142 RURAL MICHIGAN 



2,1'''5,000 acres of reclaimablo wet lands. Beyond 

 this line to the Straits ol' Mackinac these are esti- 

 mated at 661,000 acres, while the Upper Peninsula 

 is 25 per cent swamp, or 2,598,000 acres, according 

 to the authors of "Drainage in Michigan." Like 

 the cut-over tracts, these wet areas present a problem 

 to those who would extend agriculture to the idle 

 acres of the State. Much wet land has hitherto been 

 reclaimed by local drainage operations, but for much 

 of that which remains. State aid and management 

 would seem required. Thus the great Taquamenon 

 swamp in the eastern portion of the Upper Peninsula, 

 said to cover 500,000 acres, much of it otherwise 

 fertile clay, will require the removal of a rocky ele- 

 vation in the lower course of the Taquamenon River 

 before its drainage can be accomplished ; and this is a 

 task better proportioned to the resources of the State 

 than of a local drainage district. Th-at the State 

 has considerable tracts of land which, as hitherto 

 utilized, cannot yield a livelihood to their possessors 

 and pay the taxes assessed, is indicated by the re- 

 version to the State since 1893 of 2,300,000 acres. 

 Of this amount, 445,798 acres were re-sold, of which 

 there again reverted to the State 190,598 acres.^ 

 The number of acres now (1920) in arrears for taxes 

 is stated to be 3,000,000.- This is one-twelfth of 

 the total area of the State, and is indicative of the 

 effect of poor soil and other adverse conditions on 

 agriculture. However, it is also significant of nu- 



' Janette, supra, pp. 14, 16. 

 ''Ihid., p. 12. 



