El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1918-12-07

; Tor eight years before that connected
with similar work in Australia.
Enormous Territory.
The amount Of territory we have
have talked with the reclamation
engineers and can give a faint idea
! of the possibilities. According TO
them. the area of desert, swamp and
cut over lands that can be reclaimed
is more than 100000 square miles.
~ Is Digger than the whole German
empire, bigger than Austria and
Hungary combined and bigger than
France or the Spanish peninsula. Put
II together and il would make 4 ter
ritory seven times as big as either
Ohio. West Virginia or Kentucky, ten
times as big as South Carolina and
81 times the size Of Massachusetts,. II
would equal six New Yorks. five
Georgias, four Minnesotas OF two Cal
ifornias.
Some OF this land IS in the deserts
and il will be reclaimed by irrigation
There is about 100000 acres Of this
character an amount three times as
great as the cultivated parts of the
Nile valley, which supports more than
100000 people, and which in 1914
gave products for export amounting
to $12O.00O.0O0- Much OF the Nile land
Is worth $500 per acre.
VIII Produce 500.
about ten times the area we have al
ready turned into farm settlements
by our present reclamation projects /
We have now 1900. 900 acres of those
lands IN cultivation. and there are
under water 100000 acres more which |
VIII soon be in use. The amount al |
ready reclaimed represents an invest 4
ment OF S120,000.000 and the crops
from II this year will sell for more /
than half that amount At the pres !
ent prices every acre will produce $50 1
or upward per annum. and every cent 1
that the government has laid out /
upon the land will have been paid /
back by the farmers within 20 years /
Those tracts are now inhabited by |
$4,000 families who own taxable farm 1
property worth more than $500. 000.
600. They are now producing crops
which viii annually sell for 100000.
Oe0, or seven million dollars more
than all the gold taken out OF the j
United States in 1916. IN other words.
the lands we have already reclaimed
are yielding more than all the gold
mines Of the United States. including
standing when the youngest boys
now in the draft were raw red babies
those lands were as barren and dry
as the most arid part OF the Sahara.
All this comes from 100000 acres,
Ind the engineers say we have ten
1ped as homes for the soldiers. The
exclamation lands are now yielding 4
he government about $4,000. 600 per
lnnum, which is applied to new pro-
ects. It is believed that similar re-
'ults viii be had in connection with
he farms for the soldiers.
Deserts Small Factors.
But the deserts are the smallest
actor in this great reclamation prop I
sition- Their available lands are not
'ne-fifth as large as the swamps. We !
ave scattered over the United States I
wamp lands having an area Of IS
II so million acres. underlaid with
oil as rich as that Of the deserts. The
otal is larger than Great Britain and )
Ireland, and equal in extent to the j
hree states of Indiana, Illinois and I
)hio. It is ten times as large as Hol- /
and. 4 drained country which is now c
eeding almost six million people, {
nd at the same ratio it could feed c
0 million, or more than half OF our :
Fhole population Holland is now I
raining the Zuider Zee to get more
and, and the work is costing in the -,
eighborhood Of $500 per acre. Many :
Z our swamps can be drained for '
ew dollars per acre, and the sur I
eys and plans for some OF them have I
lready been made. Before the war Y
1 Europe began the topographers OF +
he geological survey had mapped out a
] :
) SO organized that they can tell US !.
1st where the swamps are and what =
as to be done TO reclaim them.
Close to Population. 4
These swamp lands are in many v
ases close to the centers Of popula- =
ION. They are to be found IN almost s.
very state OF the live. up TO date l.
asst, and some Of them near the big q
tiles. Others are surrounded by I.
rms worth 800 an acre, and nearly =
Il are accessible by water and rail =
} the markets There are something >
Ike 10000, 900 acres east Of the great =
lains and 20 or 80 million acres in 2
lie Mississippi delta. Minnesota has e
bout 4,0O0000 acres and Maine three q
r four millions. We look upon NIL Of
ois as thoroughly settled: il is the
cart Of the corn belt and it has II
odles Of land worth $500 an acre o.
evertheless there are more than ?.
600. 600 acres Of flooded lands in :.
linois that might be redeemed, and a
very acre will be as rich as any now n
irmed. There are II different states Ia