DRAlNINCi THE SWAMPS 

 big ditches and emptying them in the river and 

 they were to take a certain percent of the land 

 drained for their pay. They dug a few small 

 ditches on range and section lines, reported 

 same to the state authorities and received their 

 land grants for several thousand acres of swamp 

 land without ever draining an acre of the land. 

 They sold and traded great tracts of this land to 

 Eastern speculators who never saw the land be- 

 fore buying it and in some instances they never 

 saw it after buying it. As mention has before 

 been made, when they came to look for their 

 nev/ possessions it could not be found on ac- 

 count of being covered with water. The specu- 

 lators could see no future for such a desolate 

 region and never paid the taxes. The lands 

 were sold for taxes. The counties held the tax 

 sales and very little of it was ever redeemed and 

 the land went back to the State. Occasionally 

 in later years some of these tax title deeds and 

 swamp land sv/indlers' deeds are heard of in the 

 district courts. The state issued the land grants 



182 



