The commercial. (Union City, Tenn.) 190?-193?, 1914-01-30

they organize their drainage work to
come through the levee at the head of
the canal, but this levee is to be used
until that work is started.
To the west or northwest OF the main
canal is what is known as Mud Creek
bottom, over which it is impossible to
pass even in dry summer weather. A
lateral canal will be cut through this
bottom to enter into the main canal with
the natural fall of the ground. Another
lateral canal will be cut through Cane
Greek bottom still farther west not far
from Crittendon Grove. This will empty
into the Mud Creek canal. The main
canal will be cut to the line of the dis
trict near Crockett before the present
contract is complete, and the work will
probably be finished in the spring.
Then the organization OF District No. i
OF Is, 900 acres, which is now in prog
ress, will be ready for the beginning of
work where the other is left off. This
work will continue with the main canal
and latterals until the Dyer line is
reached, and then the Dyer County
people will be organized and ready to
carry it on. 1t is confidently expected
that the work, now only in its infancy,
will include all the overflow territory
through to the Mississippi River before
it stops. The people in the Fulton ter
ritory are arranging to connect with the
present canal district through the North
Fork bottom.
The hundreds Of people who visit the
dredge boat every day are not only sur
prised at the simplicity of the under
taking, but are thoroughly convinced,
those who give it much thought, that
the drainage Of the Obion River bot
toms under the present system will not
only be thorough and practical but that
the opening to cultivation Of thousands
OF acres of virgin soil, altogether $4,000
in the good county OF Obion alone,
when completed, will revolutionize our
already rich farming country and make
it the agricultural paradise OF the South.
No better proof OF the fact that this
work is practical and effective can be had
than the ready sale Of six per cent bonds
at par to do the work. Men with capital
are ready to invest their money on these
drainage bonds as soon as the engineer
indorses the work. In some instance
they are willing to pay a premium.
1t is calculated that theses lands will
not only be rich and fertile, but the
richest lands Of the county, which is a
very broad statement. But men who
know state that the sediment carried
with the overflow and spread in these
bottoms will enrich the lands much
more than the properties of the native
soil.
These canals, running in straight lines,
with fifteen-foot levee on the side, will
carry the water, it is estimated, four
times as swift as the river channel. and
with such velocity downstream that
ovrehow will be practically impossible.
The canal also reduces the distance Of
the flow of water one-third of the river
channel. Thus the overflow or the
backwater, which eddies and moves very
slowly, will be disposed Of before it can
accumulate and the lands will be left
high and dry when the spring season
comes on.
This work was for years the dream Of
a pioneer, Uncle Billy Wilson, whose
grandson, T. O. Morris, is engaged in
its execution along with Geo. Dahnke,
F. j. Smith, ]. Al. Coble and others,
who organized two or three years ogo,
and who are responsible for its Inaugural
ton, as now witnessed by hundreds OF
visitors who have already seen the
dredging work in progress.
This will be to Obion County what no
other enterprise has ever been. It will
develop the country more rapidly than
it was ever opened and bring capital and
industry, not only Of an agricultural
nature, but all kinds Of Investment and
enterprise, as well as civic, social and
educational progress. Il will be an
agency Of civilization that we have never
yet attained, and withal the greatest
work ever accomplished in this country.
The Rockefeller Foundation has an
nounced the appropriation Of $4,000
for Balkan War sufferers in Bulgaria
and s1O, 900 yearly ior ten years for the
q.