7i8 



CONSERVATION 



are sent to study the conditions and find out, 

 if possible, the cause of the accident. The 

 data thus gathered are then tested by ex- 

 periments in the artificial mine galleries and 

 in a mine which is used as an experimental 

 laboratory. The Government is to establish 

 other mine stations at or near the greater 

 centers of accidents. — The Survey. 



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Drainage Circular 



Mr. J. O. Wright, supervising drainage 

 engineer of irrigation and drainage investi- 

 gations of the United States Department of 

 Agriculture, has prepared Circular No. 76 

 entitled "Swamp and Overflowed Lands in 

 the United States, Ownership and Reclama- 

 tion." 



This circular carries a map showing 

 graphically the swamp and overflowed lands 

 in the states east of the Rocky Mountains, 

 the total area of which is almost equal to 

 that of Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio. Florida 

 leads in swamp lands, Louisiana is second, 

 Arkansas, Mississippi, Minnesota, North Da- 

 kota, Michigan, South Carolina, Georgia, and 

 North Carolina follow in the order given. 



Mr. Wright declares that "after consid- 

 ering what has been done to reclaim the 

 marshes of Holland, two-fifths of which lie 

 below the level of the sea, and the difficulties 

 that have been overcome in draining the fens 

 of England, it would be a reflection on the 

 skill and intelligence of the American en- 

 gineer to proclaim the drainage of our swamp 

 lands impossible." On the contrary, the en- 

 gineering problems are simple. 



Mr. Wright argues that drainage is a pub- 

 lic function, but that the cooperation of the 

 interested landowners is necessary. Drain- 

 age legislation, he maintains, should be en- 

 acted. 



"Were this 77,000,000 acres of swamp and 

 overflowed lands drained," says Mr. Wright, 

 "and made healthful and fit for agriculture 

 and divided into farms of forty acres each, 

 it would provide homes for 1,925,000 fam- 

 ilies." The swamp he regards as a nuisance 

 which should be abated and made to con- 

 tribute to the support and upbuilding of the 

 United States. 



«? &' )^ 



Redeeming the Great Valley of California 



Mr. A. D. Foote, M. Am. Soc. C. E., has 

 prepared a paper entitled "The Redemption 

 of the Great Valley of California." 



The writer compares conditions in the Great 

 Valley with those in Egj'pt. He mentions a case 

 where 5,000 acres of wheat were flooded in 

 the winter of 1908 and 1909, "but that the 

 owner did not regret it much, as the next 

 crop would be more than doubled by the fer- 

 tilizer deposited by the water." "In this 

 simple statement," says Mr. Foote, "lies the 

 secret of the redemption of the valley. It is 

 no exaggeration to state that the floods of 



last winter carried down enough fertilizing 

 material to produce millions of bushels of 

 wheat, could it have been placed at the dis- 

 posal of the tiller of the soil." 



He continues : "If engineers would study 

 Egypt and follow the teachings of her long 

 experience, in so far as conditions admit, 

 they would be trying no experiment." The 

 basin irrigation of upper Egypt, gradually 

 developed through 5,000 years, has proved in 

 that country highly successful. 



"Basin irrigation is dividing the land with 

 dikes into so-called basins and introducing 

 flood-water, usually carrying considerable 

 sediment, from two to six feet deep over 

 the entire area, and letting it stand for sev- 

 eral weeks until the sediment has settled and 

 the water has soaked into the soil as much 

 as it will. The water is then drained off 

 quickh% and the crop is sown on the mud, 

 often before it is dried sufficiently even to 

 harrow. The areas of these basins depend 

 largely on the slope of the land. In Egypt 

 they vary from a few acres to, in one in- 

 stance, 40,000, the average being about 5,000 

 acres. This system of irrigation would be 

 especially beneficial to alkali lands. The 

 experience in Egypt is that where land has 

 deteriorated and shows white efflorescence 

 from perennial irrigation, one or two years 

 of basin flooding restores it to its former 

 state, and in no case has basin irrigation 

 produced alkali lands." 



This method Mr. Foote regards as en- 

 tirely practicable in the Great Valley of 

 California, and far superior to dependence 

 on "precarious rainfall to grow an inferior 

 crop on a deteriorated soil, and unsuccess- 

 fully fending ofi^ the flood in terror lest it 

 destroy the country." 



"It is proposed, therefore, to construct 

 dikes to form basins, as in Egypt, over the 

 entire floor of the Great Valley, comprising 

 some 3,000,000 acres ; and to feed these 

 basins, during the winter or flood time, by 

 suitable regulating gates and dams, from the 

 various rivers and creeks entering the val- 

 ley ; and to regulate and control the feeding 

 of the basins so as to relieve the rivers of 

 flood waters, as much as possible, and hold 

 these flood waters in the basins, or let them 

 move slowly through, that they may deposit 

 the silt and soak the land, and finally drain 

 through escape channels in time for the crops 

 to be sown in the spring. It is proposed to 

 provide escape channels, through the lowest 

 parts of the valley, of sufficient capacity to 

 drain the basins rapidly, if required, and 

 assist the rivers in times of excessive floods." 



This scheme, Mr. Foote admits, will cost 

 many millions^possibly $75,000,000. On the 

 other hand, he is convinced it will return 

 hundreds of millions. 



The money, he holds, "can be borrowed 

 by the state as needed, and returned to the 

 state by the lands benefited, in instalments, 

 after the benefit has been received, in a man- 

 ner similar to that followed by the United 

 States Reclamation Service." 



