St. Landry clarion. (Opelousas, La.) 1890-1921, 1913-02-08
GOll DRAINAGE
HELPS GOOD ROADS
Indiana Capitalist and Practical
Farmer Gives Sound
Advice.

capitalists who has heavily in
vested in st. Landry lands ir
the Palmetto neighborhood, ane
pursuaded him to give us a pub.
lie letter expressing his view:
on the good roads and drainage
subject, upon which he has hac
considerable practical expert.
ence. Mr.. Fitzmaurice over g
year ago bought 1000 acres OF
land close to the town of Pal.
metto, and DR.. J. Fl. Moroney,
Dr. M. V. Smith and other In.
dianians, all coming from the
town of Winchester, have ac.
ouired large holdings in the same
section of this parish. They are
now preparing their lands for
cultivation, and next winter al
least two of them will bring
down their families, and posi-
bly number of friends, to try
our mild winter climate and with
a view to making permanent set
Elements here.
Mr.. Fitzmaurice is not only a
large and successful planter in
his own state, but is also an ex-
perienced and practical me-
chanic and contractor. The
drainage question in his home
county is even more difficult than
in the Palmetto section, and he
has had much experience both
in drainage work and in dirt and
brick or stone road building.
He is a man Of mature age and
Judgment, and his progressive
character and experience are
well testified to by the fact that
in the Winchester Machine
Works, Of which he is the pro-
prietor, he built the first loom
used for making woven wire
fencing, and has been looked to
by other manufacturers to pro-
duce special tools and machinery
for manufacturing purposes such
as hemp weaving appliances,
etc. He is even now planning
a method to make bagging out
Of our now waste palmetto leaf
fibre, and to utilize the stumpage
from our cut-over hardwood
lands for tool manufacturing
purposes.
Mr.. Fitzmaurice's letter is as
follows:
Palmetto, La, Jan. %, 1913.
To the Editor of the Clarion and
the People. of st. Landry in
General:
/ do not want to take up too
much of your time, but as the
great-issue of the present time
is Good Roads, I will give you
my experience from a country
where they have good drainage
and good roads.
There seems to be a great deal
Of talk about good roads, i'm
provement of the country, and
the betterment of the people and
particularly of the small farmers,
all of which would be a very
good thing, and a Godsend to
the people when the undertaking
can be accomplished. | would
advise the Good Roads League
that while they are trying to
provide a great benefit for the
people Of this country, they have
started on the wrong road to
commence with.
The first thing that the people
OF this country want is good
drainage to drain their. lands,
and not have their crops drowned
out every year. In the first
place there seems to be a lack
OF interest in cleaning out our
bayous. They are all choked up
with trees and brush. Where
they enter into other bayous
drifts have formed, and make
regular dams to hold back the
water, and when the rise comes
IT takes a long time for the
water to go down. The result is
the crops are spoiled or the land
IS too wet to plow. Take for
example the Bayou Courtableau.
= AAt It's mouth it is closed up and
fuil OF drifts, The Bayou Waxia,
bayou Petit Prairie, Swayzee
Lake, and all others north of the
bayou Courtableau empty into
It. Those streams are all choked
up and cause all of this section
Of the country to become a marsh
IN wet season or at any time
when there is a heavy rain. No
place could have better dis
Tibuted drainage channels than
tnls parish has in its bayous,
provided they are properly open
ed up and kept clean.
Before there is any road build
ing OF any extent, you must
gram your country, give the
farmers a chance to drain their
lands SO that they can raise
crops 70 pay their taxes, then
you will have no trouble in build
ing good roads, which are second
g good drainage. When you