Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1917-03-27
Millions for Georgia
In Reclaim alton.

Georgia communities which are conducting or
contemplating drainage projects will be interested
in the announcement that Crittenden, Cross and
ST. Francis counties, Arkansas have completed .
system of ditching whereby nfty-nve thousand
acres of swamp land, heretofore virtually useless,
is made available for farming. Simply an
achievement in engineering, this work would be
highly notable. The main ditch. described IN
the current number of the Manufacturers Record.
is ten miles long, with sixty miles OF lateras while
the total length Of the canals is one hundred miles
covered by small lakes, and most Of the remainder
was either swampy subject to overnows. The
entire tract is tiIable and. what is equally or
more important, offers healthtuI sites for homes.
This great enterprise, begun in 1914. has been
completed at d cost of four hundred thousand dol
lars 1t would have been thoroughly warranted as
business proposition IL 1t had cost twice or three
times that much. The best previous price obtain
able for land In this tract ten dollars an
From thirty to forty dollars an acre is It's price
today Thus by expenditure of four hundred
thousand dollars for improvements. which can be
paid for gradually. a period of years, these
Arkansas counties have added from a million to a
million, six hundred and fifty thousand dollars to
their land values And the increase is far greater
In the gains of agricultural production and public
health are counted.
The Importance of such reclamation cannot be
stressed too strongly 1t is conservatvely reckon
ed that in the Southern States there are some fifty
million acres of wet overlooked land. most of
which is now useless and much of which is q
menace to health. A close student of the subject
observes that II this land be counted as worth ten
dollars an acre under present conditions land as
fact most of it is sellable at any price, drain
age would mean advance to one hundred dollars
acre, total advance from an aggregate
value of FIVE hundred million to FIVE billion dollars
swamp, before 1t is drained, is drawback and
oftentimes danger to the country in which it lies;
but after being drained 1T is mine of agricultural
thousand Which has been described as the
richest body of land under cultivation In America"
Only five years ago this land was waist deep in
water. From lagoons and morasses it has been
converted into farms which yield an average of
hundred and forty-two bushels of corn to the
acre, without the use Of fertilizer.
Next to Florida, Georgia has the largest area Of
swamp and overlooked lands of any State on the
Atlantic coast, approximately one-sixteenth of its
territory being thus represented. Thousands upon
thousands of these acres can be drained without
great difficulty expense. 1t is a source of much
satisfaction that a number OF counties have organ
lied drainage associations and issued bonds for
retaining wet lands. Wherever such enterprises
have been thoughtfully, undertaken, the results
have been abundantIy fruitful. The State Geo
logical Survey, along with the Georgia Drainage
Association has rendered invaluable services in en-
Ossrasins enterprises OF this kiAA. --...ua-a4j