New-York tribune., 1908-02-02

WET LAND DRAINAGE.
National Enterprise to RECLAIM
Large Eastern Tracts.
from The Tribune Bureau.l

Washington Feb Ito the densely populated
sections of the Eastern part of this country the
possibilities of land reclamation are as I'M
portant as arid land irrigation is to the sparseiy
settled portions of the Far West. It is agreed that
the government should do nlucn for one as II
does for the other.
Drainable swamp lands that contain, according
10 one of the most eminent geologsts of the coun-
try. the dormant wealth of the nation" cover
more than 10000 square miles of the area Of the
United States The possibility of reciafming these
swamp lands and thereby obtaining this dormant
wealth has been under consideration by the fed
era government for more than half a century, Tor
the swamp land act under which various states
have claimed than s2ooo"oo acres of land, was
passed by Congress in 1850
The desirability or the value of draining these
lands may still be considered matter of estl-
mate opinion the values OF land either re-
claimed unreclaimed vary widely in different
localities. The possibility of drainage, however is
a matter Of practical engineering, the preliminary
requirements being in way different from those
governing the irrigation of arid lands. the con-
struction of inland waterways, the prevention of
foods. the conservation Of water or any other in-
portant engineering work. Such projects all IN
volve engineering and physical problems the solu-
tion Of which may involve areas far beyond those
Immediately under consideration. If wet lands are
drained the work of construction must be preceded
by topographic surveys, by investigations OF geo
logic conditions by studies of streams, lncluolns
measurements of flow and determination Of chan
the related climatological data.
Preliminary work of this character has been done
for many years by the United States Geological
Survey. whose Investigations have served as &
basis for many kinds of government work Had II
not been for the topographic and hydrographic
surveys. for example. the work of irrigatfng the
arid lands would have had TO be postponed for
several years after the passage OF the reclama-
of 1902.
The topographic and photographic work Of the
drainage
wet lands as 10 the reclamation of desert wastes
Of the 1887 Topographic sheets published by the
survey, 402 show swamp areas scattered through
all the principal sections of the United States
All of these show graphically the locations and
boundaries of the swamps and their relation TO
the natural drainage channels, as well as the con-
fguration of the surrounding country
The photographic work of the survey Is as
closely related swamp drainage the topo-
graphic. For fifteen years the survey has been
carrying Investigations under appropriations
made by Congress for gaugiHE the streams and
determining the supply OF the United
States. and for the investigation of underground
currents and artesian wells and the preparation
OF reports upon the best methods OF utilizing the
water resources" Although the work is not COM
pIeted the results of prime value in connec-
ton with all questions of water supply develop
rnent- The records and published reports of the
water resources branch of the survey contain a
large amount of information IN regard to the
conditions affecting the flow OF streams and the
run-off from drainage areas, not only In the I'M
mediate localities in which drainage work is
needed but throughout the tributary basins
As the drainage OF swamp lands involves mere
" the providing Of means 10 accelerate the rate
of run-on and as II is obvious that the water
drained from them must be discharged into
streams or rivers. il is important to determine
the size channel that will be sufficient to carry
the water and in what way the available river
channels may be made 10 hold q larger amount
of water during flood seasons than they were pre-
yiously required carry. No project for the
drainage Of lands be successfully accom-
piished unless the work is based upon careful
preliminary photographic Investigations
Although the records of the survey do not now
contain all the data necessary 10 plan the work
of reclair1ing the swamp areas II has at COM
mand large corps of specially trained engineers,
and the work done be supplemented by fur
ther investigations along the lines already pro-
!ecteG