Budding tree overlooking marshland on the southern side of the "Indian Ditch" between Turnagain Bay and Long Bay(Click on image for full size)
Spring continues to evince itself along the waterways of Down East NC... This shot was taken on the banks of a canal known to locals as "Indian Ditch."
This particular "Indian Ditch" runs about 1.25 miles through marshland between the heads of Turnagain Bay on the West and Long Bay on the East, a convenient shortcut to the other side of Piney Island (home of the U.S. military's "BT-11" target range... as signs along the north bank of the ditch attest [see picture at right])
The term "Indian Ditch," as far as I can tell, refers to irrigation and transportation canals built by Native Americans... I have found no authoritative information on the history of this particular ditch, but have found U.S. Govt. references to the "Indian Ditch" as comprising the southern border of the "BT-11" target range.
If the ditch was indeed originally built by Native Americans, I have a feeling it has since been improved by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, seeing as how it is a good 5 feet deep for its entire 1.25 mile straight-line run through swampy marshland.
Trees grow along the ditch where the canal's dredgings have been deposited, forming dry land berms/dikes between the canal and the surrounding marshlands.
It is hard to imagine such an engineering feat using hand tools and stone-age technology, though I would readily believe that Native Americans built some sort of waterway communicating between these two bays to provide for canoes or other small fishing boats.
It would certainly make sense for area natives to want a shortcut from the Neuse River estuary to fisheries of Long Bay and West Bay, and, via another purported "Indian Ditch," all the way to the waterways now known as Core Sound.
Please, if you have any info on the history of this ditch, or know of some sources I could consult, please drop me a comment or e-mail.
Here is a shot of the ditch, followed by a Google map showing its location:
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[Steven has left a comment linking to an 1884 U.S. Coast Survey map on the University of North Carolina "NC Maps" site which shows an "Old Canal" at the location of today's photographs:
Thanks for the reference, Steven!... UNC's NC Maps on-line collection is news to me, and I am enjoying looking through all the maps... So far I have found an 1844 postal map showing a waterway passing between the Neuse River and Long Bay, again in the same place as the above "Indian Ditch.":
]
Thanks for the reference, Steven!... UNC's NC Maps on-line collection is news to me, and I am enjoying looking through all the maps... So far I have found an 1844 postal map showing a waterway passing between the Neuse River and Long Bay, again in the same place as the above "Indian Ditch.":
]
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1 comment:
Google earth has options for showing historical air imagery, though I doubt that would go back more than a few decades.
UNC's North Carolina Maps website might be helpful as well. Browsing by location you might be able to find some good historical sources.
http://www.lib.unc.edu/dc/ncmaps
A quick glance at this map ( http://dc.lib.unc.edu/u?/ncmaps,701 ) from 1884 shows an "Old Canal" roughly in that area.
I'll investigate some more when I get some free time and let you know.
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