry Jackson of Atlanta became the driving force behind the venture. A businessman with grand ambitions, Jackson either acquired a share in the original company or became one of its leading associates. He soon emerged as the financial leader of the effort to drain the Great Swamp and transport its timber to market. …
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