The park lost several National Champion trees, but the overall effect was a natural stimulus to growth. That designation was not enough to protect the area from the force of Hurricane Hugo in September 1989. As a result of an effective "grass roots" campaign launched by the Sierra Club and many local individuals, Congress established Congaree Swamp National Monument in 1976. In 1969 relatively high timber prices prompted private landowners to consider resuming logging operations. Operations were suspended within ten years, leaving the floodplain basically untouched. In the perpetual dampness, though, many of the cut trees remained too green to float. Poor accessibility by land confined logging to tracts near waterways so that logs could be floated down river. By 1905, the Santee River Cypress Lumber Company, owned by Francis Beidler, had acquired much of the land. Bald Cypress, in particular, became a target for logging.
The floodplain's minor changes in elevation and consequent flooding stifled agricultural activity but the intermittent flooding allowed for soil nutrient renewal and enabled the area's trees to thrive. Attempts to make the land suitable for planting, as well as grazing, continued through 1860. The new residents obtained land grants from the King of England until 1776 when the state of South Carolina assumed the right to distribute ownership of the land. Around 1700, the Congarees were decimated by a smallpox epidemic introduced with the arrival of European settlers. The Congaree Indians claimed the floodplain and Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto recounted the intrigue of the area in his journals. Prehistoric foragers hunted the area and fished its waters. Congaree National Park is the only United States National Park in the state of South Carolina.
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