Watauga Democrat. [volume] (Boone, Watauga County, N.C.) 1888-current, 1907-10-24
WASHINGTON LETTER.
From Our Regular Correspondent.

| HA""A o"i "c6"lai correspondents
Since the work of the Reclama-
tion Service has done so much
for the arid region west of the
Tooth meridian, there have boen
a number of suggestions about
doing something on approXima.
tely the same line for the east.
The Reclamation Service so far
has dealt with desert lands, put
ting water on them. 1t has re.
claimed hundreds OF thousands
of acres of deserts and the increas
ed price that land sells for to the
settlers has furnished more mon.
ey TO reclaim more land. So that
by the time the government gets
through with the 50,0O0,O00 or
so acres of land which there is
water to irrigate, the work will
have paid for itself and there will
be an empire added to the United
States.
But there lis another problem
on the same line, 80 faras reclaim
ing land is concerned, but di-
ametrically opposed to it in the
matter of water That is in drain
ing the swamp lands OF the coun-
try and getting rid OF enough OF
that water to make the soil avail
able for agriculture and home
steads. A report on the subject
has just been rendered by j. 0.
Wright of the Department OF
Agriculture and some of the facts
shown are startling. The swamp
land area of the United States
that is waiting to be reclaimed is
100000 acres. The most OF
this lies in the middle north, and
along the Atlantic Coast or in the
Southern States. 1t is an area
bigger than England, Ireland,
Scotland and Wales, bigger also
than the whole of New England,
New York and part OF Pennsyl'
vania. A good deal of this land
has been drained by private en-
terprise and it has been shown
that when drained it is the finest
agricultural land in the world,
The matter of draining is simple
much simpler than reclaiming
land for irrigation, for all that
is needed is a comprehensive sys'
tom of canals and bitches and
the water flows off by itself. The
cost of draining this immense
area by the most approved mod
ern methods would be about a
billion dollars, but the land itsell
would be worth four billion when
reclaimed, whereas now it isworth
nothing 1t would furnish forty
acre farms for 1 900, 900 families
and the work, like the irrigation,
could be done gradually and be
made to pay foritself. Mr.. Wright
makes no recommendations in his
report as to whether the work
should be done under Federal OF
state authority. The draining,can
easily be done by the individual
states without interfering with
each other. In this it is different
from irrigation where frequently
a river runs through more than
one state and where the fedora
government is the only authori
What can we'll handle and ad
inst the claims between the states
It is a fascinating problem, this
draining Of the swamps-addine
to the national wealth; adding
to the valuable home area OF the
country and largely wiping ou1
malaria and mosquitoes in th'
process. How soon the work vii
de undertaken on a large scale
it is impossible to say, but it Ii
something that would cost prac
tically nothing and should bedon'
at once.
The railroad commissioner
who have been holding their con
: yention here this week are con