R.E. Lassiter and His Crew to Finish Cutting Right of Way for Road, Canal in Dismal Swamp, June 22, 1923

To Spend the Summer in the Dismal Swamp. . . Party Cutting Right of Way for Road Connecting Pasquotank and Gates

The final stretch of the right of way of the road connecting Pasquotank and Gates counties is being cut by R.E. Lassiter and a party of 20 men. Mr. Lassiter having taken the contract last week to cut the t3 ½ miles from Acorn Hill in Gates county, leading up to where the operations of C.W. Lacy stopped on the project.

Mr. Lassiter has taken 19 negroes and one white man to assist him in cutting the right of way, which he promises to complete in 2 ½ months. He calls it the “bloodiest” stretch of the Dismal Swamp. There mosquitoes, gnats, and the poison yellow flies are ever present; the deadly, scaly cotton-mouthed moccasin slides thru the rank under growth which cuts off every bit of summer’s breezes, and hoot-owls scream in broad daylight. The road party has taken with them a complete outfit to enable them to stay until the work is done. Their outfit includes a power skidder and stump pullers, four tents, a commissary and an army range.

The right of way to be cut is 125 feet wide, the extra width having been provided to make room for a 24-foot canal which is to be cut beside the road, to make dirt for the surface and to give the road drainage.

From the front page of The Independent, Elizabeth City, N.C., Friday, June 22, 1923