During the Second Seminole War (1835-42), the federal government forcibly removed Native Americans from the swamp in order to make way for white settlers. In 1891 the Suwanee Canal Company purchased 238,120 acres of the Okefenokee Swamp with the intentions of draining to land to establish cotton, sugar, and rice plantations. After that company’s failure, timber companies attempted to construct railroads, canals, and even drained portions of the swamp in order to ease the removal of precious cypress logs.
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