Smyrna times., 1919-08-06
BREAKS IN RIVER BANKS
CAUSING FARMERS LOSS
LANDOWNERS FROM THE PIERS
TO DELAWARE CITY AFFECTED
Earth From d. & c. Canal When It Is
Widened May Be Used To Fill
In Marsh Lands.

Farmers in the vicinity of Port
Penn, Delaware City and st. Georc
as well as number of the residents
OF these towns, are planning an early
meeting for the purpose of bringing
about repairs of the river banks
from near Port Penn to above Della
ware City. For many years, parts
of this section were covered with
water at very high tide, but the
farmers looked on it as a matter of
no concern. In he past year or two
however, due to additional breaks in
the river banks other lands have been
inundated and several of the farmers
have had to give up their farms. The
farmers have concluded that they
cannot afford to let their valuable
lands go to waste and they are uniting
with everyone interested, to see if
something can be done' to reclaim
them. The breaks in the last year or
so have flooded about 1000 additional
acres including some very valuable
farming land. The lower section of
the Fort dupont reservations is flood
ed and the authorities at that place
have promised their hearty support to
measures to repair and protect the
river banks.
Many Roads Have Been Flooded.
Nearly every road radiating from
Delaware City has been affected by
the high tides. Some of the roads
have been impossible and others are
flooded at every high tide. 1t is to
remedy this situation that the resi-
dents of Delaware City have become
interested in the problem. The fact
that so much interest has developed
in reclaiming a great amount of this
marsh land has also aroused interest
in reclaiming a large portion of
marsh land above Delaware City that
have been inundated for many years.
1t is probable that something will be
done with the entire swamp section
in the section about st. Georges, Port
Penn and Delaware City, and that all
of this land will be made good farm
land. 1t is thought that with aid from
the Federal Government that the sit
uation can be remedied so that in the
future there will be no further trou-
bic from broken river banks. The
fact that large quantities of mud if
deposited on this area of land would
support river banks is one reason
given that Federal aid can be OBJ
tanned.
Mud To Be Thrown for Embankment.
With large quantities of mud being
removed from the Delaware river and
no place to deposit it, it is thought
that large portion of this material
can be obtained to cover these swamp
lands. This would give great strength
to the river banks and would mean
that in the future there would be no
breaks. Now that the government
will soon take possession of the
Chesapeake and Delaware Canal
which runs through part of this sec
tion is believed to also indicate that
the government will be greatly inter-
ested in the improving of the river
banks. Large quantities of earth will
be removed in the construction of a
sea level canal from the present
waterway and its eventual deepening.
Millions of cubic yards of material
will be removed in this work and it
has been estimated that the material
removed will be sufficient to cover
thousands of acres of the lowlands
and raise some of it at least five feet.
Raising a great portion of this land
five feet means that there will never
be any trouble caused by broken
banks that have happened in the past
whenever there was a severe storm.
The reclamation of these thousands Of
acres will be worth much to the State
of Delaware. 1t has been estimated
that there are in the neighborhood of
ten thousand acres of land that at
present is not tillable.