PAST THBIE
MAGAZINE
PAGES 05E 10 FOUS
1HE
Omaha
Sunday Bee'
. PAET THREE
MAGAZINE
PACES OKX TO FOUR
VOL. XLI-NO.
OMAHA, SUNDAY" MORNING, MABCH 3, 1912
SINGLE COPY FIVE CENTS.
Draining Wet and Watering Dry Land to Increase Yield
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UTTING water en tb dry land and tak-
Ing water off the wet land are two
of the moat popular and aureat wan
ot creating wealth tbat the weat
knowa. la both dlrectloni It la put
ting its knowledge to excellent use.
On.aome Douglaa county and Dodge
county farnie a great many hundred! of carloads
of drainage tile have been delivered and laid under
the tori to drain the bogs and marshy places. In
the wider field, drainage districts have been pro
moted by faraeeing' men that. bare involved vast
expenditurei, and with Immense amounts yet to be
spent. , . .
The precedent waa set by other states, which
have created coiamlsslons to study" and develop
drainage 'systems; and hare finally made heavy
appropriations from the state treasury after ln
dividual counties have bonded themselves In Urge
sums to protect land, subject to overflow and to
reclaim extensive tracts that were permanently
under water or too wet to be successfully farmed.
Nebraska drainage advocate! feel they are Justified
In their efforts by the results, nrft only In other
states, hut here at home. Much heretofore waste
land baa been reclaimed and made to produce In
most generous measure. Ultimately all the waste
land In Nebraska will be brought to a state of use
fulness and value by the projects now under way,
according to the engineers who have been making
a systematic atudy of conditions. This work of
reclamation is yet in Its infsncy in the west, even
. though much has been already accomplished.
- ' Omaha Men Among Leaders la Work.
Men like Walter 8. Jardtne of Omaha, and
" Jesse Lowe, son of the first mayor of Omaha, who
have made something of a atudy of this woak of
reclamation, estimate that several, millions of dol
lars have been spent In Nebraska alone In the last
three or four years.. R. B. Schneider and Con-
gressmsn Stephens of Fremont, among others, were
long agoconvlnced that much rich crop-growing
! land, lying waste because of a surplus of wster.
- could be made Immediately available for . tillage
by the use of dredges and drain pipe. They put
their belief to the teat, with results even beyond
their expectations. Mr. Jardine tried the dredging
plan for draining 1,000 acrea he owns la one piece,
and.be is an enlhuaiast on the possibilities ot re
clamation work. Mr. Lowe Is now president of the
Association of Levee and Drainage. Districts of
ininois. . ; .;
tp to this time the bulk of this work, In Ne
braska, has centered in the eastern' counties, but
the reports of the great results achieved have spread
to other psrts ot the state, and extension of avail
able, land area la now the fixed policy of many
land owners who have given the matter serious
consideration. "Crop yielda from these reclaimed .
lands' will pay for the cost of draining In a year,
very often," said an Omaha engineer. Thia hai
been proven by a good many men In the last sea-"
son. The overflowed land Is, ot course, laden with
the rich sediment from higher levels, the accumula
tion of yean, and with rotted Vegetation that sup
plies just the elements the soil needa to make it
i-irA enough for the production of great crops of
most everything that will grow in thia latitude.
Large Amounts Expended la Recent Years, '
' . In many districts not a hundred miles from
Omaha large sums of money were spent in drainage
and .reclamation work in 110 and 1111. One
project in the territory immediately surrounding
Omaha begins at Ralston and runs southeast to
Fort Croolr. A second project begins at Lane and
follows the Little Pappio to the rirer. This latter
project has practically been begun and finished in
toe last six months.. A district larger than the
ordinary, where the woj-k ia being dene by .the
proceeds of bonds and which promises to redeem
an extensive acreage of heretofore dead land. Is
that known as the Logan valley project. This
ditch begins at a point a few miles north of Fre
suont, and the surplus water ii to be, drained off
so that h will run to the Elkh'ora river, forty miles
away. Ja connection with thia project the esxl
aeers are straightening the crooked coarse of the
Elkhora. "Wl en accomplished, thia work will add
s very appreciable area of rich acreage to thai
II
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Pre, of AsStt
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already being farmed by the land owners In the dis
trict. The work waa begun north of Waterloo and
runs south to the mouth ot the Elkhorn river. A
large number ot lateral ditchea in the district are
planned to take care of whatever overflow there
may be along thia project.
