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tributary creeks, encountered high grasses which turned the 

 course of these springs in every direction, and so much de- 

 layed the discharge of water, as to keep the ground always 

 covered. Again, in the creeks were found obstructions, 

 which, in like manner, so changed their course as to force 

 them into large circuits to get around these barriers. These 

 difficulties were of a character that could not be overcome 

 but by a systematic course of draining. If left to individual 

 enterprise, these obstructions would never be removed, for 

 individuals were not sufficiently interested to adopt such sys- 

 tem. The State, he believed, ought to do it. If it did, nine 

 of every ten acres could be drained, the country made 

 healthy, and a large school fund be derived from the sale of 

 the lands. The increase of the value of property would soon 

 remunerate the State for the necessary outlay, by the en- 

 larged amount of taxes derived from this increased value of 

 property. 



Mr. Bollman remarked that he came from a county which 

 had no swamps, and therefore could say nothing on this sub. 

 ject from personal experience. But the subject itself had 

 always been to him an interesting one, and hence he had been 

 led to obtain what information he could about it. 



There were three modes of surface drainmg. One, and 

 the most common, was by ditches, which were used when 

 sufficient fall could be obtained to pass the water off. But 

 how to succeed when the fall is almost imperceptible is not so 

 well understood. But success, nevertheless, was easy. If water 

 can be discharged as fast or nearly as fas t as it flows in, the ground 

 can be drained. The discharge can be hastened by shortening 

 the distance over which the water must pass, and by decreas- 

 ing its friction. Both of these modes are combined, and he 

 thought they would be successful in the Kankakee marshes. 

 The nature of the obstructions has just been pointed out by 

 Mr. McDonald. In the rivulets and creeks and the river it- 

 self, these obstructions so turned the flow of the waters that 

 a removal of them by a straightened channel, would carry 



