REPORTS. 33 



SO deep it was an expensive job. We got a fall of three feet in the 

 160 rods. We then commenced at the foot of the hill to cut off the 

 springs. Here we dug a drain three feet at the top, three feet deep 

 and eighteen inches at the bottom with several cross drains three feet 

 six inches deep, three feet in width at the top and eighteen inches at 

 the bottom. The water passed off freely through all the drains and 

 I felt confident of success. 



In the next spring, 1827, as soon as the ground was bare of snow, 

 but the frost not out, I went to view the ground. I found it worked 

 well, beyond my expectation. The deep cut was partly filled with 

 snow that had drifted in during the winter, yet the water passed free- 

 ly under it. There was but little water in the drain that cut off the 

 springs at the hill, there was no water on the surface of the land, and 

 I was now quite sure of success. But there were difficulties to come 

 that I did not then foresee. After the frost was out and the ground 

 settled, I went to the lot expecting it was fit to plough, but I found 

 I had built my works on the sand and they had fallen. The deep 

 cut at the bottom was quicksand, the water had washed under the 

 banks and when the frost came out, it caved in on both sides almost 

 the whole length, 160 rods, filling vip the ditch, leaving a vast chasm 

 ten feet wide at the top, stopping the water which set back upon the 

 land, completely covering forty acres so that not a particle of it could 

 be seen. It now seemed as if the work must forever stop. As I 

 stood and looked at the ruins, I thought the matter over whether it 

 was best to turn the lake as it then was into a fish-pond and give up 

 draining, or say as did David Crocket, "never give up but go ahead." 

 I finally decided upon the latter and again went to work. 



This time I did it thoroughly, carted off the dirt and spread it upon 

 the land. About the 1st of June, 1828, the land became dry and we 

 commenced ploughing. This required three men and four pair of 

 cattle with a large plough which cut fourteen inches in depth. When 

 digging the drain, we found large trees two to three feet in diameter 

 under ground which were burnt to charcoal on the outside. In 

 ploughing, these were a great hinderance. We ploughed about one 

 half acre per day, getting out all the logs and roots. This team I 

 kept on the land constantly in fair weather for four months. About 

 one hundred days, in this time, they ploughed, dragged and cleared 

 off the logs and roots from the remaining ten acres. Thirty acres I 

 ploughed, the next season. I then sowed ten acres with rye, and 

 two with wheat. Both grew well and there was as large a growth 

 of straw as I have ever seen on any land, but both blasted and were 

 nearly worthless. I have since that time tried rye, wheat and oats, 

 in small lots, but am satisfied they cannot be grown on this land. I 

 next sowed buckwheat with good success and followed with this eight 

 years in succession. At this time I found the top of the land the 

 depth ploughed, had greatly changed. 

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