In the time of its building it has made the greatest and the richest
valley on the face of the earth; next to that of the Amazon it is the
largest, covering an area of one and one-quarter million square miles.
The river and its tributaries drain twenty-eight States and
Territories--an area equal to that of all Europe except Russia. This
basin includes half the area of the United States, exclusive of
Alaska. It is five times as large as Austria-Hungary, six times the
size of France or Germany, nine times the area of Spain, and ten times
that of the British Isles. Measured by its grain-producing capacity,
this valley is capable of supporting a larger population than any
other physical region on the face of the earth. Already it is the
foremost region in the world in the production of grain, meat and
cotton. The rich soil, sedentary on the prairie and alluvial in the
bottomlands, is almost inexhaustible in its nutritious qualities. The
soil cannot be "worn out" in the bottomlands, for nature restores its
vitality by bringing fresh supplies from the highlands as fast or
faster than the seed crop exhausts it. Sixty bushels of wheat or two
bales of cotton may be harvested from an acre of bottom lands.
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