Tag Archives: history

Hillman Bridge, Ellaville, Suwannee River 2025-09-27

I stopped at the historic Hillman Bridge, across the Suwannee River at Ellaville, on the way back from the Suwannee River Camp tour.

It was built 1926, abandoned 1983, and is a 916.0-foot 3-span Metal 7 Panel Rivet-Connected Pratt Through Truss bridge over the Suwannee River.

This happened long after the demise of Ellaville as a logging town, capturing logs coming down the Withlacoochee River with a boom, to be sawed in the sawmill owned by Florida Governor George Franklin Drew. Here’s a video about that logging boom town, Dray’s World, 2021, The Remains of the Drew Mansion & The Lost Cemetery of Ellaville.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBWJDJldb9o

Hillman Bridge, Ellaville, Suwannee River 2025-09-27, 1/5 mile below Withlacoochee River, Built 1926, abandoned 1983

According to Bullet, Abandoned FL, December 1, 2015, Hillman Bridge,

Hillman Bridge is a through truss bridge located in the small town of Ellaville, once a thriving sawmill and manufacturing center owned by George Franklin Drew, Florida’s governor between 1877 to 1881. Built as a federal aid project in 1925-1926 by the R.H.H. Blackwell Co. of East Aurora, N.Y., it was named “Hillman Bridge” during its construction after W.J. Hillman of Live Oak, a member of the State Road Department who had helped push for the construction of the bridge.

No, it’s not the same as the historic Suwannee Springs Bridge, the old US 129 bridge, built 1931, closed to vehicle traffic in 1971. That’s 22 miles upstream, just above the current US 129 bridge. Yes, both historic bridges have graffiti, they both cross the Suwannee River, and they are both through truss steel bridges. But they are not the same.

There are more pictures below of the historic Hillman Bridge. Continue reading →

Bacon James, Gainesville, FL, with a Bluegrass song, Ellaville. 2025-09-06

Thanks to Bacon James, for writing a song and playing it, at the Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest 2025.

And thanks for digging into Suwannee and Withlacoochee River history about Ellavile, the town where George F. Drew had his sawmill, with a boom across the mouth of the Withlacoochee River, to catch logs floated down the river.
https://wwals.net/pictures/songwriting2025

“I’m Bacon James—singer-songwriter and frequent supporter of environmental causes and organizations. I love being in nature, playing and writing music, and generally trying to be too clever for my own good.”

Bacon James, Gainesville, FL, Bluegrass song, Ellaville, Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest, September 6, 2025

“I wrote Ellaville after visiting the site during one of my recent trips to the Suwannee and subsequently digging into the history of the town and what occurred there. I loved the idea of a bustling little mill town on the river and was so fascinated by the story of how the town boomed and then fell. I thought of all the hardships of the folks I’ve met, and how I have so many close friends now that are currently unemployed and struggling. Dreams found, lives built and then dashed. Nature constantly exploited by those in power, ostensibly retaliating against those by which it had been wronged. Are we learning? Are we growing? Were there lessons the river was trying to impart about humanity, and have we heard them? That’s what this song explores.”

Here’s he is singing his song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37APDWhJBLQ Continue reading →

Suwannee Riverkeeper in Quitman Free Press 2025-09-17

Thanks to Dr. Horne for writing and sending this article. We all do what we can.

September 17, 2025, Quitman Free Press, Page 3
Doc’s Special Messages
By: Dr. R. Marie Horne MD

Quintessential Mr. Quarterman

Some South Georgians have made numerous contributions to the South Georgia area and have rendered enormous contributions to national and global society as well. One of these South Georgia notables is Mr. John S. Quarterman, a longtime South Georgia resident who has a perpetual passion for navigating activism in protection of waterways, specifically those which impact area communities, as the WWALS Watershed Coalition’s Suwannee Riverkeeper, who takes seriously and enthusiastically his stewardship over protecting the Suwannee River Basin in South Georgia and North Florida.

