New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1912-05-22
Stop the Drain on Fsr.ility.

~ Sop the Drain on Fertility.
The central valley Of the Unite
States. extending from the Alleghani,
70 the Rockies and from the Britis
= possessions and Great lakes region I
the gulf Of Mexico, IL deeply coucerne
n 10 the storage and distribution OF ii
headwaters Of the Mississippi rive
system. This concern 10 not of recer
origin. It began with the settlement {
the Interior, but In times Ike th
present, when the cumulative food
: OF . score OF rivers are emptying int
and swelling to uncomfortable dimen
sions the lower stretches of the cont
mental waterway, 1t becomes more thai
usually acute. It may be said now
% II has been said under similar cir
cumstances many times in the past
that the interest which the foods hs "
aroused will disappear with their sub.
sidence. Practical confirmation Of
this theory has cost the inhabitants OF
the Mississippi valley in food losses
alone hundreds of millions of dollars;
what 1t has cost in consequential and
svoidable damages 10 incslculsble.
Consider this one effect: The gradual
removal of soil sufficient to supply the
needs of millions, over the entire
Mississippi basin, through the steady
and steslthy process of erosion. The
floods of the Mississippi valley ave
sweeping the wealth Of an empire into
the sea year after year. They do far
more harm by washing the headlands
than by inundating the lowlands.
From western New York to the eastern
slope of the Canadian Rockies and
down through the narrowing valley
the movement of the surface soil is
ever downward toward the Mississippi
delta.
How few they are who stop to figure
what this means; who take pains to
comprehend the immensely OF the de-
struction wrought annually by q water
system that should on the contrary, be
contributing Immensely to the con-
structive energies of the nation! The
total discharge of the Mississippi river
In . single year is 18, 100, 0O0, 900, 900
cubic feet. or sufficient to cover the
whole Mississippi valley to q depth OF
seven and one half inches. One fourth
Of the rainfall of the entire valley
passes down through this channel to s
he gulf. But there is something more 7
han rainwster. The river csrries {
in solution 4O0, 900, 900 tons g
II earth washings, or an amount !
efficient in volume to constitute, when y
'ressed and dried, block one mile =
quare and $50 feet high. And this
recess has gone on through the =
enturles, rendering great areas in =
be upper mountain regions barren; =
Mess checked by man, apparently it
Ill continue until the soil that en-
lches the prairie provinces of Canada
nd the great wheat belt of the
'akotas and Minnesota, and the corn
'nds OF Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa,
linois and Missouri, becomes as thin
> that on the hillsides of New York,
ennsylvania and West Virginia. =;
There is nothing dresmlike or fanci-
Il or even theoretical about the
'medy. Engineers have already =.
lived the problem of food preyen- A<
on, water conserv alton and water
stribution. The reservoir or storage =
stem Is as much fact as anything
at is planned. and awaiting execu- "
on, All that Is necessary to the
rrying out Of the scheme is state In
I'd government financial aid. From
Q very beginning of the work of "
oring the waters of the Mississippi's
lbutaries, waste will be checked and Pr
'wer will be developed. The pre-
ntion OF freshets alone will pay, In
sny times over, the interest on the
st. But this will be small matter &C
impaired with the transforming of
70 of the most destructive into one ST.
the most useful agencies in the
tion. on
Here is . present, . real issue; too wi
3, perhaps, for the mere politicisn;
t too small for the ablest of states ~
10. Simply stated the issue Is A.
oether the drain of the nations W.
tallty incident to the recurrent and
controlled floods of the Mississippi
LEY shall continue indefinitely, or 81