DRAINING THE SWAMPS 

 eminent, is due the credit oi erasing the swamp 

 from our map and converting the counlry, which 

 God forgot, into pleasant places for the habita- 

 tion of man. At this time there was between 

 four and five hundred thousand acres of this 

 land practically water-soaked and worthless. 

 Now it is drained by these engineering workers. 

 This work of the State Reclaiming Service af- 

 fords many examples of man's audacity of de- 

 feating the designs of nature, This draining 

 movement originated way back in the early 

 fifties when the Governor of Indiana recom- 

 mended a bill to the Legislature for the redeem- 

 ing of the swamp lands along the Kankakee 

 Valley. That it was the State's duty to the 

 great agricultural class of the Kankakee Valley 

 that the farmers of this region have contributed 

 a greater service to the people of the state than 

 can ever be repaid. The landowners themselves 

 in an overgight of the law regarding the sale and 

 drainage of swamp lands have willingly bought 

 and paid for these lands and then taxed them- 



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