State

«!/ OLD Tltl lX.i: LAKE WACCAMAW Half Tame; Half Savage 1 ake Waccamaw is half lame, half savage. Ii bulges oui of the wilderness into civilization, its northern and west¬ ern shores elbowing their way up to a populous section and good highways. Its other half is buried in the vast Green Swamp, where it births mean¬ tiering Waccamaw River. lint the lake may soon lose its hybrid character. Already a new high¬ way has extended the old lake-front development around the west shore. And it is possible to tap a part of the east shore via a new” road which turns ofl near Bolton. Sonic people think dredging will firm up all the shore line and eventually rim the lake with cottages. Daily Visitor A pleasant little phenomenon is con¬ nected with Waccamaw. On hot sum¬ mer afternoons visitors on the northern bluff peer confidently toward the south¬ west. Along about four o'clock — if it is on time, and it usually is — a line of dark blue extending all the way across the lake may be seen advancing. Old-timers, shading their eyes and watching for this sign, exclaim, "Here she comes!" The blue wave rolls rapidly across the lake, finally breaking upon the northern shore as a slapping first wave, behind it a choppy little sea. But be¬ fore the water itself has been pushed across the lake, the impatient wind already has reached land and en¬ veloped the little town of Waccamaw in a cool, soothing and constant breeze. It ordinarily continues throughout the afternoon and the night, dying down in the early morning hours of the next day. In the course of a season, it is said, this breeze from the south will not fail more than a half dozen days. The late Clyde Council, who loved the lake knowingly and well, used to say that the breeze explained why you rarely sec mosquitoes in Waccamaw. They cannot endure the never-failing and regular cleansing of the wind. Not all geologists believe Lake Waccamaw belongs to the Bladen Lake group, which may have been formed by meteorites. Dredges have brought up old charred tree stumps and they support a theory that the lake is the basin left by a prehistoric peat fire. Different Origin Geologically speaking, it is a new lake, and its denizens call it the largest natural lake between Maine and Flor¬ ida. When I objected that Lake Mat- tamuskcct was larger. Mrs. Fred Cioldston. Jr., replied that Matta- muskeet had an artificial dam and canals. Waccamaw also has a dam, hut Mrs. Goldston said that one was different, and served only to keep the lake from shrinking too badly in dry weather. The Waccamaw dam was built by the state in 1925 across the lake's natural outlet. It seems Lake Waccamaw has four feeders, called First Little, Second Little and Third Little Creeks, and then Big Creek. Underground springs also contribute to the volume. But in periods of prolonged droughts. Waccamaw would shrink rapidly, leaving lakeside cottages an embarrassing distance from the main attraction. When there is normal rainfall, the dam permits water to flow out and to start the Waccamaw River on its tor¬ tuous career. When there isn’t water for both lake and river, the lake gets it all. This does not set so well with those who live along the river below the lake, and on occasions some of these people arc said to have come up and dyna¬ mited large chunks out of the dam. causing annoyance and inconvenience For generations the shores of Waccamaw have furnished lumber. — (Photo by Baldwin.) 10 THE STATE. NOVEMBCP 20. 1954