Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge –USFWS 1948-01-01

Perhaps the most unusual feature of this historical writeup is this claim:

“In a sense OKEFENOKEE IS NOT A SWAMP AT ALL, but a saucer-shaped depression fed to a great extent by clear, bubbling springs in the prairies.”

Can somebody point out these mythical springs within the Swamp?

Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, Conservation in Action, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, 1945

Thanks to Chapin Burgess for sending this document. I don’t know where he got it. A copy is on the WWALS website. Images of each page are below.

Much of it is about alligators, birds, bears, and fishing.

Some swamp terminology was different in 1945. Floating bottom was called “floating isles”. Batteries were called “houses”, or that term is also equated to “hammock”.

The Refuge headquarters was called Camp Cornelia.

“Improvements were made. Headquarters were erected at Camp Cornelia, 12 miles from Folkston on the east side of the refuge. Boat runs were cleared. Picnic shelters and cabins were constructed at a few favorable spots. Okefenokee the beautiful, with its glassy waters reflecting lily and shrub blooms and waving skeins of moss; Okefenokee, with its amazing wildlife; Okefenokee, with all its eerie beauty, became accessible as one of the show spots of America.”

The document also says confusingly that the Refuge office was in Waycross, but the rest of that passage refers to Okefenokee Swamp Park.

“Here a nonprofit organization called the Okefenokee Park Association has leased 1,200 acres just north of the refuge boundary and has developed facilities especially for passing tourists. Short rides in electric boats through a dark cypress swamp are provided. For those who desire panoramic views, a 75-foot tower has been erected. A small zoo houses many creatures peculiar to Okefenokee.”

There was no state park near Fargo, only:

“An alternate route is from Waycross south along the west side on U. S. Highway 84 and State Highway 89 to Fargo, Ga., then by a narrow dirt road toa fishing camp operated by special concession. The west side of the swamp probably has the more spectacular scenery, combining heavy forests of bearded cypress standing knee-deep in the dark waters, stretches of open water, and broad vistas of blooming prairies.”

Maybe the fishing camp was Griffis Fish Camp, which should have already been there.

There was no extensive trail system. The map at the end shows on the west the Suwannee River and its Middle and North Forks, plus Suwannee Creek. On the east the map shows the Suwannee Canal and a path to Monkey Lake and on th Black Jack Island. While Floyd’s Island is marked on the map, there is no path shown to it.

LOCATION AND ROUTES OF APPROACH TO THE OKEFENOKEE NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE
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Instead of a trail system:

“In all cases where the visitor wishes to penetrate beyond the perimeter of Okefenokee’s watery wilderness, the use of local guides is essential.”

Even the perimeter of the Refuge has extended farther in many areas, including somewhat into Baker County, Florida.

Map: Okefenokee NWR, 2026-02-12 on the WWALS Suwannee River Water Trail

There were not even any plans for such trails.

“In its management of the swamp the Fish and Wildlife Service plans no roads into Okefenokee beyond administrative needs, nor any other development which might mar its in- herent attractions. Nature itself is the landscaper.”

1945 was still close in time to the massive logging of the swamp.

Okefenokee’s natural beauty was first threatened in 1889 when attempts were made to drain the swamp with a view to facilitating timber removal and providing farm lands. But a costly canal—‘Jackson’s Folly”’—dug 14 miles into Okefenokee from Camp Cornelia on its eastern edge resulted in more water flowing into the swamp instead of out. The project was aban- doned. Loggers went ahead with other plans. Tram roads were built on piling driven through the soft muck into firm sand and soon the spurs of a narrow-gage railroad penetrated deep into the wild mystery of the swamp. The ring of loggers’ axes, the crashing and splashing of falling trees, the tooting of cabbage-head locomotives, drove the wildlife from one timber stand to another. Millions of board feet of cypress, pine, red bay, and gum came out of Okefenokee during the next 30 years. Not until the cream of the timber crop had been harvested were other values given much consideration.

That counts logging up to 1919, which the document says was the year

“…the Georgia Assembly set the area aside as a game reservation. Eighteen years later the land was purchased by the Federal Government, and on March 30, 1937, the President of the United States issued an Executive order establishing the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, which is now administered by the Fish and Wildlife Service.”

The scars of logging were much more visible in 1945 than today:

“Already stands of young cypress have hidden the stumps in the great bays, and eventually will rear a new generation of bearded giants to replace the old. Less time will be required for gum trees and pines. Preserving these woodlands calls for vigilant, unceasing fire patrols.

As you can see, understanding of fire was still in its infancy.

-jsq, John S. Quarterman, Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®

You can help with clean, swimmable, fishable, drinkable, water in the 10,000-square-mile Suwannee River Basin in Florida and Georgia by becoming a WWALS member today!
https://wwals.net/donations/

Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, Conservation in Action, 1945-01-01 –USFWS
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