Omaha daily bee., 1883-06-06
THE INDIAN QUESTION.
What Shall be Done With the
CreekP
A Conundr am to Which There
are Many Difficult An
wers.

done Win lnulan Creek. lnero eoemH
but one point on which nearly oil
agree, aud that Is to dam It. The ma.
jority, however, seem In favor of do
Ing this virtually, and object to Its be-
Ing done actually. There Is q wide
opinion that the work at Msdi'
son street did much to cause the
II bling q commonly accepted
that the viaduct at that poin,
held the 1wator and caused 1.-THE
food to b, worst Ia the uppe,
part Of the city, and then when 1t give
way this volume of water swept OF
with accelerated force. 1t has alsc
been commonly accepted that The
Madison street culvert wal swept
away before those before 1t went out.
Now comes the other side OF the
statement. II Ia claimed that there
are witnesses who watched..the Madison
street current closely, and who vouch
ter the fact that this first break was on
the earth filling on the north end, and
u little later the iii ed earth on the
oouth end nwept away, thus leaving
tho structure stand intact, with the
water all around 1t. The next dam
age done was the carrying away of the
brick wings, which were built dc.
tsohed from the arch proper, so that
had the damage stopped there the less
to the oulvert would only have
amounted to q few hundred dollars.
I he arch, which was the main part of
the structure, stood for about two
hours longer, not giving way until
about 10 o'clock at night, and no:
until 1t had been pounded and bat.
tered with the giant blows Of heavy
timberS, which came rushing against
1t with terrible force. 1t 10 claimad
that the arch did not give way until
long after the destruction had been
done below, and long after the other
culvert had been swept away.
II these statements are fully cor
as It 10 confidently asserted
they will be, 1t will convince the peo'
pie that the structure was an admir-
able one for strength at least, to with.
stand the rush Of waters and debri.
SO long.
One thing has been pretty we'll de.
monstrated, and that is that close
mouthed oulverts are not the thing
for Indian creek, but that long, high
bridges, with plenty of room, are
needed, 80 that not only O big rush OF
waters may pass through but debris,
timbers, trees, etc., If swept away
from above 1t nay not be lodged ano
prove . damaging obstacle to the free
course of the freshet.
The BEE man tried to get some lit,
tie information from City Engineer
Tosterin yesterday, but he could pre-
sent no Views TO the public until h,
made his formal report to tn Cum
ell, which report he promises to max
soon, and which will contain q full
narration If the destruction, Its causes
and the facts 80 he believes them
MI. Tosterin waa free, however, I,
admit that he had become . conver
and believed In giving The water plsn
ty Of room. instead OF building close
mouthed ~oulverts. He still believed
however, that the bottem OF the cree
should be kept from being cut away
~ the surest way to prevent the bank
from being cut away.
A walk up and down the creek, ~
q look at the condition Of things,
enough to convince n that there
much against the talk so common sine
the food, to the tff,ot that the cree
should bs allowed to have
"go.ss you please" If the creek hi
its own way, 1t seems evident that
will deepen i,s channel, aud as
deepens the width must increase, an
the banks will tumble away more an
more. The soil, as the banks fall
naturally settles itself into an angle
about twenty odd degrees from II
bottom OF the creek. Now as IL
bottom drops o foot the banks slit
down that much more, making Il
distance from bank to bank sever
feet wider for every foot the botto
drops. II seems then inevitab
therefore that If the creek IL above
to deepen, 1t will widen It's cham
much more, taking In still more pro
erty.
II one desires to get some idea
how this crumblinp away 10 going
he should visit Capt. Wilson's pro
erty on Vine street neal Madison.
IL iast on the banks If the creek no
and part of his house has crumbl
away In the rear. Several feet fro
the present edge of the bank Ia
large crack running along through t
yard, indicating that a little more ia
/ ing away of the creek bed below "
cause another great landslide thel
aud several feet still further back
another crack, large enough to Inc
cate what there 10 In storo after tn,
Going up the creek to above Bent
street one finds the bed not 30 de,
and the banks are not 30 crumbl
. away, the channel being narrower.
indicates that the dam put In at M,
ison street, and which still stands, ]
kept the bottom of the creek fr
cutting out and as q consequence
creek IL not so Wide from bank
bank.
1t has been suggested by some Il
the land lying between Vine q
: Washington streets be given over
the creek altogether, and that the
be sloped down to the bottom, CIV
q big channel for the water to
: when it gets n of those runaway
u on, and that long bridges be stretch
across. For the city to condemn
pay for all this property would invo
a large sum, but they may be called
to pay for 1t anyway, In time, II
keeps on tumbling into the creek.
There are all sorts Of theories 4
presented, and what will be the f
X decision It IL difficult to say. {
a / .kau- l. x~-4.s.n ard that l. tha 4