Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1906-05-08
MILLIONS OF ACRES OF sWAMPs
IN UNITED STATES TO BE
IRRIGATED
Bill Introduced by Congressman steen-
erson of MInnesota--Planlto Develop
The Internal Revenues OF the coun.
try.
fBx CIV n Mitchall.l

Washington, D. c., May 4.-(Spe.
cial) The man who can provide
homes for Industrious and strong
armed citizens is benefactor to the
race. If Representative STEVENSON
of Minnesota can push his swamp re-
clamation measure to enactment into
law, he will have done much for not
only this but future generations. His
bill is practical extension OF the old
homestead idea, or rather, perhaps, an
application to the vast areas OF our
swamp lands of the idea embodied in
the national irrigation law.
There are in the netghborhood OF
100, 100000 acres Of swamp lands In
the United States, some 100000 Of
which have been surveyed, and, the
great bulk would make splendid farms
il the excess of water were drained OF.
The STEVENSON bill provides for the
beginning Of the work of reclamation
of these huge areas. The measure Is
framed after the irrigation law; 1t
provides that the receipts from the
sales Of public lands in the non-irriga-
ton states shall constitute drain
age" fund to be expended by the gov
eminent in great drainage works, and,
further, that the cost Of such drainage
shall be pro-rated among the land ben
Gifted and paid back by the settlers in.
to the fund.- to be used over again
for additional reclamation work.
Thousands Of Homes.
This plan Of developing the internal
resources Of the country and making
homes of waste places, is splendid in
its scope, and appears to be entirely
practicable and profitable Take for
instance, the single example Of the
swamp lands of the Kankakee river
basin in Indiana and Illinois. Here
are some 100000 acres of the very
richest of bottom lands, but subject to
overflow They are worthless except
where they have been reclaimed
through expensive private drainage
works, when they have become worth
$500 and $3.50 an acre. Yet 1t is esti-
mated by the government surveyors
and engineers that the entire system
could be effectively drained at cost
in the neighborhood of $40 an acre.
| The same can be said of the lands Of
the Red river valley in Minnesota.
These include the finest grain and
farm lands in, the northwest except
that they are frequently overlooked.
1t would be worth millions of dollars
to the farmers and settlers who would
occupy these lands in small tracts to
have a perfect system of drainage pro-
vided. These extensive systems, how
ever, especially where they are inter
state, seem to be feasible for handling
only by the general government.
The STEVENSON bill places the entire
management of the work in the hands
of the reclamation service and the
plan Of operation follows very closely
the irrigation work now being done by
that branch of the interior department.
Government lands, ,ceded Indian lands
and private lands may be included in
any drainage project, but in each case
the cost of the drainage improvement
is to be borne by the owner Of the
land, and no settlers can have drain
age provided for more than 100 acres,
thus insuring the division of the tracts
into small farms which must be actual.
ly settled upon and tiled.
Drainage Work in Progress.
This work the reclamation service
is, qualified to do at this very
moment. While primarily an engi.
neering bureau 1t has, in all its great
irrigation projects, to deal directly
with the farmer. 1t must outline q
comprehensive drainage system for
each irrigation project, since there is
as much danger from too much irriga
ton as too little, and to do this the
service has its own farm and soil ex
perts. Some of the irrigation projects
have distinctively drainage features
in fact are almost as much drainage
as there are irrigation projects. In
J. the klamath project 10000 acres, OF
more than half of the area of the total
} project Is rich tule land covered by
> eight or ten feet of water, and is tc
; be drained and converted into over a
thousand farms. The topographic
branch of the geological survey, Of
which the reclamation service is also
; a branch, has already run its lines
I over many of the great swamp areas
of the eastern states and as soon as
: the Stevenson bill becomes law the
!. geological survey engineers will be
ready to launch out into immediate
) activity in drainage projects.
Would start With Million.
The fund provided by the bill would
al
, ton fund-it would approximate hal
a million dollars year and woule
: start off with about $1,0O0,000, the re
ceipts from the sales for the fisca
!; year 1905 being included-but on the
other hand the cost of drainage would
) not be so great as that of irrigation
The importance Of this work O
2 wholesale drainage, in order to provid,
homes for increased population, il
: scarcely second in Importance to tn,
irrigation work. 1t means that TEN
OF millions of acres of the most fertile
land imaginable, which has lain idl,
for ages, may be converted from dis
NAL and pestilential swamps and use
less boys into highly prosperou.
] homes, to become the garden spots o
the nation.
I The Dutch have. reclaimed vas
J. areas in Holland from the encroach
: ments of the ocean. Thousands o
: families live and farm below sea level
gaining their security by magnificen
S fats If enpineering and DarSisfonce