The news scimitar. (Memphis, Tenn.) 1907-1926, 1920-02-17
BY c. {. COLLINS.

When II became an assured fact that
the great levee system hemmlng in the
mississippi river from the Ohio to the
gun was a certain means OF preventing
disastrous floods in the alluvial region
OF the lower Mississippi valley, recla-
nation OF the rich low lands thus pro-
tected was begun.
This work. chiefly In the nature Of
great drainage systems, has literally
made" a new farming country whose
area is as great as the combined area
OF Connecticut, Massachusetts,, New
Hampshire and Delaware.
IL already has. according to some au-
|, thorfties, the wealth and trade Of Hol-
land, Belgium and Denmark combined.
The reclaimed region totals approx
mately $4,000 900 acres or about 23,-
300 square miles. That Is almost twice
the size Of Switzerland and about two
times as large as the Netherlands. 1t
. is twice the size of Belgium. There
still remains in all some 10, O0O, 900 acres
awaiting the coming of the drainage
engineer.
It is estimated that the cost of re-
claiming this great region of super
soil In Memphis territory has been $780,
, 900, 900.
1t would take the combined deposits
OF the is banks Of Memphis-every dol
lar now On deposit--to pay the cost of
making this land fit to inhabit and
cultivate.
This enormous accomplishment Of lit
orally making a farming region about
Memphis has been worked out in 20
years, for the first drainage system was
begun only in 1899.
Since that time something like ESQ
drainage districts have been organized,
financed and have since been reclaim
ing land that, without drainage, was
not only unfit for cultivation, but vas
unsafe because of the bad health con-
ditions.
The money spent for drainage near
Memphis has been an investment of
enoromus import to the lower valley
nails and bitches have restored but for
the great improvement in living condi-
lions that have Immediately followed
the completion of&a system.
Medical science discovered about the
time that drainage work was started
in the lower Mississippi valley, that
yellow fever and malaria fever were
due to bites of certain species Of mos
quitoes.
Diseases Conquered.
Drainage has been the mosquitoes
ragged in Memphis trade territory has
been forever driven out. Malaria now
is on an enormous decline.
The relation Of drainage to health has
been an established fact since the be-
ginning Of history, says Dr.. William
Krauss, of Memphis, in an article writ
ten for 1.-THE Call of the Alluvial En-
pire," a booklet descriptive of the delta
region, gotten out by the Southern Al
luvial Land association.
THE famous cloaca of Rome, built
. under T%arquinius Priscus about 600 B.
G" still serve their purpose as a great
drain emptying into the Tiber. Hip
pocrates wrote 500 B. c.: Such waters
as are marshy, stagnant-those who
drink from them have large and OBJ
structed spleens.'
I'm one OF Horace's letters to Mae
cenas he begs him to remain away until
cold weather, for when the first figs
ripens and faces become pallid with
with his black assistants is very ac-
tive, and the reading of wills becomes
the order of the day
1.-THE military engineers OF the days of
.Pompey and Caesar insisted upon hav-
ting domiciles located upon eminences.
varro, 1879 B. c., expressed the be-
lief that the marshes contained anima-
culae too small to be seen, which en-
tered the body through the respiratory
passages. Lancisi, 1717, was convinced
that these animaculae were introduced
marshes. Rasori, in the same century,
expressed himself as convinced that the
stages of chill, fever and sweat and
the 48-hour repetition were coincldent
with the stages Of development OF a
parasite in the body"
Malaria Passing Away.
DR.. Krauss tells of anti-malarial work
at Crossett, Ark, in which drainage was
employed. In December, 1915, there
were 100 malarial calls. In December,
1916, these had been reduced to only
four.
He cites that in a Memphis hospital
in 1905 there were Ala admissions for
malaria. while in another the annual
.-.N-k -lN-,~I orr ~-..I.
as a result of drainage these had been
cut down in 1919 to 5 per cent of what
they had been-malaria had been re-
duced 20 times!
In one hospital in 1902 there were %
cases of malarial hematuria, but now
the disease has become so rare that
some classes never get to see a single
case"
Such drainage and farm development
as has spread throughout the lower Mis-
sissippi valley and is growing and
sickness out OF existence is the re-
markable statement of DR.. Krauss.
The investment of 500, 000, 900 in
drainage work-an average of about SIS
an acre in Memphis territory-has paid
enormous neutrality-suspicious. returns
in the increase in value of farm lands.
This one feature alone Is IN item that
z one scarcely. can grasp, 1t Is so huge.
Much of the land that has been re-
claimed by drainage could have been
bought for SIS to $40 an acre before
1t was drained. Now there are thou
sands upon thousands Of acres that
sell for 500 as a minimum; some of the
more improved and older places are
being marketed right along for $500 an
acre and there are instances in the
\ delta where $500 In cash offers have
been refused. As a matter of fact 8.
E.. Simonson, OF Luxora, Ark, Is au-
thority for the statement hat some
of his neighbors will not part with
their land for less than 81 1000 an acre.
And Mr.. Simonson is one of the pioneers
and recognized leaders in upper Mis-
sissippi county. He would not make
such a statement without 1t being a
fact. Incidentally he has some 5000
acres In Mississippi county for parts
OF course he has other parts which,
less improved, have a present market
price Of around 500 an acre. But the
point Is that when drainage was per-
fected. land became worth something.
Missouri a Pioneer
The magic work of the engineers In
phis trade territory was begun on a
big scale In the alluvial counties in
Southeastern Missouri just above the
Arkansas line, in 1899. Here, too, is
n of the greatest Of all the lower
valley drainage systems, the Little
River drainage district.
This district includes portions of sew
en- of the richest soil counties in Mis-
~souri-Cape Girardeau, Bollinger, Scott,
Stoddard, New Madrid, Dunklin and
Pemiscot. The canals n bitches OF
this one district have taken care of the
overflow and standing water and the
other surface water to make farming
safe on half a million acres. The land
lies in a body IS miles long and from
six to IS miles wide. It required, after
an exhaustive study to obtain the very
finest possible drainage, more than 625
miles OF channels ranging in size from
small bitches to canals $50 feet wide
a half block wide.
In the same region Is the Inter-
river drainage district Of Butler county,
lKzl la alao-oI fau or-la-