The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1911-09-24
j. 3. Van PappeIendam Says Areu-
nuent Of the Burlington Attorney
Regarding Green Bay sftua-
ton is Coed.
SOUND AND PRACTICAL
Farmers in the Bottoms Below War
saw Built Their Own Leyee But It
Proved to be a yalu-
able Investment


the largest land owners In this section
and an owner who has had consider
able to do with Ie4ses teIls the Green
Bay farmers that ievee is very
valuable Investment and that the
farmers IN the bottoms below Warsaw
did not have q Hugh L. Cooper To-
STAND half the expense OF such an
undertaking. Mr. Van PappeIendam
hands to The Gate City the following
Communication which is very peril
nent to the Green Bay controversy.
The remarks o. Mr. Van Pappelendam
appended are worthy OF the most care
full consideration:
vas very much pleased with the
article Of Mr.. W. E Blake Of BurIing-
ton regarding the Green Bay lands
TIia advise is sound and practice.
The writer cal speak Of practicie ex-
perience as a lad owner Of lands pro-
tected by a Ievee, My farms are in
the Mississippi river bottom a few
miles below Warsaw, Ill We till
our farms hence have a more practi-
cal knowledge of their condition and
productiyeness than II we leased them.
We have two drainage districts, the
upper and lower districts. From our
practical experience would unhesi
tzringIy advise the Green Bay farmers
to have but one organization such as
Nr. Blake outlines. In one district
harmony viii prevaiI while in two dis
tricts there viii be more or less fric-
ton. We did not have Hugh l.
Cooper TO offer to par one-haif Of the
leTee We built It ourselves and al
though it was quite expensive, often
the income of a one years crop pays
fer the entire es.pense of building the
lesee, and perhaps the same season,
just across the river where there is no
Ievee protection, the crop Is entirely
destroyed By overflow. I understand
that the IowIands above Burlington
have increased II value rom 200 to
900 per cent since It was properly
lereed and equipped with pumping
plants. Hrst opened my eyes TO this
world about t~enty feet below the
pea level The beautiful little patriot
ic country Of Holland Today the
richest, the cIeanest and ere Of the
most intelligent countries on the
globe Her low lands are exceedingly
fertile and very productive, conse-
quentIy brings as high price. perhaps
the highest price OF land which is
uaed for agricultural purposes. Her
inhabitants are as healthy as can be
found anywhere. The practical result
Of the bikes and levees in Holland
should be convincing argument to
the most skeptical on the subject Of
levees. In Holland it is not q matter
Of levying against river but It is
the North Sea with which they have
TO combat In many places its level
is twenty feet above the land just on
the other side of the dixie Some fifty
years ago a syndicate was organized
In Amsterdam, Holland, for the pur-
pose Of retaining several thousand
acres Of the North Sea. Many OF the
sturdy Dutch declared it was not
feasible. The syndicate pushed their
plans to completion by building the
1evee around the proposed area, pump
ed ont the water and after a few years
Of atmosphere exposure the soil be.
came very productive and today is as
valuable as any farming lands in that
country. ] fee! satisfied If the farm
ers OF Green Bay fully understood the
benefit they would receive from a
good levee protection and the assur-
ance they would have or not
being molested by an over
flow they world unhestitatingly
favor the leyee. 1t seems
somewhat peculiar, but it is neyerthe-
less the fact that the majority Of low
land owners oppose Ieyee protection
until they get leyee and then they
are strong levee enthusiasts and can
not see why they were SO short sight
ed.
]. p. VAN PAPPELENDAM.
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