The Richfield recorder. (Richfield, Idaho) 1909-1931, 1909-07-01
Importance Of Drainage
Vast Areas Of Swamp Land Reclaimed and Irri-
gated Land Kept In Good Condition
by Proper Drainage

~ POI bANuicAA al ca ONtA 0hASh III ,
investigation extended, was level, low
lying country between the two great
rivers of Italy, the Pc and the Adige.
Both of these large streams flow in
levees along the north and south
boundaries of thisland, with a water
level at an average elevation of 20
feet above the intervening lands AS
a result the land has become water
logged in the course of years by see
page from these two rivers and a
large area was actually under water
most of the time 1t became neces-
sary to utilize these lands, however,
for their agricultural products. A
drainage association or company was
formed under the Italian law and was
subsidized by the Government, the adj
vance made by the government to be
returned in partial payments carrying
no interest and extending over a num-
Der of years. A large main drainage
canal was constructed, starting near
the western boundary of the area and
gradually increasing in size as it ap-
preached the Adriatic sea. Numerous
lateral feeders entered this main can
al, so laid out that they covered the
entire territory. Near the mouth of
the Po., of the level of water in the
main drainage canal was ten or
twelve feet below the mean level of
the Adriatic sea. At this point was
installed pumping plant with huge
turbine pumps lifting an enormous
quantity of water from the drainage
canal up and over into the River Pc
and thence into the Adriatic sea.
These pumps are operated day and |
night throughout most of tn eyear
AS a result of this comprehensive
system of drainage, thousands of
acres of land have been reclaimed
and the rich alluvial soil produces
the finest grain crops in Italy today.
Land values have also been increas-
ed from 200 to 500 per cent, and
the area between the Pc and the
Adige Rivers has become the very
Garden of Eden.
Our own government, following
its immense reclamation projects,
has now started in upon large drain
age projects for the retaining,
among other lands, everglade
swamps of Florida and Louisiana and
the swamp lands of Wisconsin and
Michigan.
By one process or the other, by
or by drainage, most of
he arid ard swamp lands of the
United States will be made subject
% cultivation. The less costly pro- |
ects, in general, will be completed q
irst, but gradually, as the increase c
md we hear the ever louder call of
he markets of Europe an dthe Ori- y
mt for our products, the cost of con-
truction of drainage and irrigation o
projects will not be so important d
factor as the fight to make the
upply meet the demand and the eff
ort to giving the balance of inter-
ational trade more and more in our
avor. a
In accomplishing these large re- =
ults,s it is the daily work of the t,
onafide settler that counts most of a.
II. His attention at the start to 81
he details of drainage and irrigation n
nd his scientific use of water. The o
sttler, who by care and study, by .
luscle and brain, can make an acre ~
ield three bushels more of wheat K,
lis year than it did last, is doing sc
more for the welfare of p'
IS country than the man who stands M
the wheat pit at Chicago or in the ca
reduce Exchange at New York
hose fortune may hang upon the
I'm of a greater point in the quota IN
on on May wheat p,
e. M. BLAKE, ia