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continued until the disastrous flood of 1927 when levees broke and all of the area known as Cypress Creek drainage district, which district includes practically all of the lands in Desha County south of the Arkansas River, was flooded. The ditches accelerated the movement of the overflow waters and this caused their silting up in places, and caused the drainage levees, in some places, to be greatly damaged. The efficiency of this storm-water-drainage area was practically ruined. Immediately following the 1927 flood, Congress passed the Jones Act, which act authorized the construction of the Jadwin plan of flood control. This plan, among other things, provided for a fuse-plug levee from near Yancopin, Ark., to the Louisiana State line, and it was the purpose of the engineers to use this levee as an outlet for the exces sive floodwaters of the Mississippi and Arkansas Rivers. The publication of this plan completely ruined Desha and Chicot Counties, so far as future agricultural development was concerned. All loan agencies, including the Federal Land Banks, refused to grant loans against any of the lands in this area. The injustice of this plan was soon recognized by the engineers, and by Congress, and by the people affected. Plans were immediately advocated for the changing of this plan, but the plan remained in effect until the Overton Act was passed by Congress in 1942.

Therefore, no efforts were made to repair the storm-water-drainage canals above referred to. Taxpayers defaulted in their payments of taxes; lands decreased in value, but there were no sales. After the passage of the Overton Flood Control Act, above referred to, the Government, at its own cost, restored our levees to the same grade and level as other levees, which levees now give us protection from the floodwaters of the Arkansas and Mississippi River systems.

After we have had restored canals 19, 43, and 81 it will still be necessary for the property owners to construct their own farm-drainage canals. This they cannot do until the floodwaters from Desha County, as well as the floodwaters from Lincoln and Jefferson Counties have been taken care of.

All that we are asking is that these storm waters, which formerly emptied into the Mississippi River, be diverted through the canals which are advocated in the engineers' report. Our citizens would be glad to assume the maintenance of these canals if the Government will construct them.

Lack of drainage today is keeping woods lands from being cleared, and many acres of cleared lands cannot be cultivated. Roads cannot be constructed, and many farmers cannot get their produce to market; schools cannot be consolidated, health units cannot be operated in outlying districts, families cannot attend church, and medical aid cannot be had for the sick. All this is the result of impounding within our area of the storm waters from Lincoln and Jefferson, as well as Desha Counties.

At the present time there is great need for diversification of crops, but it is impractical to plant grain crops because the storm waters that are impounded upon these lands during the early spring months destroy the chances of growing such crops. This is true of corn, oats, and hay crops. Rice is being raised on those favored tracts of land where there is some drainage during the months of March, April, and the early part of May.

The soil analysis of these lands shows that they are practically the same throughout the county; all of the lands are alluvial, and in no section of the country can more productive lands be found. Our lands, when properly drained, will produce more than 1 bale of cotton per acre. Corn and oats yield as much per acre as any lands along the Mississippi River. These lands are probably the best alfalfa lands that can be found anywhere because it is not uncommon, where drainage can be had, for six crops to be cut from the same piece of land each season. Alfalfa, however, cannot be produced properly until the drainage levels have been considerably lowered. The rice in this area, as shown by Arkansas Rice Experiment Station, produces the largest yield of any lands anywhere in the State, though, as above stated, there are few farms that can be planted to rice at this time.

I am the special county attorney, and we have found that it is impossible to construct roads because our drainage will not permit this construction. Throughout the entire county we do not have a single county road that is passable all of the year, because these roads run through relatively low lands and the water that is emptied into this county makes the construction of roadbeds impossible. In many sections of the county roads the gravel that has been placed on them. has almost completely disappeared. This condition discourages small farmers, because they cannot get their children to the schools, they cannot haul their produce to market, and they cannot procure medical attention. This is caused by lack of roads. We now have some road funds that could be expended if roads could be constructed that would remain passable throughout the year.

Many thousands of acres of cotton were damaged or completely destroyed because storm waters were impounded in the fields during the crop year 1945. There still remains many acres of cotton that have not been picked because of this condition.

Changing conditions require the use of farm machinery, if the farmer is to engage in diversification and the use of his lands so that he can produce crops which will compete with other crops throughout the country. Farm machinery cannot be successfully used because there remain low, wet places that cannot be planted during the early spring months and the farmers are generally forced to rely upon the old-time methods, which, of course, means the production of cotton; even cotton must be produced in this area by antiquated methods, rather than by the use of modern machinery, which is now being employed in other cotton-raising sections.

You no doubt have taken notice of the backward condition of our State in the matter of educational facilities. The school districts throughout the State have been notified that many of the smaller districts must be abolished, which of course means that school busses must be used. We have taken into consideration the consolidation of school districts in this county, but we are immediately met with the problem of bus transportation. Our school children cannot enjoy the privileges of other children throughout the State unless our roads can become all-weather roads.

I wish to call your attention to the geography of this county, which reveals that ditches 19, 43, and 81 pass through an area, the low end of which is more than 311⁄2 miles wide, and through this area must pass

the storm water of this county, as well as Lincoln and Jefferson Counties. It can readily be seen that our problem would not be so distressing if we were not required to take care of the storm water from the other counties, and, as has been stated, all of this storm water must be diverted by canals, since the outlets to the Mississippi River have been closed.

Lands that are well drained, that are in cultivation, and that have outlets to schools and markets will sell today for $100 per acre, though there may be adjoining lands where water has been impounded that cannot be sold for $5 per acre, though the soil chemistry will show that the lands are identical except for drainage. This drainage situation could be completely changed by affording outlets for drainage in the lower end of this county.

