Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 3, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 January 1917 — A PUBLIC STATEMENT. [ARTICLE]

A PUBLIC STATEMENT.

We, the undersigned, stockholders and charter members of the Gifford Drainage and Improvement Company, respectfully make and publish the following, to the, end that* the objects and purposes of our organization may not be misunderstood. We are each the owner, either by deed or contract, of lands which for more than twenty years have drained down the line of the Gifford ditch into ths Iroquois river, and which said lands were assessed* for the construction of the Iroquois ditch and the Borntrager ditch. When the Gifford ditch was new our lands were fairly well drained, but the ditch has not been cleaned or repaired for many years, and that portion of it which runs through the higher lands has become chocked up 1 and obstructed by willows and other vegetation growing therein until its carrying capacity is greatly lessened, and is further diminished each, year, so that during the past two wet seasons many of us have almost wholly lost the use of our lands and have-raised no crops of any considerable value, while during that time our tax burdens have been doubled, and the interest on our mortgage indebtedness continues to grow and accumulate. For eight years we have looked to the Ryan ditch proceeding for relief and when the ditch was ordered constructed many.Vf us were favorable torn and believed that when constructed it. would drain and reclaim our lands. But since the resurvey of the Ryan ditch, in the* fall of 1915, by Ray C. Yeoman, Charles S. Head and Devere Yeoman, and the survey of ditch 77 and tjie Gifford ditch made by the Same- engineers, immediately after the Ryan resurvey, we have become convinced that the ..best, cheapest and quickest drainage for our lands may be had by the deepening and repair of the Gtfford ditcfe*“ I» 'csnai»gf4o this belief we rely upon the Advice and counsel of C. J. Hobbs, John E. Alter, Louis S. Alter, L. A. Bostwick, De-

vere Yeoman, Charles S. Head, Ray C. Yeoman,. Edgar D. Nesbitt and Benjamin J. Gifford, now deceased, each of whom .has recommended the drainage of the marsh area and particularly the north and west sides of the marsh on the Gifford route. We disclaim any desire to embarrass or defeat the - Ryan ditch proceeding, but we regret that the drainage commissioners in charge of the Ryan ditch and the Oliver ditch proceedings, have not been able to see their way te recommend the building of both ditches; the Ryan ditch on the Pinkamink route sufficiently deep and wide to drain the local area affected, and the Oliver ditch, over the route of No. 77 and the Gifford ditch, deep enough and wide enough to furnish qn outlet for our lands, but that on the contrary, they have indicated their intention to recommend the drainage of the entire area through the rock ledge Of the Pinkamink on the longest route and which would take several years to construct after the same is established and to which nearly every land owner in the valley objects. ~ ~~~ We believe that both ditches should be constructed, the Gifford route first, because it is cheap and can be accomplished ‘n a few months at small cost, and furnish quick relief to the vast body of lands which for the last two years have been totally unproductive, and many of the owners of which have already been forced by poverty to abandon their holdings; and that the Ryan ditch should also be constructed as soon as passible, of suffi-. cient depth to drain the affected lands, .but not wide enough for the drainage of the whole area, on account of the great cost of excavating the rock. Because the drainage commissioners, for reasons unknown to us, have failed and refused to report the drainage as the land owners desire it, and as each of the above named engineers believe and advise it should be done, we are compelled to undertake the work of repairing the Gifford ditch and No. 77, without resorting ..to a court proceeding and the levying # of assessments by drainage commiss’ioners, but wholly by money voluntarily subscribed. Unless we get early relief, many of us will lose our homes and the savings of years. We can no longer afford to await the result of further litigation and delay. A few thousands of dollars quickly and judiciously expended, will bring us relief for the crop season of 1917, and the outlet ditch 12 feet deep to the center l)f the marsh, with a grade of twenty inches to the mile, and No. 77 of the same depth at the junction and witn a grade of 15 inches to the mile from source to outlet. This is no lawyer’s scheme, but it is an earnest effort by ourselves to get for the least possible expenditure of money, and in the quickest possible time, the drainage relief which is within our easy reach, so that our may be made tillable and our homes can be saved to our wives and children. -Signed: Ed Oliver, T. M. Callahan, Fred Bartels, W. T. Hankins, Geo. V. Long, T. iM. Haniford, Wm. Markin, Herman Knoerzer,’Jas. L. Campbell, Jas. E. Beutt, John W. Stockwell, F. G. Cavendish, O. N. Faber, Wm. Whitell, Clyde Bowman, Geo. W. Bowman, Wm. E. Marion, R. E. Lucas, Harry T. Reed, John Eger, L. L. Hoeferiin, W. •A. HoeferMn, Carl Stockwell, Floyd Tow, Wm. J. Rees, N. G. Halsev, Paul Samuelson, Guy Zook, Charles Walker, Adam Flesher, Grover Norris, Sheridan Logue, Harry E. - Gifford,. A. ...Lind*.. ~rFI, Geo. Enzingcr, B. W. Hepmer, A. K. Yeoman, Devere Yeoman, Schuyler C. Irwin.