. In. the neighborhood of Tekamah ditching and
tiling waa undertaken on a rather large scale years
ago, and the same is true of the country tributary
to Herman. Beginning at Gretna and running south
to a point almost due west ot South Bend, there is
an extensive drainage district In the Table Rock
neighborhood there la another, and Tecumseb, Falla
City and Auburn also view with keen Interest work
along this line in the sections tributary to them.
Land owners along certain aections of Bait creek
hare started a campaign for a drainage district
Across the river. In Iowa, a -good deal of similar
work ia being carried forward.
' Thousands of Acres to be Reclaimed.
Those who have been keeping track of the works,
of draining and tiling heretofore waste land in
Nebraska, estimate there are still a good many .
thousand acrea waiting only the magic touch ot the
engineers to put forth bounteous yields ot crops.
Rich as it now is In great stretches ot the fertile
soil of the Mississippi valley In fact, containing '
more acres per capita of population than any other
of the more populous states of the middle west
Nebraska has yet much to gain. . It can have pos
session at a comparatively small cost. With In
creased interest in Intensified farming has come an
awakening all along the" line leading to growth ot
crop yields, and these naturally rich submerged
bottoms are to be rescued from tbeir long era of .
uselcssness. Instead of being trouble breeders, they
are to be converted Into luxuriant grain fields.
Within the last two years, especially, this fight
tor reclamation of, potential crop land baa. been
widened, until the winding course ot every river
in ike state and the bed of every' bog, marsh and V
swsmp has been Invaded by the ditcher and the"
dredge, to be followed a little later on by the tile
layer. . -
As increased precipitation has rendered the
yields in the western sections ot the state more
certain, thus augmenting the value of every acre
of land, more and more money baa been poured
Into the growing reclamation fund. la a very few
years a really remarkable transformation has been
brought about where advanced Ideas have gained a
foothold, where men have bad tbeir minds turned .
-to the notion that by the expenditure ot $1 they
can realize $10 a little later on. Whole sections
of land which rested for many yeara under the --
classification "valueless.' hare been brought Into
nae and much of it pnt on the market at par.
Treacherous stretches of "river" have 'been nar
rowed tohaJf their original width, swamps have
oeen thoroughly drained of their surplus water,-
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1
and bogs, a few years ago Impassable, have become
tthe finest kind ot agricultural plots.
While Nebraska and other states have done
much in the way of draining, tiling and permanent ,
reclamation, Illinois Is leading all other common-.
wealths,' probably because the opportunity waa
greater, as the possible area to be reclaimed waa
very large at the beginning. At the head of the
work in that state is the former Omaha boy, Jesse
Lowe, who has his headquarters at Beardstown.
He is a walking encyclopedia of information on this
subject, which he is dispensing freely to all Inter
ested parties. He admlta that o far as the work
has progressed In this stew, it waa been well done
and gives promise of wonderful results.
, Authorities hsve endorsed without reserve the
reclamation work of Illinois and other parts ot
the United States. In Nebraska It haa been costing
only from $4 to $10 per acre to reclaim the sub
merged lands, but Illinois has expended from $10
to $30 per acre and the land so reclaimed Is selling
at $150 per acre now. '
Referring to the reclamation work in Illinois
and speaking ot it generally. 8. M. Woodward, In
pamphlet prepared for the United States Depart
ment ot Agriculture, says:
"In Illinois and adjacent atates, the bottom
lands which have been reclaimed by pumping are
in the heart of the corn belt and posessee a heavy
rich black soil, mixed in places with a varying
amount of sand. They are adjacent to thickly
populated lands, the best ot which Is worth $150
per acre, and In some cases lies within a few miles
or Isrge centers ot population.
