Warren sheaf. [volume] (Warren, Marshall County, Minn.) 1880-current, 1910-12-08

WARREN, MARSHALL COUNTY,
DRAINAGE AND STATE DEVELOP:
.=zszst MENT
Discussed in Our Weekly News Let.
:5 tersFrom ST. Paul.
st. Paul, Mim.,. Dec 7-On the
same day that the census bureau in
Washington ANNOUNCED the population
of Minnesota as 2,O75,7oS, a gain Of
324,314@or 1875 per cent in ten years,
there came a statement from theEofs
flee Of George A. Ralph, state drain.
age engineer, that the state already
has drained 545,0S5 acres of its
swamp lands and made them avail:
able for agricultural purposes.
There is coincidence in these two
announcements as this great drainage
work will provide more farms and
more farms means more people and
more towns, which should make the
growth of Minnesota's population in
the next ten years greater, than it has
been in the last decade. In his re-
port Mr.. Ralph says. $
-:s'It is estimated that Minnesota or
iginally had about 100000 acres of
swamp lands, or land too wet in its
natural state for agricultural pur.
poses. This vast area, comprising
about one-tifth of the total of the
states area, is fast becoming trans
formed into valuable farm lands. Con-
servative estimates place the area re-
claimed during the last two years at
100000. With our constantly in.
creasing population, the area Of unoc-
cupied agricultural lands must con
stantly diminish and the demand for
agricultural products must naturally
increase. No one factor plays more
important part in this demand than
drainage. BY continuing the drain
age of wet lands, thousands Of acres
of the most productive kind Of soil
can be added to the wealth-producing
area each year and millions of dollars
be added to the agricultural wealth
of the state.''
In addition to the drainage work
done under the direction of Mr.
Ralph thousands of acres in the
northwestern part of the state have
been converted into tillable soil IN.
der the jurisdiction of judicial dis
tricts and county commissions. Much
Of this work has been done in the vi
cinity of Thief River Falls which is
to be the seat of Minnesota's new
county, Pennington. Most of this
work has been done under the direc
tion of w. R. Hoag, engineer, who
was appointed by Judge Andrew
Grindeland to supervise the drainage
in what is known as judicial ditch
district No. II. This work lies ir
three counties, Red Lake, Marshal
and Beltrami. A large majority o5
this work has and is being done b,
the Northwestern Drainage Compan,
of Grand Rapids, Wis. Arthur M
Arpin of Thief River Falls is the gen
eral manager and he had large
force working night and day on thu
giant dredges> converting swamps in
to lands that are destined within J;
few years to add to the states fame
as grain producing district.
This project alone will add 65O,OO(
acres to the states farming area ant
is Independent of the work done b.
the state drainage commission.
It is believed that all of the WORT
| will have been completed in four o.
| five years and when the next census
is taken the enumerators will have tt
| invade the former haunts of the bear
deer, wolf and wild fowl to gather tn,
names of the inhabitants. Conse
| quently it is easy to see why Mime
sofa should show a greater gain j,
population in the next ten years thai
| it did in the last.
| Further proof Of the states ad
vancement was given a few days late
when State Bank Examiner j. b. Ga
! larnault issued report which show
that Minnesota state banks increas
ed $22,901,O18.S6 in resources betwee
November 16, 1909 and November 1(
| 1910. This is a gain Of 90 per cen
in state banks only and it is believe
that the increase in national bank
will be as large if not larger. Til,
increase in number Of state bank