RECLAMATION OF SWAMP LANDS. oT 
and empties into Malheur Lake. Both the upper and lower courses 
have well-defined channels, but the middle course is a swamp, where 
the water spreads over the bottoms and covers an area 8 to 10 miles in 
width by 12 to 15 miles in length. The region is now a huge tule 
swamp, where there is much feed around the edges, and cattle even 
work their way out into the swamp long distances; but it is during 
winter, when the ice is able to bear the cattle up, that the greatest 
amount of benefit is derived from it. At the present time the returns 
from the swamp are small. Besides this feature of small returns, the 
losses in the spring are very heavy. Cattle are usually so weak at this 
time of the year that when the ice begins to give way, they mire in 
large numbers and have not the strength to wade out. 
The intention at present is first to cut a channel for the river, and 
then construct laterals as occasion demands for the purpose of draining 
the area. When this is accomplished it will be necessary to devise a 
method of irrigating this drained land properly. ‘The construction is 
so planned that the channel cut for the river will unite with a large 
irrigating ditch covering a sagebrush flat. The water is simply turned 
on this sagebrush land at present, and what may is allowed to develop. 
Later this area will no doubt become a valuable alfalfa meadow and 
be irrigated systematically from the drainage waters derived from the 
swamp. : 
When this swamp, which is toa large extent a mass of peat, has 
been placed under control, the best crops to grow there will have to be 
selected. There is little doubt that the most profitable will be forage 
crops. The behavior of timothy and redtop all through the region 
under little or no cultivation makes it quite certain that these grasses 
will find an important place in the crops grown here in the future. 
Similar areas have already been successfully drained along Pitt 
River, in Modoc County, Cal. Here the tule swamp lands are prov- 
ing exceedingly well adapted to alfalfa growing. It is stated on good 
authority that some of the best alfalfa lands in the county are.situ- 
ated on these tule swamps. 
The land in these swamps is, of course, exceedingly fertile, the 
drainage slight, and the waters different from those usually found in 
this region. ‘They are not particularly alkaline, but are very highly 
colored with dead herbage, as is the case in some of the swamp lands 
in the Southern States. 
The drainage of these areas, although a big undertaking, is only a 
portion of the difficulty involved in their handling. The method of 
managing them after they are drained and the crops best suited to 
them are problems which will require much careful investigation. 
