Need Roads. 



So the land does need ditches and roads, and these are be- 

 ing put in. I saw a number of these ditches and in all of 

 them the water runs with a rapid current and even cuts into 

 the bank. 



The country also needs more railroads, and more roads. 

 In building the roads the state should not be niggardly, for 

 some of the best land is now too difficult of access and new 

 homesteaders are too poor to build good roads through these 

 dense forests and over the undrained areas. 



Not Expensive. 



Railroad building is not expensive in the region. There are 

 almost no heavy grades to be overcome and the peat or muck 

 is seldom over three feet thick. That region contains im- 

 mense valuable supplies of spruce, tamarack, cedar, balsam, 

 poplar and birch, for which there is now no market. 



If a settler clears away any of this valuable timber he has 

 to burn it to get it out of the way. 



It's a Myth. 



In conclusion let me report: The great Minnesota swamp 

 is a myth. The region is an empire of wonderful fertility and- 

 great forest wealth; but nature has not had time to cut her 

 natural drainage ditches through the forest. She is at work 

 doing it now, but we cannot wait for her slow process, so we 

 must run the streams ourselves and build roads and railroads. 

 By doing that we shall add 10,000 square miles of the most 

 productive farms to the noble domain of Minnesota. 



One other thing I must mention which the country needs: 

 Protection from forest fires. The great fire of Baudette and 

 Spooner has taught us a severe lesson, and on the whole set- 

 tlers, towns, railroads and lumber companies are now will- 

 ingly assisting in the effective work of the Minnesota forest 

 service of preventing these indescribable wasteful fires. 



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