The Corvallis times. (Corvallis, Or.) 1888-1909, 1902-09-13
NEARLY WASHED THROUGH
Willamette Almost Left Corvallis in
Recent Winter-Engineer Says So.

Willamette Almost Left Corvallis in
Recent Winter-Engineer Says So.
Though not generally known, it is
fact that during the winter Of
four years ago, the main channel OF
the Willamette river almost cut its
way through the farms some dis
tance east of the present channel at
| Corvallis, and for time there was
imminent danger that the town
would be left high and dry, and
without means of steamboat navi-
CATION. This statement was made
by David B Ogden, United States
engineer in the TIMES office yes
| lterday. The danger was present
for some time, and Engineer Ogden
believes that the change in the
channel was only prevented by the
hard work done at the time by the
government, which for several
weeks kept large crew of men and
the snag boat busily engaged in
strengthening revetment and filling
in with stone, willows and dirt
where the wash was in progress.
At the time the water was 10 Or II
feet above the low stage, and the
work was prosecuted under the
greatest difficulty. Had the change
occurred, the result would have
been immensely detrimental to Cor
wallis, and in addition several fair
farms on the east side of the river,
would have been almost if not
wholly ruined.
Engineer Ogden regrets very
much the conditions with which the
government has to contend in its
further effort to prevent the chan
mel from hereafter cutting through
the threatened section on the other
side of the Willamette. The growth
of the willows along the river bank
is an essential to the success Of the
governments plan. The willows
fasten their roots deep in the wash
ing bank, and these and the trunks
and limbs of the growing bush
check movement of the swo1-
len current and form eddies along
the bank. The eddies in turn de-
posit sediment, and the effect is to
weave a root-woofed bank and the
growth of brnsh above, that the
water can never wash away.
And tits in respect to the growing
willows put out by the government
that Engineer Ogden complains.
Farmers in the neighborhood, he
says, set fire to brush piles and
the spreading flames destroy more
or less of the willows. They per-
NIT stock to browse along the
threatened bank, and the latter
destroy much of the tender willow
shoots, all of which in time, if let
alone would build an impossible
barrier against the wash of the
threatening river. In these, and
various other ways the success of
the work is retarded, and the dan
ger of future wash by the river in
creased. It is in the main due to
the fact that the farmers, who more
than anyone else are interested in
the success of the work, do not I'M
derstand the value of the willow
growth along the unsafe bank.
They should, Mr. Ogden thinks, do
the utmost to preserve those grow
ing, and Whenever possible plant
shrubs. A bunch of
willows made into bundles or fas-
cines, and covered with dirt where
the water can reach them will in a
few days sprout and soon make
a mattress to serve as an additional
protector Of their threatened farms.
A further source of complaint
is that some one recently cut and
took away a section of the cable
from the revetment. A year or
two or ago, at one point of the re:
yetment, the river undermined the
piles and their tops fell into the
water. To repair the damage, the
top of the piles were fastened with
strong wire cables, and their use
fu1ness in protecting the bank was
thus restored. It is one of these
cables that someone has cut, after
much difficulty, and carried away.
The fine for the act is about S., 500
or imprisonment to match, and a
arge reward for the detection of
he guilty party.
Last winter, there was a heavy
wash below the lower end of the
-evetment. In some places it is
100 feet wide and six or eight feet
leep, or down to the gravel. The
oank where it occurred has been
properly repaired.
Twenty five men are now en-
gagged on the work, in addition to
he teamsters and the stone depart
nent, the latter of which is under
contract. The operations will
continue until abott the end of the
month.