86 BULLETIN" 1017, U.- S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



The Red River overflows damage 500,000 acres of land within the 

 limits of this project. The improvements proposed therefore would 

 afford the protection, as stated above, for an average cost of $8 per 

 acre. 



ORGANIZATION. 



In the three States interested in these projects, as in most other 

 States, action to secure drainage improvements to be paid for by 

 special assessment must be initiated by a petition from owners of 

 land that will be affected. The drainage laws of Minnesota, Xorth 

 Dakota, and South Dakota were passed for the same purposes, but 

 they vary considerably in the organization effected for carrying on 

 the work and in the details of procedure. The drainage and conserv- 

 ancy act of Minnesota was passed in 1919, and provides for large dis- 

 tricts and confers upon a board of directors the necessary powers to 

 construct such improvements as may be necessary to drain the land 

 and to prevent overflow. In North Dakota and South Dakota action 

 will probably have to be taken under the general drainage laws. 

 These work satisfactorily where only one county in the State is 

 interested, but the organization becomes rather cumbersome when a 

 large number of counties are included. Under all of the laws it 

 would apparently be necessary for the organizations in the different 

 States to enter into an agreement among themselves in regard to the 

 distribution of the cost of the work and the organization which 

 would have charge of the construction. If satisfactory results are 

 to be secured on projects of the magnitude of Lake Traverse-Bois 

 de Sioux and the Red River of the Xorth, it is essential that control 

 of the project be definitely centralized both during the construc- 

 tion and afterwards for the purpose of maintenance. 



One way in which the work could be handled would be for each 

 State to organize the lands within its boundaries which will be bene- 

 fited as a drainage district. The administrative officials of each dis- 

 trict could then meet as one board which would have entire charge 

 of the project as a whole. It would be the duty of this board to have 

 the benefits apportioned to the lands in the district, to let contracts 

 for constructing the improvements, and to arrange for necessary 

 funds. After the benefits had been apportioned and the contracts 

 let, proportionate parts of the cost could be certified to the district 

 interested in each State and they could spread the cost over the bene- 

 fited lands within their boundaries. 



In the event that this method of carrying out the work proved 

 difficult of operation or unsatisfactory it might be possible to have 

 the legislatures of the several States interested enact legislation pro- 

 Adding for the appointment of members of a joint commission which 

 could be given the authority granted to commissioners of drainage 



