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The First Survey Through Hal's Lake Swamp Page 14
To south bank of a creek or gut 4 feet deep and about 80 links77 wide slow current moving to the right probably the influx of the tide of Tombigbee River.78
Hearing the sound of Powell's horn in a direction a little north of west we shape our course thither and arrive at his camp about the dusk of evening well drenched in consequence of a showery afternoon.79
The next day, Friday, October 6, 1809, was a day not for surveying, but for exploring Hal's Lake in a canoe:
Finding ourselves encompassed by Lakes which we must avoid crossing to keep between the waters of the two rivers, set out with Powell and Crane in the canoe and explore several branches of Bates Lake, and the afternoon being rainy, we return to camp at night very wet.80
The next day, Saturday, was back to surveying, sending Powell off to get food:
We attempt to ascend the creek on which we discontinued our line [ed. note: the small tributary] on Thursday the 5th and find it so obstructed by drifted wood as not to be even navigable in our small canoe. Despairing of any further advantages from continuing the canoe in this quarter we direct Powell and Crane to proceed up Bate's Lake to a bluff near Powell's whence we shall expect Crane to penetrate the swamp and endeavor to meet us with a supply of provisions.81
They surveyed northward that day, Sunday, October 8th, and finally "camped on the creek about ten chains82 north of our line". At this point, they were doubtless having trouble finding anything much like a watershed in the swamp south of Hal's Lake, and on October 8-9, surveyed generally eastward, crisscrossing gullies and guts.83
Now, time for another day exploring Hal's Lake, rather than surveying, Tuesday, October 10, 1809:
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77A "link" is 7.92 inches, so 80 links is 633.6 inches or almost 53 feet.
78p. 169. This was probably a small gut in T3N, R2E, §7, which runs between Singleton Lake [§9] and Hal's Lake [NW corner of T3N, R2E, §7].
79p. 168-69.
80p. 169-70.
81p. 170. The bluff turned out to be roughly at Stoll's Point.
82Since 80 chains equals one mile, 10 chains is an eighth of a mile.
83p. 171-72.
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