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

a second Egypt. It is bigger than the
delta of the Gauges. 1t Is many miles
wide and is as long as from New York
to Cleveland. The Swamps in it comprise
altogether over twenty million acres, and
they are so rich that any forty acres
would make a good farm. The lower
part of the delta has millions of acres
| which viii raise sugar and rice North
OF them are millions that could be de-
voted TO cotton, and still farther north
are millions fitted for corn. We all
know what Holland has done by diking
the sand hills Of the North sea. This
land might be dil1ed the same way, but
it would be walling in hot beds. rather
than sand.
The government geographers have al
ready made topographic maps of great
part of the lower Mississippi. They have
gone over the swamps on foot, on horse
back and in boats, and have charted it
section by section. | have before me as
l write. one of their maps, which covers
an area perhaps the size of a township
IN levee district of the state of
Louisiana. It is about the size of a
mans pocket handkerchief, and it is pep
pered with figures, each one of which
shows the height of land or depth of
water on the spot which it marks. 1t
gives every stream, and the character of
every hill and hollow. The bayous are
drawn to a scale, and the whole marshy
district Is shown in such a way that
civil engineer could make working plans
for its drainage. It is this sort of work
that is being done throughout the Missis-
sippi delta to fit it for private drainage
enterprises, or for the time when the
states or the national government may
adopt some plan to reclaim the lands.
A Job for Uncle Sam.
And just here l would say that the
draining of the swamp lands of the
United States should be in the hands of
Uncle Sam. Indeed, it will need to be so
controlled before the work can be done for
the good OF the country. As 1T is now 90
percent of these lands are in the hands
OF private parties. They were relin-
pushed by the general government to the
states about so years ago on the under
standing that the states would inaugur-
ate works to reclaim them The states
sold them TO individuals, on the same
understanding, and as d result tens of
thousands and millions of acres passed
away from the government for a few
cents per acre.
And now it is found that the work is
necessarily a national one Take this
matter of the lower Mississippi The
swamps act as great reservoirs which
regulate the flow OF the river. They be-
come filled at the times of the floods
and seep out gradually into the main
current. IT the Swa1nps are cut off the
water must be all thrown back into the
main channel, and this will necessitate
raising The levees or dikes which are now
along both sides of the Mississippi and
other rivers, and which have cost the
government and the states tens of mil
mons OF dollars. There are more than
toV0 miles OF leyees along the Missis-
slppl alone. The Yazoo basin has an I'M
broken dixie, and there is a great dam
AROUND the basin of the st. Francis. The
government, national and state, has spent
4,VOO,OOO within the last generation to
cage Inc waters of the Mississippi And
t e, sYamps viii have to be handled care
Iuiiy to Keep the cages intact
Moreover, no state will allow a sister
state TO drain its surplus flood waters
INTO lts own territory, and the farmers
Will Kick against receiving SURPLUS water
from their neighbors These are some of
the problems which confront the drainage
proposition, and make it impossible ex-
cept through cooperation and national
supervision 1t is an interstate and ma
tlonal question. / am told bv senator
Newlands that he has treated of this
matter IN his new bill for the manage
ment on the waterways of the Union.
Drainage by States.
Some of the states have already
authorized the drainage of the swamps,
and some have granted concessions to
that end. In the Yazoo basin company
had been organized and plans made to
redeem in the neighborhood of half a
million acres. The geological survey
had prepared the mays which gave the
basis OF the working plans. The COM