Quitman Free Press, 2025-09-17 –Dr. Marie Horne

Having hailed from the Bemiss Community in Lowndes County Georgia, near Valdosta, studied at Harvard, authored in 1990, the book entitled, “The Matrix, Computer Networks and Conferencing Systems Worldwide,” Mr. John Quarterman became the “longest serving cartographer of the Internet, a designation “dubbed by Mappa Mundi Magazine” in 1990.
Continue reading →

Former Artesian Spring, Saunders Park, Valdosta, GA 2017-09-16

Excerpted from another post eight years ago. This barely trickling spring is on Sugar Creek, which flows to the Withlacoochee River. It is a cautionary tale for overpumping groundwater.

Former Artesian Spring, Saunders Park, Valdosta, GA 2017-09-16, On Sugar Creek, Withlacoochee River

My father told me there used to be a bath house on River Street west of downtown Valdosta, fed by an artesian well. I remember decades ago there being tumble-down buildings. In recent years I never could locate them.

Turns out that’s because it became John W. Saunders Park, 1151 River Street, Valdosta, Georgia. Continue reading →

SRWMD purchased Rayonier tract with mineral rights leased to Chemours for TiO2 mining –SRWMD to Carol Mosley 2025-07-11

Update 2025-09-05: Chemours to blame for flooding rural Santa Fe River Basin? –Grist 2025-09-04.

SRWMD knew the mineral rights were already leased for mining by Chemours when SRWMD bought the Double Run Creek property from Rayonier. SRWMD did not intend to use the property for public access or recreation.

SRWMD writes, “The primary goal of the acquisition was to support Camp Blanding military buffers, while subsequently exploring the opportunity for flood abatement and water resource development projects.”

So why didn’t Armory Board State of Florida buy it, since that’s the entity that owns the rest of Camp Blanding? And what sort of “flood abatement and water resource development projects” were contemplated?

SRWMD purchased Rayonier tract with mineral rights leased to Chemours for TiO2 mining, SRWMD to Carol Mosley 2025-07-11

Here’s an excerpt from a reply to Carol Mosley by Troy Roberts, Office Chief, Communications and Outreach, Suwannee River Water Management District (SRWMD):

To answer your questions, the mining rights for the Double Run Creek property were not available for purchase at the time of acquisition and were not offered as part of the transaction. The rights were previously leased by a third party with the intent that mining operations would continue, which the District was aware of at the time of acquisition. Any subsequent transactions regarding the mining rights would not fall under District jurisdiction.

The primary goal of the acquisition was to support Camp Blanding military buffers, while subsequently exploring the opportunity for flood abatement and water resource development projects. This language is expressly listed in the District’s resolution for the land purchase, which the Board approved. Recreation and public access were not included as primary goals of the acquisition.

The management plan references public access and recreation, only if the opportunities do not interfere with a project. The site is still considered a project area.

Because the property is managed by the Florida Department of Military Affairs, any public access to the property would be initiated and led by that agency. Questions regarding future access and timing should be directed to the Florida Department of Military Affairs, per the management agreement.

If the purchase was to support Camp Blanding, why didn’t Armory Board State of Florida buy it, since that’s the entity that owns the rest of Camp Blanding?

What sort of “flood abatement and water resource development projects” would those be?

And here is Carol Mosley’s followup, sent by her to WWALS with permission to post. Continue reading →

WTXL on Wainwright Drive One Mile Branch sewage spill 2025-08-05

Update 2025-08-08: Clean Alapaha River 2025-08-03, Dirty Creeks 2025-08-06, Withlacoochee River Clean downstream 2025-08-07.

I’ve added some information to Malia’s report, so you’ll know what she was looking at.

Malia Thomas, WTXL, 2025-08-05, Valdosta sewage spill renews concern after second overflow hits creek in under a month: Another sewage spill near Sugar Creek sparks urgency as Valdosta faces decades-old infrastructure strain

VALDOSTA, GA. (WTXL) — Another sewer spill in Valdosta—this time small, but still stirring concern.

Wainwright Drive sewage spill on WTXL TV 2025-08-05, into One Mile Branch, at site of many previous spills

Monday’s spill released up to 1,000 gallons into Sugar Creek [actually, into One Mile Branch, which flows to Sugar Creek, then the Withlacoochee River to the Suwannee -jsq], which connects to the Suwannee River system.
Since April 2024, over 409,000 gallons of raw sewage have spilled from the same Wainwright Dr. location.
Watch the video to hear from neighbors and the city’s plan of action.
Continue reading →

Turner Bridge, Suwannee River –Ken Sulak 2025-07-01

Update 2025-07-11: Pictures: Turner Bridge to Cone Bridge Paddle, Suwannee River 2025-07-05.

