Little Falls weekly transcript. (Little Falls, Morrison Co., Minn.) 1894-19??, 1896-07-03
THE RESERVOIRS.
Something About the Dams on
! w. the Upper Mississippi y
~ j-. t. River. -t;,l- 9
Much More Work Will Soon
" be Done to Increase the
49, Water Supply. a

r.
With the final passage of the river
and harEor bill by congress and with
the assurance that the improvements
provided for in the appropriations
will go on this year, preparations
are und der way for the prosecution OF
the work in all the government
engineer Offices of the country, says
st. Paul Globe. At the St..
Paul office, which handles all the
work in which this section, especially
Minnesota. is interested, preliminary
steps have been taken and plans pre-
pared for nearly all the work it Is
intended to complete this year.
Arrangements for the river work are
not approved though plans have
been submitted to the secretary OF
war and it is expected they will be
approved and returned to the st.
Paul Office within short time. Col.
w. A. Jones, engineer in charge, and
his assistants are much pleased with
the prospects of giving the reservoir
system at the head waters of the
Mississippi Il thorough test this sea-
son, and there is quite tidy sum
available for the extension Of the
system.
The reservoir project is the out
come of surveys that were made as
early as 1861 The object of these
reservoirs is to collect the surplus
water, principally from the precfpi'
tation of winter, spring and early
summer, to be systema tically re-
leased SO as to bennett navigation
upon the Mississippi river below the
dams as far down as Lake Pepin.
1t was expected, too, by these pioneer
improvers OF the system, that re-
duction of flood heights and subse-
quent damage would result from
such control of the water. and the
subsequent results havefully justified
that expectation.
There are five complete reservoirs:
At Lake Winnibigosh!sh, at Leech
lake, at Pokegama Falls. at Pine
river, and at Sandy lake. The total
capacity Of these reservoirs exceeds
10000, 000, 900 cubic feet. The survey
of 1880 estimated the cost of con-
structing forty-one reservoir dams
in Minnesota and Wisconsin at
81 sos, OS3.50, exclusive OF land dam
ages. Thus far work has been done
only III, Minnesota, and the total
appropriations to date have been
about $950.000. The amount appro-
priated and available this year is
$S0,OO0. This sum will not begin to
meet the necessities of the work pro-
jected but will enable the engineer to
make considerable Roadway with
the proposed new dam at Gull lake.
The survey was made in 1894 and at
the same time an examination was
made TO determine the possibility of
increasing the water supply by d.
verting into Gull lake n portion of
the freshet discharges from the Crow
Wing river. Nineteen lakes are d.
rectly tributary to the Gull lake
system and the estimated annual
capacity of hesupply IN the reservoir
i'd 10y these lakes was placed at
2.7OO 1000 cubic teet. BY dlverting
the waters Of the Crow Wing river,
bv constructing Il channel several
that stream into GulI lake. the an
nu"l supply would be Increased by
3.1>O GOO QUO cubic feet. 7 hi. project
y III IL ion" to the future. however,
AK there Is n question Oi land dam
hg'A ''y the storage OF such an i'm
nIfnse vOlullu' III water, and besides
the new channel wi!Icr,,ss the North
ern Pacific road. and the government
will have to construct u bridge for
the road Whelr the new channel is
made. Put work on the Gull lake
is progressing and most Of
the appropria ton available this year
will lie expended on that work.
The effect of the reservoir system
on the navigable depth of water in
the channel Of the Mississippi river
has been cOnclustvely shown. and it's
benefits to lumbermen and millers
Minneapolis has also been clearly
The water which is
collected during the rainy season is
held in check behind the big stone
dams. When the dry season comes
on, and it generally begins in July,
the waters of the reservoir are re-
leased and the volume of the stream
kept at about normal height until
the fall rains again begin. With the
pl esent system of reservoirs it is pos
sible to send such a volume of water
down the Mississippi that hestream
rises one foot or more. The distance
from st. Paul to Pokegema Falls,
4 1,n =; n< nsl e.