El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1917-05-26

Under these swamps is the cream OF
the soil of the United States The
Mississippi Missouri, the longest river
Of the world, is one of the greatest
robbers on earth For countless ages.
year after year, It has been tearing
down and carrying away the soil of
the vast Mississippi basin and drop
ping il down here on the ancient bed
of the sea The biologists say that the
Gulf Of Mexico once EXTENDED nortn-
ward to the mouth of the Ohio, and
that all the land between there and
New Orleans has been built up by the
earth-washinSs brought down by the
river. Even now. the stream carries
on the average something like 400.-
600, 00O tons every year. From the Mis-
souri, alone comes 120 tons every sec
ond. OF more than 100000 cubic
yards every day.
-Four hundred million tons every
year, The amount is so great that we
cannot comprehend it in figures If II
were loaded on cars at 50 tons to the
car. il would take 100000 cars to
carry the load. and the train would
be long enough to reach twice around
the earth and almost twice through
the center. II a flume three feet wide
and three feet deep could be built
from the earth 10 the moon, that
trainload of dirt would be almost
enough 70 fill the great box to the
top. and II might all come from the
within the space Of y months
T. Soil From 30 states
As have said. this soil is the cream
OF our country 1t comes from 80
different states. and from an area
equal to one-third OF the union The
deposits range in depth up TO two
or three thousand feet. and on the top
OF il vegetation has grown and de-
cayed until il is covered with q layer
or hrsHn ~
contains a maximum Of nitrogen one
of the most costly kinds OF plant food.
According TO Herman T. Baer. soil
chemist of the Illinois university. the
plant food to produce a thousand crops
of corn at so bushels TO the acre
without artificial fertilization
1 have recently Travelled over
great part OF this country. In coming
from Memphis 10 New Orleans on the
lions Of rich black loan which are
close to the swamps, and the soil
makes the best crops of cotton and
corn The Queen and Crescent rail-
way from Birmingham to New Orleans
goes through a large area OF sWamps.
and there are other extensive regions
that viii have river and rail transpor-
tation when the land is reclaimed.
I have also come up the Mississippi
from the Gulf Of Mexico through the
ocean. The water is as thick as pea
soup The ocean is muddy for miles
before you reach the mouth OF the
Mississippi river, and a little further
up the banks of the river are covered
with gardens and orange groves. The
highlands of the delta about New Or
leans are said TO be more thickly
populated than Holland or Belgium.
and the swamps when reclaimed will
support vast number Of
people
Every Portion Il Charted.
The geOgraphers of the geological
survey have already made Topographic
maps of a large part Of this territory.
They have gone over il section by sec
ton. exploring the swamps on foot. on
horseback and in boats, making their
charts The charts are peppered with
figures, each OF which shows the
height of land or depth of water under
the spot which II marks They give
every hill and hollow, and every
stream The bayous are drawn to a
scale. and the whole district is so
shown that the civil engineers can
easily make working plans for its
drainage.
This is being done by the national
In addition, the states
are enacting drainage laws to enable
themselves. Here in Louisiana the
land owners of any drainage district
can form an organization and issue
bonds TO raise funds for Ieveling. dig
ging bitches and building a pumping
plant The plans must be approved by
the state engineer and the interest on
the bonds is paid BY an annual drain /
age tax, which ranges from 50 to So 7
per acre After the work is completed. /.
the cost of keeping the land drained /
Is. IL is said, between so and IS cents I
an acre per annum- The drainage
\ 10 TOD r.
ike IS days of the year and the land I
produces so many crops that the tax I
s said to be nominal
. Companies Doing Drainage Work. 1
There are now something like % 1
companies at work draining the 4
swamps not far from New Orleans. 1
The projects are of various sizes. and 1
thew cover upwards of a half million 4
acres. Some of the tracts are devoted /
70 small farms. others TO orchards and 4
others to grain, corn and cotton They /
ire now working on one tract of $4,000 I
acres which is to be given over to .
-anching and stock raising I am told |
that many thousands of acres are in
Tolved in the plans of the companies
az work. and that large part of the
money invested Is that of the bankers
and other capitalists here at New Or
leans
Costs S35 nm Acre.
In connection with this subject I
have had talk with Walter Parker.
the general manager of the New Or
leans Association of Commerce. He
tells me that 5000 acres from the most
economic unit for drainage, and he es-
Inmates that it costs about S35 an acre
TO put IN levees, canals and pumping
plants This cannot include the clear
ing OF the land of trees and stumps,
which is no small matter
said Mr. Parker This region is de-
yeloping rapidly through the object
lesson shown by the success of the
drainage works established in the city
Of New Orleans. We find that If we
M