EECLAMATION OF SWAMP LANDS. 37 



and empties into Malheur Lake. Both the upper and lower courses 

 have well-defined channels, but the middle course is a swamp, where 

 the water spreads over the bottoms and covers an area 8 to 10 miles in 

 width by 12 to 15 miles in length. The region is now a huge tide 

 swamp, where there is much feed around the edges, and cattle even 

 work their way out into the swamp long distances; but it is during 

 winter, when the ice is able to bear the cattle up, that the greatest 

 amount of benetit is derived from it. At the present time the returns 

 from the swamp are small. Besides this feature of small returns, the 

 losses in the spring are very heavy. Cattle are usually so weak at this 

 time of the year that when the ice begins to give way, they mire in 

 large numbers and have not the strength to wade out. 



The intention at present is first to cut a channel for the river, and 

 then construct laterals as occasion demands for the purpose of draining 

 the area. When this is accomplished it will be necessary to devise a 

 method of irrigating this drained land properly. The construction is 

 so planned that the channel cut for the river will unite with a large 

 irrigating ditch covering a sagebrush Hat. The water is simply turned 

 on this sagebrush land at present, and what may is allowed to develop. 

 Later this area will no doubt become a valuable alfalfa meadow and 

 be irrigated systematically from the drainage waters derived from the 

 swamp. 



When this swamp, which is to a large extent a mass of peat, has 

 been placed under control, the best crops to grow there will have to be 

 selected. There is little doubt that the most profitable will be forage 

 crops. The behavior of timothy and redtop all through the region 

 under little or no cultivation makes it quite certain that these grasses 

 will find an important place in the crops grown here in the future. 



Similar areas have already been successfully drained along Pitt 

 River, in Modoc County. Cal. Here the tide swamp lands are prov- 

 ing exceedingly well adapted to alfalfa growing. It is stated on good 

 authority that some of the best alfalfa lands in the county are situ- 

 ated on these tide swamps. 



The land in these swamps is. of course, exceedingly fertile, the 

 drainage slight, and the waters different from those usually found in 

 this region. They are not particularly alkaline, but are very highly 

 colored with dead herbage, as is the case in some of the swamp lands 

 in the Southern States. 



The drainage of these areas, although a big undertaking, is only a 

 portion of the difficulty involved in their handling. The method of 

 managing them after they are drained and the crops best suited to 

 them are problems which will require much careful investigation. 



