THE GLEANERS 85 



After a while the pumps began to work. 

 Each had a capacity of one hundred and fifty 

 thousand gallons a minute, three hundred and 

 fifty second-feet; enough water, if driven 

 through a Gunnison Tunnel or impounded be- 

 hind a Roosevelt Dam, to capitalize sixty thou- 

 sand acres of the land west at one thousand 

 dollars each. The malarious little vil- 

 lage of Oakville Prairie rose out of its wallow 

 gradually and surveyed its environs. It sur- 

 veyed seventeen thousand acres of corn land 

 richer than a green house, as fertile as Egypt. 



To-day, where the duck-hunter used to punt 

 his scow, there are hard, level roads, grain 

 elevators, fenced fields, and diversified farm- 

 ing of the highest type. The only lament is 

 the lament of lost opportunity. The former 

 amphibians who sold out at fifty dollars are 

 the saddest of the lot. The twenty-seven 

 thousand acres of the lower district were sur- 

 veyed and contracts let, and in another few 

 years the old Iowa Slough will have passed 

 forever into history. 



Incidentally, this and other drainage work 

 in Iowa and Illinois has reduced the death- 

 rate from malaria from 52.5 to 8.6 per 1000 

 since 1870. 