Ken Sulak sent this in preparation for Turner Bridge to Cone Bridge Paddle, Suwannee River, 2025-07-05.
https://wwals.net/?p=67557

Turner Bridge, Suwannee River –Ken Sulak 2025-07-01, History and what bridge artifacts reveal or conceal

Over to Ken:

Looking back at the history of Turner Bridge, and what bridge artifacts reveal or conceal. Continue reading →

Video: How Humans Affect the Aquifer, a WWALS Webinar by Dennis Price, 2025-06-19

Update 2025-07-25: SRWMD & SJRWMD aquifer recharge project update @ SRWMD 2025-07-08.

Dennis Price, P.G., of Hamilton County, Florida, asked, “Are we just a water tower for Jacksonville?”

He showed us “the history of surface and ground water in the flatwoods in south Georgia and north Florida in the Suwannee River Basin. Historic water levels and how we have changed these levels. Changes beginning with forestry then farming, and population growth. Ideas for correcting the problems.”

How Humans Affect the Aquifer, WWALS Webinar by Dennis Price, Are we just a water tower for Jacksonville? 2025-06-19

This applies to the Floridan Aquifer proper and the other aquifers above it, all below the Suwannee, Alapaha, and Withlacoochee Rivers, the Okefenokee Swamp, and their tributaries.

Here is the WWALS video of this WWALS Webinar:
https://youtu.be/o4s1jPN0EVI

Some still images are appended.

Thanks to WWALS Board Member Janet Martin for organizing this webinar and for introducing Dennis.

Thanks to everyone who attended.

See the announcement of this webinar for Dennis’ resume and other background.
https://wwals.net/?p=67740

Plastic bag bans keep trash out of rivers and the sea –a study in Science 2025-06-19

Plastic bag bans work, finds a study published in Science this month. And not by a little bit: “a 25 to 47% decrease in plastic bags as a share of total items collected relative to areas without policies” and a “30 to 37% reduction in the presence of entangled animals in areas with plastic bag policies”. The study says even partial bans help, and the effect increases with more bans.

Plastic bag bans keep trash out of rivers and the sea –a study in Science, June 19, 2025

Cleanups alone do not solve the trash problem: trash just keeps coming back. Trash traps help keep it out of creeks and rivers, but have to be continually cleaned out. Banning use of the trash goes a long way towards fixing the problem, as this recent study shows.

Local governments in Georgia and even in Florida can ban or regulate such packaging. Continue reading →

Sign the Letter Urging Senators to Vote No On the Reconciliation Bill 2025-06-14

Your organization can still sign onto this letter to all U.S. Senators:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdJYPPq-I7vrVSDmC3qoo4SrN9WwFpOacdMcPkacGpEn-5rwg/viewform

The letter specifically opposes pipeline pay-to-play: the section that would give pipeline companies expedited permitting if they pay the lesser of $10 million or 1% of their expected construction costs, while removing the ability of any state or federal agency to reject such a permit.

The letter also opposes the bill’s prohibition on state regulation of so-called Artificial Intelligence (AI) operations, which consume vast amounts of power and emit noise and pollution.

The latter has already been sent to all U.S. Senators, but they will get updates as more organizations sign on.

Sign the Letter Urging Senators to Vote No On the Reconciliation Bill: No pipeline pay to play

Dear Senators,

The “Big Beautiful Bill” strips states rights, property rights, and turns the United States into a Pay to Play nation whereby big industry polluters can very literally buy the permits they desire, States and regulatory agencies are stripped of the ability to reject damaging projects, and impacted property owners and impacted communities are too often denied their day in court, all in service to advance major fossil fuel pipelines, export facilities and associated infrastructure.

We, the undersigned organizations, Continue reading →

WWALS Watershed Coalition (WWALS) is Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®

A healthy watershed with clean, swimmable, fishable, drinkable water.