I wish to call your attention to another factor that affects all of Desha County; that is, that prior to 1942 the Government owned a large body of land in the vicinity of Rohwer, Ark. Under the direction of the War Relocation Authority two large drainage laterals were cut which diverted the water from this area into canal 81. This construction of these ditches by the Government has impounded additional water into the bottleneck above referred to, and while these wild lands owned by the Government have been greatly benefited, it has been done at the expense of the people who have already put their wild lands into cultivation and today these farms will remain damaged until the drainage outlets have been completed. Even that branch of the Government that is trying to solve our flood-control problems with the construction and maintenance of levees suffers great losses because our roads are impassable until the storm waters have found an outlet.

The present landowners did not emigrate here with full knowledge of the existence of this defective drainage system. Most of the present landowners in this area acquired their lands under the belief that the drainage system which was constructed at the time of the closing of the Cypress Creek gap would be adequate. They now find that, due to the silting up of this drainage system, and because of excessive waters being dumped into the system from above, that this system is now inadequate and that no additional lands may be opened up, and no road construction attempted, until the drainage problem has been solved.

STATEMENT OF LEO D. WYLIE, COUNTY AGRICULTURAL AGENT FOR DESHA COUNTY

Mr. WYLIE. Desha County, Ark., is composed of 11 political townships, and 10 of these townships are south of the Arkansas River and west of the Mississippi River. All of the excess storm water must be carried away in ditches and the natural streams since all inlets to the rivers have been closed by the levee on the Arkansas and Mississippi Rivers. The Cypress Creek drainage district was created for this purpose, but due to inadequate outlets and the present ditches that are too small, it does not do the job.

The northern and western side of Desha County has the highest elevation and the best natural drainage in the county. Six of the political townships are located in this area, and they comprise the largest percent of the cultivated acreage to the total land area. These

six townships contain approximately 201,600 acres with 103,758.9 acres in cultivation. This gives approximately 51 percent of the total area in cultivation. The other four eastern and southern townships contain approximately 100,480 acres with only 23,239.1 acres in cultivation. This is approximately 23 percent of the total land in cultivation. This difference is caused by the natural streams and ditches overflowing or not being able to get the storm water away quickly enough to keep this land from being covered with water during rainy seasons. The following two tables taken from the 1944 Agricultural Adjustment Administration farm plan sheets show a comparison of the total acreage and cropland in the six better-drained townships and the poorly drained townships.

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Approximately 302,080 acres of land are protected by levees in the southern part of Desha County. At least 272,000 acres of this land is suitable for crops and is very fertile if adequately drained. The principal type of soil found on these poorly drained lands is dark buckshot that is very fertile and the land makes excellent yields the years that we do not have excessive rainfall. However, when we do have excessive rainfall this section is flooded and the crops are drowned out or the planting cannot take place until too late in the

season.

The department of agronomy of the College of Agriculture, University of Arkansas, analyzed this buckshot soil and found that it contains a high percentage of nitrogen, is low in phosphate and high in potash. These are the three basic plant-food elements and the high yields produced on this land in favorable years bear out this analysis. In 1943 much of this land produced over 500 pounds of lint cotton per acre.

The heavier type soils of Desha County are well suited for the production of alfalfa where enough drainage can be secured so that

the plants are not drowned out. These soils contain á high percent of calcium in the topsoil and also in the subsoil. With adequate drainage, the alfalfa acreage could be increased to 50,000 acres in this county where we now have less than 2,000 acres.

Cotton has always been the leading crop in Desha County and is suitable to all soil types of the county. If we had adequate drainage, acreage could be increased by clearing new land, and also the 10-year average production per acre would be increased because farmers would be able to plant their crop earlier on the heavy land. Experiment station results show that cotton planted before April 20 outyields the cotton planted after that date. The cotton acreage for Desha County in 1943 was 43,692 and this acreage produced 35,971 bales. This was an extra good year for our poorly drained land and one of the best crops ever produced in comparison to the number of acres in cultivation.

Corn is not as stable a crop as cotton for Desha County and in wet years production is usually very low. This is because the corn is unable to develop a root system that can secure enough moisture during the dry spells that usually follow a wet spring. The land cannot be put in a good state of cultivation because the silt soil usually becomes water logged and very tight so that the roots cannot penetrate deep enough before the soil begins to crack open and tear off the roots. Under favorable conditions excellent corn yields have been obtained, but taking the 10-year average the distribution is low.

The production of oats has increased steadily for the past 10 years, and in 1944, over 12,000 acres of oats were planted in the county. The buckshot land in the county produced excellent yields of oats when the winter and spring rains do not drown them out. Yields of 75 bushels per acre were common in the county in 1944 where stands survived.

Most of the soil of Desha County will produce vegetables and the WRA at Rohwer has demonstrated this very effectively. In 1942 one man produced 84,000 pounds of tomatoes on 2 acres, and we have 50,000 acres of land in the county that would produce vegetables just as good as the acres that have been planted.

The production of beef cattle has been increasing steadily since 1933 in Desha County. In 1935, 9,303 head of cattle were found in the county and over 16,000 head of cattle are in the county at present. The soil in the county produces excellent grasses and legumes for grazing, and practically all of the land can be used for pasture part of the year. Levees and ditch banks are some of our best pastures at present. Farmers are taking advantage of this well-drained land and most of this land is used for pasturing livestock.

Farmers are unable to get full benefit from winter pastures, especially in the poor-drained soils. The fields become so wet and muddy that the farmers have to keep their livestock off of the land because of the damage they would do to the pasture. This increases the wintering cost which could be lowered by full utilization of winter pastures. In many places the feed lots get so deep in mud that in some instances cattle have bogged and have had to be pulled out while in the feed lot. This muddy, wet condition does not allow full utilization of the feed to the animal, and drainage of the lots is very hard to accomplish because there is no place to empty the storm water.

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