Note: The following is part of a series of columns exploring the use of rivers in the early history of Georgia and Bulloch County. The "Acts of the General Assembly" (1835) included a report from the Joint Committee of the Senate and House of Representatives that examined "the swamp lands on the Savannah River." The committee concluded that "if the waters (of the river) were ... confined to their natural channel, the sand and mud bars (would) ... be washed away ... and the bed of the river ... consequently materially deepened."