- Tile Drainage hi Necessary.
' "Experience shows tnst to put bottom Isnd Into
perfect agricultural condition some tile drainage la
usually necessary. Where thia haa once been dem
onstrated the landowner, who haa already been put
to considerable expense for the main drainage ot
the district is not content to hsve his lsnd In any
thing but the most fertile condition, and hence Is
usually quite willing to go to the comparatively
smsll additional expense Involved In the necessary
tiling. Parallsl lines of 5-Inch or C-inch tile are
laid at such distances apart as the elevation, alope,
and nature of the soil require. Where the lines are
long, larger sizes are used In the lower portions.
The distances bet ween, parallel lines found neces
sary by trial Is usually between ten and thirty
rods, and their minimum depth below the surface
ahonld not be less than thirty Inches."
Discussing reclamation and the possibilities of
further improvement, speaker at a meeting of
the Illinois association which Is headed by Mr. Lowe
aid, according to the report In the booklet pub
lished by the association:
"Follow up the great valleys like the Missouri,
the upper Mississippi, the Ohio and the other trunk
streams and yon will raise the limit (of rich alluvial
lands subject to reclamation) to over 50,000 square
miles.
"Add to this the valleys along navigable tribu
taries, and streams capable of improvement for
navigation and yon will reach total of about
75,000 square miles or 50,000,000 acrea within the
Mississippi valley. ,
"Now consider this In comparison with the
semi-arid regions. Some yeara since I had occasion
to make an investigation of the economic resources
of the Cnlted State and Canada with respect to
A
freight producing capacity and ability to carry
population In relation to the great lakes considered
as the arms of the sea. I will not go Into tbat
further than to say tbat we have 1,500,000 square
miles ot semi-arid territory, 1,300,000 acrea of
which Ilea south et the boundary. The reclamation
service estimates that the water that can be con
served In this region will Irrlgse 50,000,000
acres or about 75,000 square miles, ssy t per cent
ot the whole. There are 85,000,000 acrea to be re
claimed by simple drslnsge alone. Higher estimatea
have been made, but these Involve n scientific use
of the waters, such aa la not likely to obtain under
our lyitem of government and with our human
natures. '
"Consider the value of the lands' that can be
worked by dry culture, the wood lands and the
grazing, and the aggregate rises to 490,000 square
miles, or about three-eighths, measured In terms
of normal human territory. We have 110,000
miles of absolute desert tbst does not produce
enough herbage to carry a steer to the square mile.
"Divide the United States Into two equal parts
along the semi-arid line. In the vicinity of the 100th
merldisn, and the aggregate value ot the western
hslf will be 90,000 sqosre miles, or 4 per cent
of the eastern hslf. The eastern half of the United
States is much lower in altitude; it Is humid; it
contains the alluvium and great upland toil re
sources. "I wish to call your attention to the fact that
the alluvium of our valleys along navigable water
courses equsla the area of all lands that are to be
reclaimed by irrigation, and that inch lands sxe
far greater In value and have euperlor claim In
any policy of conservation. The lands are aa rich
as lands can be; they lie along water courses which
are to be developed as highways; they are near
to the great markets; they are at the lowest alti
tude and adapted to the greatest variety of products,
and their reclamation contributes enormously to
the sanitary welfare."
On December 7, 1911, the National Drainage as
sociation was formed In Chicago, as a result ot a
split between the "drainage' and the "irrigation''
interests at the National Irrigation congress held
in Chicago. The first meeting of the National as
sociation will take place ia New Orleans this month,
at which time the National association will be per
fected. I .
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