The Waxahachie daily light. [volume] (Waxahachie, Tex.) 1894-current, 1915-09-06
IETEE aIEs eROPs n
the Trinity M5Fl

TO do the hard thing. while the easy Il
and often most profitable tasks have
remained undone. When railroad II
building became popular. the con- 4
struction of highways seemed to fall II
into dlsfavor When an immense ir- u
rigation project is proposed. mil
lions OF dollars are ready for invest
ment. but the interest is not SO keen |
when reclamation project is men
toned. and maybe the latter will con- |
sisf OF far greater acreage than the |
former.
A very interesting interview along |
this line was recently given by Ar
thur A. Stiles. state reclamation en-
gineer for Texas. Mr. Stiles has Just
inspected leyee work In Kaufman
and Ellis counties He said:
II walked several miles along the
Ievee. studying the action OF the
water. which was shoulder deep on
one side of the leyee, and on the 9TH
| er side, fifty feet distant, negroes
were cultivating cotton. The people
of that district consider that the
leyee has already paid for itself by
the saving of this one crop, notwith-
| standing the fact that they have
| twenty-nine years to meet the debt
The entire Trinity valley in Kauf-
man and Ellis counties is now being
reclaimed. about 10000 acres.
AT Waxahachie recently another
large district of about 5000 acres
was organized. This is the first dis
itrict organized under the new law,
which went into effect about thirty
days ago There is second dis
trict in Ellis county rapidly being
completed. All this work is beins
done by steam shoyels. Notwith
standing the disappointing defeat of
the leyee amendment to the consti-
tuition at the recent election, levee
building is increasing daily. | at
tribute this fact to the unqualified
success of the levees completed under
the state reclamation department.
and am gratified to say that 50 far
as actual flood tests have gone. the
Engineering features of the levees
are absolutely perfect The tests
have been by the third biggest flood,
not the biggest, but third largest
known to this country. and has been
sufficient to show us that We are go
ling about this work in the right maa-
lner
AT the request of the governor, !
Irecently accompanied him over the
IClemens convict farm for the pur-
: lpose of designing levee protection
: for state property. A complete sys-
, tenn for levee has been worked out
] and the reclamation department en-
: gineers are stalking out the line.
5 This farm levee will be six and one
: half miles in length, and will abso-
lutely protect that portion of the
, farm against any flood of record his
/ tory in the Brazos river. The farm
I Consists of 5000 acres. 400 of
: which is subject to overflow from the
) Brazos river, and crops have been
5 Host from every flood. The levee as
: designed will protect $500 acres Of
. the overflowed portion, and a sec
, ond leyee has been planned which.
ha; will
: 1.-THE farm"
: Just think of the ruin that has
ibeen wrought time after time, of the
owners of fertile acres impoverish-
ed and of the real want that haunt
led at the doorstep of the tenant
: when encroaching waters took their
toll of the growing crops. Now here
comes system that protects the
land ard saves enough to pay for the
, Improvement in single year. 1t is
miraculous. The pity of it is that
1.-THE improvements have been so long
deferred. Thousands of acres in the
southwest, once in productive Guilt
walton, have been allowed to grow
: again into jungles, simply because CT
: 1.-The frequency and uncertainty of
/ floods. There are thousands of
t acres worth IS and SO an acre at
: present but protected by levees,
! would be worth $100 an acre and
up.
THE building of these levees gives
a beautiful and highly profitable les
son in cooperation. 1t requires
community cooperation. 1t requires
common sense that will spend dol
liar to make ten. The country needs
more of it, and the object lessons
now before them will have their
proper and early effect. "-Industria
Record.
~~~~~r>,>-r>->s-~s>cs~cec0