On Jan 18, 1:59*pm, "H :) K" wrote:
Loogypicker wrote:
You stupid fat fool!

First of all, I never said there weren't snakes in CT, moron. I know
good and well what types are there. Same as in western NY. What I DID
say is that they damned sure weren't going to active any where near a
very cold stream. I ran the woods in western NY constantly, and I can
count on one hand the number of times I saw a live rattlesnake. Why?
because it's friggin' cold there and they tend to stay well below or
in caves.

Frankly, loogy, I doubt you can wipe yourself without help.

My interest in doing this "swamp stomp" is somewhat historical.
Between about 1600 and 1700, the Spanish had a colony here supported
by several missions. The one just outside of Tallahassee was the
largest. They used the Province of Apalachee to support the annual
Flota of gold ships returning to Spain. The Flota consisted of
numerous ships each holding hundreds of men and it took nearly 3
months to get from St Augustine to Spain so you can imagine the amount
of provisions this took. They tried to raise crops and livestock
nearer to St Augustine unsuccessfully but nearly a century earlier
DeSoto had found this area (Apalachee) under intense cultivation by a
very large population of indians. The Spanish decided that Apalachee
would be the breadbasket for their Flota.
So, how do you get many tons of food (fried beans, squash, corn etc)
and livestock overland to St Augustine? Overland was difficult
because the trail passed through hostile indian country and it was
completely unsuitable for wagons. The amount that could be delivered
that way was minimal. They tried to get the "stuff" to the coast and
then onto shallow draft boats and thence to the mouth of the Suwanee
River and then overlaqnd, again, through hostile territory. The best
way was by ship from their fort at St Marks around the tip of FL and
then up to St Augustine. The journey by ship was a 2 week trip.
So, how do you get tons of food through the swamps and sand to the
coast, a distance of about 30 miles? Livestock would of course be
driven over trails but taking wagons to the coast was extreemely
difficult because it is either deep sand or swamp. One source and a
Spanish map says they did it by boat. However, there has been no
water connection between Tallahassee and St Marks in the past 2
hundred years at least. Most of the water flowing south from
Tallahassee goes underground into the worlds largest known underwater
cave system before arising in springs along the coast and a bit
inland.
Supposedly, the Spanish used a chain of lakes SW and South of
Tallahassee to get their stuff south using shallow draft boats.
However, there is currently a a gap of at least 10 miles between the
farthest south part of this stream where ti goes underground and
either the Wakulla or St. Marks River. However, the slough/swamp we
explored can be seen on Google Earth to project northward toward the
southern extremity of said stream. At the northern extremity of
McBride Slough, it is only 3 miles to the southern extremity of the
Lake Bradford/Munson Slough water system mostly through easy to dig in
sand.
Any evidence of a shallow canal dug in sand would be gone by now as
the area has been extensively logged with heavy equipment since about
1900 completely re-arranging the landscape EXCEPT in the swamps their
equipment could not get into.
We did find what may have been artificial cuts in the swamp that are
ditch like areas carrying water from N to S but it is really diff to
tell if they are natural or not.

Next fun trip: Searching for the Lost Wakulla Volcano