2 BULLETIISr 71, U. S. DEPAETMENT OF AGEICULTUEE. 



such details of present practice as will afford information of value to landowners, 

 and especially to engineers interested in tlie reclamation of sucli lands. (3) To 

 disseminate in available form tlie results of tlie investigations and to encourage 

 land drainage by emphasizing the benefits to be derived from bringing such 

 lands under cultivation. 



The work in this field was started in 1909 by Prof. W. B. Gregory, of Tulane 

 University, New Orleans, and Mr. A. M. Shaw, then a drainage engineer in the 

 emploj' of this office. It was continued under their direction until early in 

 1910, when C. W. Okey, drainage engineer, was placed in charge. Certain 

 lines of investigation have been carried forward continuously since 1909, but it 

 has not been possible to give the work uninterrupted personal attention since 

 1910. At frequent intervals reports have been made of results obtained, and as 

 often as seemed advisable partial reports have been published.^ 



It is the purpose in this bulletin to include all of the salient features of the 

 information so far published and to give also the results of later investigations. 

 Where direct quotations from earlier publications are made, credit will be given, 

 but much of the material contained in the earlier publications and reports will 

 be so interwoven with later and more complete information that no specific 

 mention will be made of its source. The scope of .this bulletin is as follows : 



First, a description of general conditions in this section of the State, of such 

 a nature and in such detail that persons unfamiliar with this or similar sec- 

 tions of the country will be able to form a fairly accurate idea of the nature of 

 the problems encountered in the successful drainage and cultivation of these 

 swamp lands. 



Second, a statement and brief consideration of some of the larger drainage 

 problems encountered, emphasizing the need of more complete cooperation be- 

 tween the various interested parties in the study and solution of such problems. 



Third, the results of detailed examinations of a number of drainage districts, 

 reclaimed or in x^rocess of reclamation, and a summary of such results. 



Fourth, a consideration of the problems involved in land drainage by means 

 of pumps in Louisiana. This discussion might be considered as a continuation 

 of a former bulletin published by this office dealing with pumping in the upper 

 Mississippi River Valley." 



LOCATION AND GENERAL CONDITIONS. 



As shown by the accompanying map (fig. 1), the area under consideration 

 lies on the immediate Gulf coast. A range of hills running eastward from 

 Baton Rouge, the State capital, to Lake Pontchartrain, forms with the lake the 

 northern boundary of the portion lying east of the Mississippi River. Most of 

 the land in this area is fi'om 1 to 3 feet above sea level, with a very small per- 

 centage lying along the river and the larger bayous having an elevation of 

 from 4 to 15 feet above sea level. To the westward, between the Mississippi 

 and the Atchafalaya Rivers, the land gradually rises from sea level along the 

 Gulf to an elevation of pei'haps 15 or 20 feet along a line drawn from Baton 

 Rouge to Lafayette, except that in the immediate vicinity of the Atchafalaya 

 River the land is but very little above sea level. As in the area to the east of 

 the Mississippi River, there is in this section a small percentage of higher land 

 along the rivers and bayous. To the westward of the Atchafalaya River there 

 is a strip of swamp land which borders the coast line and which gradually 

 rises fi'om sea level to approximately 10 or 15 feet above, at a distance of 20 

 or 30 miles inland. 



1 See especially U. S. Dopt. Agr., Office Expt. Stas. Rpt. 1909, p. 415. 



2 V. S. Dept. Agr., Office Expt. Stas, Bui. 243, 



