The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1915-07-27
Edmund r. Perkins In Letter to the
Board Of Supervisors, Says a.
S44 Acres Could be Added
to Lee County.
THE COST TO BE s34s,oOO
Pumping Station Would cost $4,000
Full Report Will be Given to
Board Next Monday,
Engineer Says.

or supervisors, Edmund T. Perkins OF
Chicago, engineer in charge of the
drainage district project for Green
Bay district, figures that 14,344 acres
can be added to the area Of Lee coun-
ty. The following lettsr was sent to
the board yesterday:
Sirs: II it is entirely agreeable to
you, plan to return my report on the
Green Bay levee and drainage district
to Mr.. A. P. Meyer. county auditor
on Monday. August 2, 1915, when
understand you are to have meeting
of the board.
In the meantime, with your permits
sion, I will discuss the plans for the
reclamation of this district, the neces-
stiles for such reclamation, and the
costs, with the various land owners
interested, that may, If possible,
make plain to them that this work is
for the benefit Of all
You will probably be interested in
knowing that recomm end
First: The establishment of the
levee and drainage district, which
will benefit 14,344 acres. The cost of
the levees, bitches and drains are es-
timated at $34S,00O. with an annual
cost OF maintenance of s4,10s.62,
Second: The establishment and
maintenance Of pumping station
which will benefit 12,203 acres. The
cost of the pumping station being
$4,000 with an annual pumping
cost Of s10,71O.
Believing that It will be Of interest
to you, the land owners Of the Green
Bay district and the people OF Lee
county to know some Of the facts
20 dot iN1, a
/ take the liberty of forestalling my
formal report by this letter.
Contractors viii Bid.
My estimate Of cost will be guaran
sponsible contractors, offering to con
than those estimated by me-
If this district is not constructed
some eight or nine thousand acres OF
farming land will become lake bot.
toms or low, swampy lands incapable
of cultivation. Ill feeling and iii
health will result, and damage suits
will be brought by neighbor against
neighbor.
The rivers and lakes commission of
Illinois has just had an Investigation of
the drainage districts along the Hi.
nois river. One hundred and seventy.
two thousand acres have been reclaim.
ed at an average cost Of little over
thirty dollars per acre. The value of
these lands has increased from some
thing less than thirty dollars an acre
to over one hundred and twelve dol
lars. Each years crops more than
equal in value the total cost Of recla-
nation.
We can reasonably expect similar
results from the reclamation Of the
Green cay lands, so that instead Of
having the lake and swampy lands we
will have nine or ten thousand acres
of land worth from one million to a
million and a half dollars. producing
lannual crops worth at least q quarter
Of million dollars.
Could Get More Revenue.
How highly would the citizens OF
Fort Madison and Viewer commend
you If you established a manufactur-
ing plant of such magnitude tribu-
tary to their merchants and bankers
How much more highly should they
commend you when you transform a
loss into profit of this character and
tremendously benefit the public health
ana forever prevent such conditions rs
now exist in Green Bay
And especially I desire to call your
attention to the distribution of the
costs of construction. The lands OF q
drainage district are taxed according
to the benefits received, and 1t Is my
opinion, founded upon careful 1nvesti-
CATION and many years of experience.
that the nine thousand acres OF lari
approximately now owned by the
Mississippi River Power company will
carry at least eighty per cent of the
costs of the levees. bitches and drains,
in round figures s2S0,0O0. leaving all
other lands, about five thousand acres,
to pay only s6S,o00.
The same proportion of costs holds