Durango semi-weekly herald., 1903-06-08

/ square miles. Will be Immediately mar
r celled out into farms. and steps will
= be taken without delay to drain it and
4 make 1t available for agricultural pur
) poses Already there has been
5 planned mighty canal. 800 feet
= wide thirty miles in length. which will
r connect Lake okeechobee with the
Atlantic ocean. for the purpose oi
carrying on the floods of the rainy
season.
The canal, which will cost $4,000.
900. is to be constructed by Philadel.
/ phia capital. No special engineering
difficulties are involved in the digging
of it, and it will carry on the water
readily enough. inasmuch as the ter
ritory to be drained Is considerably
above the level of the sea. With a
depth of ~ feet. it is easily calculat-
ed what an immense volume of wa
ter will run of through the ditch. The
soil being like so much soft muck,
the excavation will be easy, and 1t will
be necessary merely to start steam
dredge at one end and go straight
ahead
In this way, II is reckoned. not less
than 600 900 acres will be redeemed
from the swamps-all of 1t land of ex-
treme fertility, covered as it will be,
to depth of several feet with a de
post comparable in richnes to Nile
mud. This deposit, consisting largely
of decomposed vegetable matter, has
been laid down during many thous-
ands of years, and will hardly need
hn talE Ia s.f hoe Tftl,
| wonderful harvest of garden truck,
rice and sugar cane. Indeed, the
Everglades region few years from
now is likely to be an immense garden
patch. producing in winter unlimited
quantities of spring vegetables and
summer fruits for the markets of the
north.
! Lake Okeechobee is n vast pond
| 100 miles wide, which receives the
whole drainage of central Florida,
1t is bordered with endles morasses,
which extend to the southward sixty
or seventy miles, and this part js
called the Everglades. This region,
however, does not in its character cor
respond to'Sthe ordinary description
| of a swamp, but it should rather be
| pictured as a scattering of hummocks
| of land, sometimes of considerable
extent, with water spaces between.
In this strange territory resides a rem
| nant of the once powerful tribe OF
| Seminoles. which in former days de-
| fed the whole authority of the United
States government. and was only sub.
jugated at length by great army.
| nr II NJ WiIav nf bn dana ri n
of agriculture, says that the Okeecho-
bee region is capable of producing
more sugar than is now grown on the
| fitire island of Cuba. The soft,
muck soil when the water has been
drained away, will yield from two to
| three tons per acre of sugar-not
| cane mind you but cane sugar Most
of what is now an almost impossible
| swamp will soon have a value of
something like $500 an acre.
NEW YORK, June 4.-The atmos-
phere is hazy from immense forest
fires in northeastern New York and
New England. Lake George, twenty
| five miles from one fire, is covered
with sparks and burning embers. Day
has been turned into night at Glenn
| Fails, N. Y, by smoke.
NEW YORK, June 4-The New
York Postal Telegraph company an.
nounces that pensions for employees
in service over fifteen years, now in
| capacitated, will be granted. The
maximum will be so per cent of pres
ent salry. and minimum 90 per cent
| BLOOMINGTON, ILL.,, June 4.-Presi-
dent Roosevelt was astir early this
morning and before the sun had climb
ed very high he was prepared to be-
gin the last speech-making day of his
record-breaking transcontinental trip.
After breakfast at the Hotel Illinois
the president reviewed the big mill.
| tary parade. The hour was early for
a demonstration of the kind, but such
an arrangement was necessary in or
der to meet the presidents other ar
rangements. The parade was the big
gest affair of the kind ever seen in
this part of the state. Besides the
many Spanish War veterans, whose
annual encampment is in progress
here, the line embraced several regi
ments of the Illinois National Guard
a portion of the Twentieth Infantry
from Fort Sheridan, three sections of
gatling gun squads and a nmber of
semimilitary bodies. The soldiers
gave rousing greeting to the presi
dent, who repeatedly bowed his ac-
| acknowledgements as the troops march
| ed by the reviewing stand. Imme
diately after the parade was over the
president and his party boarded their
special train and departed for Lincoln
and Springfield.
LINCOLN, H., June A crowd of
several thousand persons congregated
about the station this morning and
welcomed President Roosevelt dur
ing his ten minutes stop here en-
route to Springfield. From the rear
platform of his train the president de-
livered brief speech. Cheers loud
and long rent the. air as the special
pulled out Of the station.
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. June 4.-Presi-
dent Roosevelt spent four hours in the
capital city Of Illinois today and the
welcome he received was one of the
most enthusiastic he has encounter.