88 THE FARMER OF TO-MORROW 



forced to pay the price. It became simply a 

 question of dollars and cents with the owners 

 of these swamp lands, and when the States 

 themselves stepped forward and offered to 

 undertake the task, providing cooperation 

 could be secured among the owners, the move- 

 ment was under way. Nevertheless, though 

 pumping was attempted as early as 1890 along 

 the Illinois River, it was not until five years 

 later that any considerable areas were mapped 

 as "projects." By that time the engineers, 

 Federal and State, had arrived at satisfactory 

 solutions of the difficult problems that pre- 

 sented themselves. By 1910 ten separate 

 plants were in operation, aggregating 85,000 

 acres and utilizing 2,000 horse-power. The 

 census showed three other projects nearing 

 completion, adding 33,000 acres to the re- 

 claimed tracts. Along the Mississippi, be- 

 tween Muscatine, Iowa, and Hannibal, Mo., 

 over 150,000 acres of rich corn-belt land has 

 been reclaimed by pumps and the work is 

 still in its infancy. Cooperation has been the 

 means of accomplishing the addition of this 

 magnificent empire to the States of Illinois, 

 Iowa and Missouri cooperation and the con- 

 viction on the part of the law makers that 



