Oxford eagle. (Oxford, Lafayette Co., Miss.) 1876-current, 1898-01-27
AMERICAN HOLLAND
Dtkes I'm sksgit County. WASH. 20
Protect the Land.


IL this great western country, where
there is so much Wild land. where mil.
lions Of acres Of soil have never felt tire
touch o. the piowman's share or the
keen edge of the woodlands AK. II does
no; seem that it would be necessary 20
reclaim land from the sea to obtain
aeres for cultivation. But that has been
done. and in Skagit county. almost In
the very northwestern corner Of the
state. can be found scores Of the finest
ranches in the world. lying behind dixie.
boil; 10 keep out the sea and the over
flows OF the Skagit river. the largest
stream that empiies into the sound.
This j. the yeri;ab,e Holland % Wash
irston. In Skagit county are situated
the famous Swinomish fats. the Beaver
marsh. the Olympic marsh and the
Samish fats. all surrounded by dikes
ranging in height from ? TO Is feet
There are tide gates along the sea shore
which act automatically. ard which
drain the land 50 perfectly that crops
are raised on land below the SEA level
with safety. And such crops.
For ages the big river has been bring
ing down from the hills the richest
sediment. and there j. really no bottom
10 the soil. II farmer in the east
plows a little too deep be turns mp clay
or rocks; IL the Beaver marsh rancher
holds his pillow handles too high he sim
! ply digs up more Of the rich loan that
raises every year without fail such
crops that the old ranchers Of other
sections cannot believe the stories.
| one hundred and twenty-five bushels of
oats to the acre, ton and a half Of
hops. or five tons of hay. are common
Yields. while all sorts Of root crops give
equally large results.
In order 10 plow his land. which. Of
course. is soft and spon.y. the ranch
ers often put "tuicy" shoes on their
horses. the shoes consisting Of wide
wooden blocks. 10 prevent the animals
from sinking into the loam
| There are at present eight dikiug dis
iricts in the 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
/
picturesque are these entertainments. in
many places. rs they wind around
through the trees. When the Skarit is
having a freshe;. as has been the case
recently. the people turn out TO watch
their dikes, and by repairing them save
| Their lands from inundation. Some
times a very high tide will go over a
1 Il lie -
with salt water. II the water does not
stand too long, this does no particular
damage.
rs there is nothing but sand and
black loan TO construct the dikes OF. no
permanent work has ever been done and
cannot be until the river Is so improved
that it has reasonably straight chan
mel to the sea. Five or six forks OF
mouths discharge the water into the
sound, aud the delta thus formed is ex.
celient farming land II the water
should De confined TO one channel thou
sands % acres Of land would he re-
elaimed. and the danger Of overflow re
duced TO minimum. by this improve
meut magnificent uayigabIe river.
teeming with fish and flowing through
a wealth Of timber and mineral land.
would be opened up and would provide
employment for countless numbers Of
people
II any resident Of Washington has
never seen the Verdant fields of the
skagit flats. let him 90 up and take a
look at them. Ii will pay him II he
wants 70 know ali about the resources
Of his stale If he cannot afford to take
that trip, aud wants tSsee some of the
products of those diked fields let him
go down among the commission houses
IN Seattle and look at the hay and oats
which are brought from that favored
region in steamboat loads.
The only failure of crops ever known
there is when the dikes break and the
growing grains are ruined with water,
Seattle Post-Intelligencer.