Brownsville herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1910-current, 1928-02-15
The Flood Control System

In another month or six weeks the Cameron county
levees for the north channel of the Valley flood con-
trcI system will "tie in" with the levees Of Hidalgo
county north of Mercedes, and this will virtually COM
plete the system so far as protection Of the developed
sections of the Valley is concerned.
Cameron county still has some levees to construct
along the Arroyo Colorado, the Rio Grande near
Brownsville and the eastern end of the north flood
channel. and these are expected to be practically COM
pleted before the season of major floods in June. =
when Hidalgo and Cameron counties requested
state legislature to grant tax remission for the purpose
Of financing construction of the flood control system
the claim was advanced that development Of land to
be protected would in few years repay the ADte. In
other words, they assured the legislators that the state
was making an investment. not a donation, and that
the investment would eventually be paying the state
huge dividends in the form Of increased state taxes.
From the Mission pumping plant I'd e Southwest
Plantation below Brownsville develOp% Of the river
section. which formerly was in tH/direet path Of
floods, is now under way upon a scale never anticipated
BY the most enthusiastic prepayment Of the flood control
program. Thousands Of acres have been cleared and
are being planted 20 vegetables and staple crops, and
additional thousands are being set to citrus fruit. The
rich river lands. practically all Of which are capable
Of producing bounteous crops, have been transformed
from a liability TO an asset. and this transformation Is
the direct result G. 80 control system.
Throughout the former flood areas Of eastern Hidal-
90. western and central Cameron and central Willacy
counties the security assured by the flood control pro-
gram is reflected in the rapid development Of large
acreages, the construction Of hundreds Of new homes,
the planting of thousands OF acres Of citrus fruit and
the rapid building of the cities 20 which this area Is
contiguous. The direct result Of the flood control
program has been an Increase in actual and taxable
values greatly in excess a that predicted by those
representatives OF the three counties who presented
the project 20 the legislature and requested the state
20 come to the aid Of tie Valley by lending its credit on
state taxes. The legislature responded generously. but
there was no member Of that body who realized the
state was making % investment which would prove so
profitable to both Che Valley and the state.
The fact that the Valley is now protected against
the menace Of tie Rio Grande may be largely attributed
to the interest and activities OF the Valley engineers,
who devoted months to working out the preliminary
plans and PRESENTED to H:dalgo and Cameron counties
q project " fch the state OF Texas was able to finance
without cr1kting a heavy burden. The engineers un-
dertook Ne solution OF the problem at a time when
the ValAS leaders had virtually reached the conclusion
IL wczH be impossible to raise the Sl2,oo0,o00 the
RecIsaMation Service had indicated was necessary to
caxry out the flood control project. Working without
Remuneration. a committee Of the engineers devoted
several weeks to careful preparation % the preliminary
plans. and as q result Of their efforts a project was
proposed the cost Of which will not exceed SS,oo0.ooo.