El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1911-04-29

pany was 50 capitalized and the organ
ization so made that the bonds would be
secured by the lands redeemed and all
the farms be subject to the assessment
for carrying on the work. The bonds
We're issued at percent, and the banks
had agreed to take them, when for some
reason or other the bill was held up in
the legislature and the work stopped.
There are other schemes which are GO
ing on in other states, and in Florida a
large, amount CT land has been drained
by various companies, and especially by
the Disstons, who have taken the water
from several hundreds of thousands. of
acres.
Florida and the Everglades.
And this brings me TO the Everglades.
The whole of Florida is a great bed of
coral, upon the upper part of which a
dense vegetation has grown, forming the
lands which now make the winter garden
and fruit patch of the eastern United
States. Lower Florida Is largely a swamp
and there are so many swamp lands scat
tered over the whole state that it has
more marshes and morasses than any
other part of the Union.
1t has altogether almost one fourth of
the swaInps of the whole country. their
area amounting to something like twenty
million acres, or to about as much as the
whole state of South Carolina. Some of
these lands lie along the coasts and on
the rivers. A part of them contain great
lakes like Okechobee, which measures
three quarters OF a million acres and
more. The Everglades, which are almost
solid swamp, are at the south. They
have a rim of mangrove trees and other
vegetation which separate them from
the sea, and it is said that if this rim
is cut and canals are made the tract can
be drained / am told, however, that
there is some question as to the pros
pective value of the land when it is once
redeemed. Some of the scientists say
that it lacks mineral water and that It
is altogether humus. They say it would
not hold the rainfall and would become
as dry as sawdust after being drained.
As to this, it is claimed that irrigation
could be given by Lake Okechobee;
others assert that this soil is rich in
feTtilizing materials. The DisstOn drain
age scheme was, as | understand it, Just
north of the Everglades. 1t resulted in
the partial redemption of large tract
Of land, but to not as much as was
originally planned
The Great Dismal Swamp.
Going north from Florida there are
vast tracts along our south Atlantic
states which have been mapped and
which might be redeemed South Caro-
Ina has large area of swamps and the
same is true of North Carolina and Vir-
ginia. On the eastern border of the lat
ter two states is the Great Dismal
swamp, which alone contains more than
100000 acres. The swamp begins a little
south OF Norfolk, Va, and etends south
ward across the boundary into North
Carolina. The greater part of it is still
covered with trees, although some of it
has been drained and devoted to truck
ing At one end of the swamp is Drum
mond lake, reached by the Jericho canal
or ditch. There is also a canal which
runs through the swamp connecting the
Chesapeake bay with Albemarle sound
This canal was, think, made by the
original Dismal Swamp company, which
was organized by George Washington,
who believed that the swamp might be
drained. 1t will thus be seen that the
father of our country was really the
father of the reclamation and conserva-
tion policies of the present.
This Dismal Swamp and the great
marsh lands which lie adjacent to it
would be very profitable if they should
be reclaimed. They are close to the
water routes to Boston and New York.
and would be winter vegetable garden
for those cities and other parts of the
north
Swamp Lands of the North.
The swamp lands of the north are of
enormous extent and they are being re-