Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1907-09-06
Great National Drainage Projects
By GUY Elliott Mitchell

!. AS the western desert Is benz
{, made to bloom under Uncle Sam
tutelage, so the waste swami
places will be made to cOntribut
their quota to the great total o
American farm homes. The coun
try has authorized the appropria
: ton and expenditure of $40,0O0,C0(
for the construction Of huge irriga
ton dams, canals and tunnels t.
suhjugate the Great American Des
eri; why should it not look will
leqlal favor npon the redemption
Of the 100000 or more acreas Of
swamp lands, now equally as use
less as the desert. but equally fer
title and productive when reclaim
ed?
| As a matter of fact the national
drainage idea has already male
great progress and is growing
apacp. so that it would cause no
great surprise among those who
have kept a watchful eye on the
movement. should Congress pass
such law next session. There are
a number of reasons why govern
ment drainage should appeal to the
country even more strnnglv than
government irrigation. In the
first place, every eastern state has
a large area Of swamp land, and
instead of being located in the
midst of forbidding deserts, it is
situated in comparatively populous
sections Of the country with trans
portation facilities already develop
ed and in the second place, the re
generation Of these lands would be
an easy and comparatively cheap
engineering task. While govern
ment irrigation engineering recia.
nation is costing in the neighbor-
hood Of $50 an acre, the official
estimates Of swamp reclamation
run from 50 to S8 and 81 an acre.
Instead OF bsin1 called upon to
vote for the improvement OF far
distant lands, thousands Of miles
away from their constituents, every
Representative and Senator, in vot-
ing for drainage would support a
measure which would be a direct
benefit to his own state. Having
already helped the West by favora-
BILE irrigation legislation, why
should he not assist the home seek.
ers in his own district to secure an
intensely fertile farm?
GREAT VALUE OF REDEEMED swAMPS.
The value Of such lands, when
Understandable has already
been accomplished by private ell
terprise-runs from $50 to 5000
per acre. With all our swamp
areas thus improved, and taking
$50 as basis, we would be annex
ing an inland empire worth be-
tween three and four billion dol
lars and adding to the country's
productive farm area territory
equal to the great states of Illinois
and Kansas, or TO all the New Eng
land states, with Pennsylvania and
Maryland added or to the combined
area of Virginia, Tennessee and
Louisiana.
The query as to whether such
reclamation is practical is answered
by the engineers Of the irrigation
reclamation service i'self, whose al.
ready completed great topographic
surveys, started years ago by the
Geological Survey, would enable
them to at once begin active drain.
age reclamation.
But again, even with every cas-
tern state selfshlY interested, will
Congress feel like appropriating
great sums Of money for the pur-
pose? The huge surplus in the
Treasury today could not perhaps
be put to better use, az it would
not only create homes and national
wealth out Of nothing but give en-
ployment to q great army Of men.
Direct appropriations, however,
would not be necessary any more
than they were in the passage of
the irrigation act.
CONGRESS BELIEVED TO BE FAVORABLE
Last winter bill, introduced by
Senator Flint of California. was
favolably reported blythe Senate
ILL Ianaa Nopn n, ;tEoo annrnnri