Imperial Valley press and the Imperial press., 1906-03-31
10 FARM THt SWAMPS
Great Government Drainage Projects. Enlargement of the Old Home
 stead Idea
rcuY ELLIOTT MITCHELL l


 zens Is a benefactor to the race If Representative Steenerson of Mime scta can push his swamp reclamation measure to enactment Into a law, he will be deserving of the praise of not only this but future generations. Ills bill is a 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 nelghborhood of loo.ooo,ooo acres of swamp lands in the United States, some 7o,ooo.ooo of which have been surveyed, and the great bulk would make splendid farms if the excess of water were drained off.
 The Steenerson bill provides for the beginning of the work of reclamation of these huse areas. The measure Is framed after the irrigation law It pro- vides that the receipts from the sales of public lands in the non-lrrigation states shall constitute a drainage" fund to be expended by the government in great drainage works. snd further. that the cost of such drainage shall be prorated among the land benefited and paid back by the settlers into the fund to be used over again for additional reclamation work.
 WOULD CREATE THOUSANDS OF HOMES
 This plan of developing the internal resources of the country and making homes of waste places, is splendid in it's 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 /ths7 have been reclaimed through expensive private drainage works. when they have become worth SlOO and Sl5O an acre. Yet It is es- timated by the government surveyors and engineers that the entire system could be effectively drained at cost in the neighborhood of $l0 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 overflowed. It would be worth millions of dollars to the farmers and settlers who would oc- cupy these lands in small tracts, to have 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 Steenerson 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 drainage provided for more than l6o acres. thus insuring the division of the tracts into small farms which must be actually settled upon and tiled.
 DRAINAGE WORK ALREADY IN PROGRESS
 The work the Reclamation Service Is qualified to do at this very moment