Bloomfield MO | Bern - 1/13/2024 08:40
Bummer. I clicked on this hoping to see a picture from DC.
My great grandpa worked on several projects, that helped drain SEMO. Floodway ditches, diversion channel and Big Lake. Alot of land clearing, surveying, blood and sweat. Engineers learned alot from the construction of the Panama Canal and took what they learned and applied alot of the equipment use. The land in question, was basically from Cape Girardeau south to Big Lake(Arkansas line). That’s almost exactly 100 miles, with a rate of fall of 1’ per mile. It worked out almost perfectly for drainage. The project provided much work during desperate times and took decades to finish. Floating dredges, electric draglines, steam draglines, steam stump pullers, saw mills in every town and lots of rail roads. The articles and pics SloughClub suggests are amazing. I grew up farming, hunting and living around/in the area, along with hearing stories of the great swamp, Indian mounds and huge trees. As a hunter and farmer, I’m torn by both sides of the argument of agriculture and preservation of habitat. |
Swamp drainage machines
