125 The Agricultural Economy of the American Bottoms 
Cartridge Company had built a plant on the lowland at the junction 
of the East and West forks of Wood River. The land occupied by 
these industrial plants was of slight agricultural value, however, and 
practically all the employees of these companies lived on the upland of 
Alton.! Since 1907, when the Standard Oil Company located a re- 
finery on agricultural land, which since has become part of the city of 
Wood River, urbanization of a large portion of the flood plain has been 
rapid (Fig. 1). Wood River and Roxana are located chiefly on a broad 
sandy ridge formerly noted for the production of cantaloupes and 
watermelons. Hartford occupies a ridge, once considered excellent 
agricultural land, between Grassy Lake and swamps along the Missis- 
sippi River. Suburban expansion associated with these settlements has 
been on relatively high, productive land. 
Farmers of the American Bottoms believe that the pollution of the 
air by many industrial plants is detrimental to the growth of crops. 
They believe also that wheat and corn are less sensitive to such pollu- 
tion than most crops. Through law suits brought against the Federal 
Lead Company, it was established legally that poisonous fumes emitted 
from the smokestack had injured crops over an area of several square 
miles. In order to carry the fumes to a height which would eliminate 
their deleterious effects, the company constructed a smokestack which 
has a diameter of forty feet at the base and towers to a height of 450 feet. 
Various “‘nuisances,” which may or may not be harmful, react un- 
favorably on the rural population. Granite City has an enclosed sewer 
to the river levee at the western edge of the city. However, from the 
river levee to Gabaret Slough, the sewage flows in an open ditch (Fig. 29). 
Two establishments near East St. Louis and one near Alton, with 
wretched-looking sheds and pens, have many hogs which are fattened 
on garbage. The village of Hartford owes its existence to the construc- 
tion of a large tannery by the International Shoe Company. This com- 
pany has attempted to establish a tannery in a location where there W ill 
be no objection to unpleasant odors.? 
Urbanization has given a speculative value to adjoining agricultural 
land. Few non-residents who have purchased land as a speculation are 
interested in maintaining their farms either as to productivity or im- 
Sano Nesey SP: ee He ean oe 
1Alton Evening Telegraph, Centennial Number, January 15, 1936. 
2Ibid. 
