DRAINAGE DISTRICT TO PRESERVE OLD PHOTOS

The Little River Drainage District has taken steps to preserve its past, captured in the stillness of 6,500 old photographic negatives.

Secretary of State Bekki Cook awarded a $12,791 grant to the drainage district Friday to make contact prints of the negatives, which date from 1910 to the mid-1930s.

The black and white images display the footprints of an engineering feat -- construction of a massive system of ditches and levees that drained Southeast Missouri's swamps and made the region inhabitable.

The drainage system, built in the early 1900s, made it possible to build roads and highways through the area. "It has made Southeast Missouri into the economy it is today," Cook said.

It is the largest drainage and levee district in the world, said Larry Dowdy, who manages the district.

The district operates some 900 miles of ditches and more than 300 miles of levees. Its boundaries stretch from Cape Girardeau to the Arkansas line, covering about 540,000 acres. The system drains over 1.2 million acres of land.

Cook said the district is recognized as a Missouri engineering landmark.

Cook personally presented the grant to Dowdy at the district's Cape Girardeau office.

The grant was awarded through the Missouri Local Records Preservation Program, administered by the secretary of state's office.

The district has to provide a 30 percent match, but only 10 percent in cash. The rest comes from in-kind contributions.

On hand for the presentation Friday was Joan Feezor, one of the state's 11 archivists. Feezor of Charleston has been taking inventory of the old negatives and district records for the past 14 months. She said the work could take another year.

The old records, correspondence and negatives have been stored in the drainage district's third-floor office in the H&H Building for years.

"We don't throw much away around here," Dowdy said.

Cook said that is a blessing for history buffs.

"We expect this grant to be a model for other agencies that have significant collections like this," Cook said.

Two sets of prints will be made: One set will stay with the drainage district; the other will be deposited in the Missouri State Archives.

Once the work is completed, the public will have access to the historic images, Cook said.

The state's records program began six years ago. The state began awarding grants in 1991.

Grants cover such projects as microfilming, inventories of records, shelving and storage fixtures, indexing and equipment to preserve the records of local governments.

Statewide, 77 grants totaling nearly $500,000 have been awarded to local governments this fiscal year.

Until the records program was established, the preservation of records was a haphazard affair with local governments, Cook said.

In addition to preserving valuable records, the program makes historic records more accessible to the public and frees up precious space in public buildings, Cook said.

"Reliable information is government's most valuable asset," said Cook, "and it is essential that citizens have access to that information, whether it be the records of a city, county, fire district or the state of Missouri."