The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-12-28
AMRRioA,s rErHEnEANDs.
A veritastc Little nssiissa IN THE Northwest.
eTn Corner OF Washington Atnte.

From the Seattle Post. Intsinoenccn
In this great Western country, where there is
SO much wild land, where millions OF acres OF
soil have never felt tho touch Of the rloughman's
share or the keen edge of tho wuodman's axe, it
docs not seem that IL would be necessary 10
reclaim land from tho sea to obtain acres for
cultivation. But that has been done. aud In
SkaRit county, almost in tho very northwestern
corner Of the State, can he found scores Of tho
finest ranches in the world, lying behind bikes
built to keep out the sea and the ovcrhows OF
the Skagit River. the largest stream that cmptics
into tho sound.
This is the veritnblc Holland OF Washington.
In SkaEit county arc situated tho famous
Swinomish flats, the Beaver marsh. the Olympic
marsh. and the Sninish fats. all surrounded by
ddikos ranging in height from two to fifteen feet.
act automatically. and which drain tho land so
perfectly that crops are raised on land below the
sea level with safety. And such Cropsi
For ages the big river has'been bringing down
from the hills the richest sediment, and there is
really no bottom to the soil. IL n farmer In the
East ploughs a little too deep, he turns up clay
or rocks; II the Beaver marsh rancher holds his
plough handles too high, ho simply digs up more
of tho rich loan that raises every year without
fail such crops that the old ranchers of other
sections. cannot believe the stories. Ono hun
a ton and a half of hops, or flvo tons OF hay arc
common yields, while all sorts of root crops give
In order to plough his land. which, OF course is
soft and spongy, tho ranchers often put % tuley'
shoes on their horses, the shoes consisting Of
wide wooden blocks to prevent tho animals
from sinking into the loan. T..
tho county and nearly every ranch Of any size Is
in one or another of these districts. Fully 100
miles Of dikes are in use In the county, and
many OF them are used also as roads. Very
picturesque are these embankments In many
places, as they wind around through the trees.
been the case this week, the people turn out to
watch their dikes. and by repairing them save
their hands from inundation. Sometimes a very
high tide will go over n dixie and cover q mum.
Der of ranches with salt water. II tho water
does not stand too long. this does no particular
damage.
As there is nothing but sand and black loan
to construct the dikes OF, no permanent work
has ever been done and cannot bo until the river
is so improved that 1t has a reasonably straight
discharge the water into the sound. and the
delta thus formed is excellent farming land. II
the water should be confined to one channel
thousands of acres of land would be reclaimed
and tho danger of overflow reduced to n mini
mum. BY this Improvement a magnificent nav
through a wealth of timber and mineral land,
would be opened up and would provide employ
ment for countless numbers Of people.
If any resident of Washington has never seen
the verdant fields of the Skagit flats. let him 20
up and take a look at them. 1t will pay him II
state. IL he cannot afford to take that trip.
and wants to sec some Of the products of those
diked folds, let him go down among the COM
mission houses in Seattle and look at the hay
and oats which arc brought from that favored
region in steamboat loads.
The only failure Of crops ever known there Is
when the dikes break and tho growing grains
are ruined with water.