Doctoral Dissertations

Date of Award

8-1992

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Major

Geography

Major Professor

Theodore H. Schmudde

Abstract

This study describes the evolutionary sequence of agricultural drainage within the Eastern Lowland section of the Mississippi River Lowlands during the twentieth century. The sequence began with construction of a regional ditch system then proceeded through three levels of progressively more sophisticated on-farm drainage improvements including semi-permanent field ditching, landscaping for drainage and the most recent development, integrated field water management involving both drainage and irrigation.

Over three-quarters of the regional system was constructed between 1910 and 1920. Greatest densities of regional ditching are associated with the low backswamp zone, especially in the floodplains of Little River and Tyronza River. The counties associated with these large densities are Pemiscot and Dunklin in Missouri and Mississippi and Crittenden in Arkansas.

Farm-level drainage developments were made possible by the presence of the regional system of ditches. The initial phase of on-farm drainage improvements was the widespread construction of semi-permanent interceptors and field ditches dug with mechanized equipment. While construction of the initial phase was evident in the 1930's, widespread adoption did not occur until after World War II, when tractors became generally available. Earliest concentrations of field ditching were located in a transitional zone between the Mississippi River levee front lands and the lower backswamp zone and were a response to lateral ditch construction in the 1920's. Greater densities of field ditches appeared later in the backswamp as cultivation intensified there with the introduction of soybeans.

Micro-level farm drainage through land shaping appeared in the mid-1950's and employed the use of both tractor-drawn land planes, and large earth moving machinery. Initially, land shaping was introduced in heavy clay soil areas which, traditionally, had been the most difficult to drain. Primary impetus for this development was adoption of supplemental irrigation for soybeans. Shaping was employed to remove potholes and other surface depressions which allowed surplus water to pond and interfere with cropping.

The most recent on-farm drainage development, defined as integrated field water management involving both drainage and irrigation, emerged in the late 1970's and is associated with large, well-capitalized farming operations. While applications of this drainage type are in evidence on a wide range of topographic zones, the preponderance of developments are located in the backswamp zone.

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