The farmer and mechanic., 1915-04-20


tiOn of public health is nov =
ing in a marked degree tn st.. ~
of the medical man and .h.
everywhere. Drainage VIII
and other fnSe..
propagate disease. will bans.
ria and add to individual
Again one Of the conspicunr-
is that seeking t
better highways. DRAINAGE
lands will mean a system
highways traverSing an area -f...
formerly impossible and VIII.
separates two sections OF
The swamp often puts as gr-.+
tance between neighhorS am -..,s
living on either side Of II aS f. IT,
talleSt mountains in separa1i. -.
who live on either side Of in-.
The Cost.
The cost of draining the sv..r.. ..
of eastern North Carolina has s..r.t
from four dollars to six dn.. r.
acre, and the cost of DRAMA. .- .t..
over-hOwer areas of our MA ~.
try has varied from fifteen H. t,.ar-,.
dollars an acre. In every ..fsr.a
however where a drainage af~tr,s-. ..ss
been organized and the dramas. p.-.-
completed most gratifying and 1-tE..
factory results have been obtained
which has invariably converted s.It -bo
people in the district to draina.. .-
thuSlaStS. There are now eight. dis
tr1ctS organized or in the process -
organization in our State. Man. ~
these are completed and crops a~e
now growing where a few Wears a~o
there was nothing but sWamp .ha
home of insect and reptile Our ~uan-
est drainage district embraces "a
acres of abandoned rice lands In Neu
I1nH
age district embraces the Mat,antus-
keet Lake in Hyde county of = 600
acres. This monumental! undertaiziae
is fully organized and the dredere r.
at work. / suggest that committed
of your body visit this elahor;t, 7ln-
dertaking which has in it m.0.N or
the difficulties that were met with in
the drainage of Haarlem Lake IN
Holland. The surface Of MattaHus-
keet Lake is below the sea Level We
have therefore in that enterprise r1t
only the proposition Of drainagt hut
the proposition Of the final disposition
of the surplus water by pumpine We
have 40 drainage districts IN swamp
areas and "a districts i'll the over
flowed areas that will reclaim In me
aggregate 942.121 acres. OF theS. diS-
tricts "a are already completed, repre-
senting an area Of 267, ,041 acres now
reclaimed.
The Results.
The reclamation of these lands
means that land that was before drain
| age bringing no revenue To its owner
| is now producing ten to one hundred
bushels Of corn to an acre; one 70
| two bales Of cotton to an acre ana
| other crops in like proportion, for YOU
must remember that this reclaimed
| land is the richest in our State. The
State and county government We're
| formerly deriving but little revenue
| through the tax on this land Is II was
listed at less than 800 an acre.
After it had been drained ii is worth
| from forty to one hundred and nifty
dollars an acre in the open market
! The Mattamuskeet Project
| The most interesting piece OF "ork
being carried on in North Carolina IS
the drainage OF Mattamuskeet Lake
in Hyde county. The lake proper ha'
bed is about two feet below the sea
| level. The Mattamuskeet drainase
district includes all Of the lake ana
about 10000 acres Of land surround
ing the lake. The total cost OF re-
claiming the lake bed and improFn4
the surrounding lands will be anoN
s65O.O00.0 or something less thar
$500 per acre. Half million dollars
of this amount has been raised bN *i
issue Of drainage bonds. and nom
dred and fifty thousand dollar N-
he provided for by the company ~
veloping the bed Of the lake, bein2 Y
addition to the tax levied upon fh
lake bed. The drainage imprOVemeA
consists of twenty-eigh canals haFt
total length Of something over
miles and recurring the eXca\Ai q
Of four million cubic yards of ma.'
rial. A large canal 10 feet wid~
feet deep leads from the south
or Mattamuskeet Lake To Pam
Sound. This canal is termed the .""
rail- canal for the reason that all
; the water in the drainage district VII
be collected in a reservoir at the TT
per end Of the canal and by mean~
a pumping plant will be raised an.
ten feet and emptied into this ouI
canal through which it will run
. gravity to Pamlico Sound. One ~ E..
largest, if not the largest centrii
, pumping plants in the United Stat
now being erected at the upp.r