The Harvester World: Volume 2, number 13, October 1911

              18

Thel Harvester World

James JM. Blazer
DRAINAGE OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI LANDS By James M. Blazer
In Southeast Missouri, or the delta region adjacent to the Mississippi river, the great problem is, and has been, that of drainage of a vast body of land, as rich as any in the world.    Years ago this great country, now divided
into six prosperous coun¬ ties, was considered a region fit only for the habitation of game, and traversable mainly by means of the canoe or dugout. It was a vast inland sea or marsh, and, to the occasional visit¬ or, seemed a country for¬ ever given over to the wild beasts, reptiles, insects, and malaria.
In America, however, de¬ velopment comes to every spot and corner, and finally it came to Southeast Mis¬ souri, beginning in the late seventies. The highlands, though few, were found to be very fertile. There was every variety of timber of the most valuable sort. That portion of Southeast Missouri most interesting to our readers, on account of the interests held there by Wisconsin Lumber Company, is known as the Little River swamp or valley. It contains over one half million acres, and is located at the foot of the Ozark hills or mountains on the western bank of the Mississippi, 130 miles below St. Louis.
In the early nineties, St. Francis' levee, along the west bank of the Mississippi river, from a point a few miles below New Madrid on down to the Arkansas line, was constructed by the united efforts of the residents and landowners in that locality, assisted in some meas¬ ure by the United States government. This levee, being of a height sufficient to prevent the river over¬ flowing the vast territory to the west, caused a very rapid development of the higher lands next to the Mississippi river and inside the bank of the levee. This, probably, was the first real development of what is known as the Little River swamp or valley.
Immediately following the levee improvement, came the railroad, a crude affair, it is true, laid mostly with rails rejected and discarded in the improvement of the trunk lines; but by means thereof, communication fairly certain was established. These railroad improvements for a time apparently began nowhere and ended nowhere, but by careful calculation and sometimes waiting for days, the iuteUigent passenger might suc¬ ceed in getting a train to Campbell, Kennett, Caruthers- ville, and a few other points in the valley. When he got to these points, communication to the south was practically cut off, but the advantages were great, the lumber shipments heavy, and there soon followed the development of these pieces of railroad into what is known generally as the 'Frisco system, connecting St. Louis with Memphis by a continuous and well-built trunk line, which affords means of ingress and egress to all of this territory. The inevitable cross Unes were soon built, and today Southeast Missouri has probably as good railroad service as any territory of equal size in the Mississippi valley.    In  addition to the 'Frisco,
the cross lines of the Cotton Belt and the Iron Mountain afford good transportation in the northern part of the valley.
All of the above were simply adjuncts or forerunners of the great work to be undertaken in this valley; to wit: the development of the country by means of drain¬ age. Originally this seemed to be impossible, but a casual topographical survey showed a general fall or decline of the land from northeast to southwest of from eight inches to one and one-half feet per mile. la the middle or lower part of the valley, about twenty- five miles west of Caruthersville, is the lowest part, known as Little river. This so-called river has its head, or origin, in the foothills of the Ozarks, almost immedi¬ ately west of Cape Girardeau. A number of small streams, the main waters of which are known as Castor and White rivers, flow from different directions, and finally combine some twenty-five or thirty miles below Cape Girardeau, in what is known as Little river.
The drainage development began first in a small way in the north end of the district in Scott and New Madrid counties. Steam dredges were started ir different directions, ditches were made a number oi miles in length and when further progress was made useless for want of the proper outlet, stopped in tiie swamp.     The result was that the upper end, or Jie
Dredging with a steam outfit in Soutlieast Missouri
northern and eastern portions of these ditches, drained in a fairly complete way the lands from which they were dug. These lands at once showed an immense productiveness, and encouraged the excavation of other ditches further to the south, and finally, in 189S, the first drainage ditch was constructed in Pemiscot county. This ditch, though only a few miles in length and now considered entirely too small, worked wonders, and thousands of acres of rich land were reclaimed, where great crops of corn, cotton, and alfalfa were raised.
Previous to this time, on account of the St. Francis levee above mentioned, there was considerable develop¬ ment, in the eastern part of Pemiscot count}-, of rich and valuable lauds lynig just back of the levee. Here great farms were developed, alfalfa, cotton, and corn were raised, and the reports are verified that a.& high as $50 and ^0 per annum, per acre, net, was sometimes realized from these lands in these crops. The cuttings of alfalfa have reached as high as six a year, but probably average three or four cuttings to the year. The hay is extremely valuable, on account of the lack of forage in that country and to the south. Cotton has produced enormously, and it seemed to be the natural soil for corn, which brought enormous prices.