One Large Specimen

Excerpt from the 1926 History of the Okefenokee Swamp by AS McQueen and Hamp Mizell:

“To make certain that there was a large opening or prairie ahead, my father waited and listened for the bellow of the alligators, which comes always just after sunrise. Shortly after the first rays of the sun began to penetrate through the underbrush he heard the first alligator bellow, followed shortly by hundreds of others to be heard for miles ahead.

“Shortly after the morning start they could see a large opening in the distance towards the west, and they began to meet alligators coming down the trail, and one large specimen made a desperate attempt to drag the dog from the boat. Soon they saw a deer feeding out in the open near a clump of bushes, which eyed them with mild wonder. And shortly there after they entered the large prairie but now bears the name of Chase Prairie, which is 6 miles long and 3 miles wide.”

• iNaturalist observation: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/29977469

• McQueen, A.S. and Hamp Mizell. History of the Okefenokee Swamp. 1926. Reprinted by Charlton County Historical Society, Georgia