LAXD DKAINAGE BY MEANS OF PUMPS. 7 



other States, that there exists at the present time a very active and 

 widespread interest in this whole question. Between Muscatine, 

 Iowa, and St. Louis there are in operation 10 separate plants, which 

 take the drainage water from about 215,000 acres of land. Other 

 plants are under construction or contract on five districts which have 

 a total drainage area of 128,000 acres. The combined horsepower 

 of the plants on the Mississippi is about 7,000. The cost of the 

 district drainage improvements, including the pumping plants, totals 

 a little over $4,000,000. 



The experience of those who undertake projects for pumping 

 drainage water without previous experience in similar work or full and 

 accurate knowledge of what has been accomplished elsewhere shows 

 that invariably they greatly underestimate the magnitude and diffi- 

 culties of the work contemplated. In this regard their experience is 

 identical with that of those who have been pioneers in other forms of 

 agricultural drainage work. As a consequence the first pumping 

 plants were entirely inadequate in capacity, inefficient in operation, 

 and largely a waste of the money invested in them. In numerous 

 cases they have been added to or entirely replaced by the building of 

 new plants. The officials having in charge the construction of the 

 improvements on the newer districts have profited by the experience 

 of the older districts, and have realized the folly of spending money 

 for inadequate improvements. As a result nearly all of the more 

 recent plants, with their ample and economical machinery, are models 

 of convenient arrangement, permanence, and durability. The 

 decreased cost of operation and the splendid drainage obtained have 

 paid for the increased expenditure many times over. 



In the upper Mississippi Valley the various conditions prevailing, 

 such as intensity and distribution of rainfall, length of growing 

 season, and kinds of crops raised, differ widely from those obtaining 

 near the Gulf of Mexico in Louisiana, leading to correspondingly 

 wide variations in recent drainage practice. The former situation 

 will here be taken up in detail, and the planning of districts, the 

 requisite sizes and kinds of machinery, the first cost, and the cost of 

 maintenance will be discussed. The situation in Louisiana is dealt 

 with in u previous publication. 1 



DRAINAGE BY PUMPING IN THE UPPER MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 



In Illinois and the adjacent States the bottom lands which have 



been reclaimed by pumping are in the heart of the corn belt and 



, , rich, black soil, mixed in places with a varying 



amount of sand. They are adjacent to thickly populated lands, and 



es lie within a few miles of large towns. This proximity 



to jome of the most fertile and highest priced agricultural lands in 



' U. 8. Dept. Agr., Bui. 71, The W<;t I,an<l \ of Soul hw u Loul ianu and 'i heii Drainage. 



