Draining the Swamps of Virginia

There are, according to the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS), at least 144 swamps in Virginia. George Washington and others have sought to "reclaim" Dismal Swamp and other wetlands for agriculture, by draining them until the soil could be tilled.

In their vision, ditches would drain the standing water and crops could be grown on the organic-rich soils underneath. The Soil Conservation Service (now part of the Farm Services Agency in the US Department of Agriculture) pursued the same dream until the 1970's, and major agribusiness interests are still trying to obtain Federal funds to convert the bottomland hardwood forests of the lower Mississippi River into soybean farms.

In practice, the waterlogged soils of natural swamps are productive for only short periods of time and the costs to keep the area drained exceed the benefits from the farming. In addition, we now recognize the value of maintaining swamps in their natural state for flood control, water purification, and wildlife habitat. Today, Section 404 of the Clean Water Act requires approval from the US Army Corps of Engineers to drain swamps.

Environmental advocates often see the Corps as a round-heeled pushover, approving requests for 404 permits without sufficient consideration of the environmental impacts. However, Newport News officials know from recent experience with their proposed reservoir in King William County that the Corps will reject some proposals...

The definition of "canal" in Appendix C of the Geographic Names Information System is:

- manmade waterway used by watercraft or for drainage, irrigation, mining, or water power (ditch, lateral)

By that definition, most of the "canals" in Virginia were dug to drain wetlands, not for transportation. A few projects to transport people, tobacco, wheat, corn, iron, coal, slate, manufactured goods, etc. were high-visibility and high-cost. The James River and Kanawha Canal was a great rival of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, and the General Assembly fought vigorously over where to invest state funds in transportation canals.

The Dismal Swamp canal was constructed, in the end, primarily for transportation purposes. Many of the canals in the Dismal Swamp were designed to move timber (especially cedar shingles) from the forested swamp to the market. In addition to the extraordinary number of canals dug in what is today the cities of Suffolk Chesapeake, notice in the list below the number of canals in Accomack County dug to enhance farmland.

[NOTE: The list is obviously incomplete. It's missing at least the Alexandria Canal that ran on the Virginia side of the Potomac River from Aqueduct Bridge to Alexandria, the Albemarle and Chesapeake Canal that connected Albemarle Sound with the Chesapeake Bay, and Fredericksburg's efforts to build a series of canals along the Rappahannock. River. Those "features" are not recorded as "canals" in the Geographic Names Information System.]