Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1920-03-13

TANNING THE EVERGLADES.

mary drainage in 1906. and It will
be completed now within a few
years. This work consists in cut
ting a number of outlets through
the rim of the basin. so that the
water can flow into the sea. But
the cutting of these primary canals
does not thoroughly or completely
drain any of the lands. In order to
do this, laterals and sublateral
canals must be cut, and this work
devolves upon those who buy the
land.
The state law favors the individ-
ual settler in search OF home
rather than the development COM
pany and the speculator. 1t pro-
vides that if anyone wants to buy
more than 800 acres of land in the
glades, he must make a bid and
the lands must then be advertised
and sold to the highest bidder. No
real estate operator likes to buy
land that way. He goes to all the
expense of making an investigation
of the lands, and then someone
else perhaps outbids him and takes
them away from him. The chances
Of getting them at bargain are
slim. The individual settler who
wants less than 800 acres, on the
other hand, can buy from the state
at the assessed value of the land,
which is from s35 to $50 an acre.
The trouble is that the individual
settler has rather hard time
draining his lands. They can be
most conveniently drained in lots
from ten thousand to fifteen thou
sand acres. The man who takes up
a hundred acres may have diff
culties. 1t is said. however. that if
he takes lands on one of the canals
he can drain them fairly easily.
There is also a provision OF the
state law by which the settlers can
band together to form drainage dis
tricts.
The settlement of the glades is
said to be proceeding slowly, de-
spite the great richness of the
black muck which is left exposed
by the receding water. 1t appears
that when the land is first drained,
it is impregnated with acid. and
will kill some crops. The average
settler does not seem to under
stand this. The land should be al
lowed to lie exposed to the air for
a year or so before it can be safely
cultivated, except in a few crops
Of no great value.
No doubt settlement is slow also
because the amount of capital re-
Quired to put hundred acres OF
the glades under cultivation is con-
siderable. When a man has to pay
the state $50 an acre for the land.
and then dig lateral canals and put
his land under the plow, he has a
considerable investment to make.
None the less. those who have done
the thing right, now have splendid
and profitable farms.
One of the most interesting prod
ucts of the little patch of the
glades now under cultivation is
sugar cane. The Floridians claim
that it grows there much better
than in Louisiana. The cultivation
of it only began five years ago and
is rapidly spreading. II the short
age and attendant high prices Of
sugar continue, it is quite probable
! that the greater part Of the Ever
glades may be converted into a
giant sugar bowl for the United
States.
Other products of the glade lands
are corn, cabbage, eggplant and
other truck crops. Roads are be-
| ing built through the cultivated
lands, which are rapidly taking on
the appearance of a prosperous
| farming district. The drainage
canals will always furnish the
glade farmers with a cheap means
; of transportation, too. Real estate
agents now carry their clients far
into the glades and back very
quickly in high speed motorboats.
The individual who probably wit
nesses with least joy this tanning of
the everglades is the Seminole In
dian. The glades have long been
his home and his hunting ground.
When they are gone, he, very like
ly, will have to go, too.