Land Reclaimed on Soldiers Field

The Athletic Association is now undertaking the reclamation of four acres of waste land son Soldiers Field lying west of the Freshman baseball diamond. Through the courtesy of the Hugh Nawn Construction Co. the dirt which is removed from the subway excavation is being spread out on the marshes of the land which is being reclaimed. About 2000 court loads have already been put down.

The process of turning the waists land into fields salable for athletic purposes is very slow. In order to get grass to grow it has been found necessary to lay the subway dirt underneath the ground that is already there. This, however, has become so salty on account of the marsh that even after it is built up, it will have to lie fallow for a year or two to allow the salt to wash out. It will then be seeded and when the grass has taken firm root the field will be ready for use.

The drainage of these four acres has been effected at the cost of about $1700. A general system of drains has been planned by the Harvard engineers, so arranged that as individual sections are reclaimed, they may be drained separately, but when the whole is in use, the separate sections will make a complete drainage unit.

The manual labor is being done by the regular employees of the Athletic Association. It is not purposes to have the four acres that are now being treated set aside for any special branch of athletics. They will be used for various sports during the different seasons. When the work has sufficiently progressed the shooting traps will be moved to some other part of the twenty acres that are still waste land.