Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1904-06-09

the drainage OF land east Of the Rail.
road 3 tins. The height, Ut The VI alter
at The Missouri R,str controls the
d Nv from the soldier River. The full
c ptcliy of the channel ut ordinary
Stage of the Missouri liz NOT Availt hle
far' 'i.r down strtaMl ihI.n the Mul2
bIluge. y Al ut live t.e' below the
present stage of the river Will make
Moo leen bridge The contemplated
r'lt from this point 10 thr River is not
y. ac.lcable. and further any deepening
of the Soldier River between the two
bridges named will not materially ia.
c.lltste the discharge of the upper part
of the stream. Ii, however, the volume
of water coming from above can be
diminished the height of the water
surface Will be lowered except ut flood
time In the Missouri and water which
floods the land IN the vicinity of Lynn
Lake will drain away into the stream
more readily
The Soldier River Cut.Cff.
Failing To Iind way To lower the
outlet of the Soldier River, the cutoff
heretofore proposed and laid out in
the north part of the County dis
charging the water of the Soldier
through Dry Lake INTO the Missouri
River at Section 10 Il. 80 II, 45 should
be next considered This will cut off
the supply from the lower river, di-
minsh the ordinary height of the
stream and thus m AXE it u better
drainage channel for the land adjoin-
ing it on the north suggest that the
cutoff leave the river at the bend M :
where it crosses the T. asst and West y
Sec. line of Sec. 81 +. 81 II. a., pass
through the low land south of Orson
and near the course of the Sllsby
ditch, and then intersect the river at
the bend in Sec. 5 so "A thence follow
ing the course as indicated on the blue
print maps The old channel should
be closed just below the point where
the ditch leaves the stream aud also
below the place where it taps 1T the
second time. The old channel between
these two points should remain and
be used as drain outlet for the land
ON the east side of the river.
Grade and Size Of the Ditch.
The ditch as laid out and protiled
has uniform grade of 10 inches per
mile and minimum depth of feet
except through Dry Lake, when it is
8 feet deep. suggest that the grade
be reduced to Is inches per mile
which will permit depth of Z feet
where it is now feet This will ne
cessitate an increase in the grade of
the upper part of the ditch which may
the channel of the stream
three feet below the bottom. The
ditch discharges into the river WITT
free flow at mean stage of water. 1t
may be- interesting to note that the
bottom of the ditch ut the river will
be the same elevation as the surface
of the water In the Soldier River at
the Motz bridge as found May II.
High water will rise to the surface of
Dry Lake but since this tract of land
is surrounded by banks feet higher
than the surface, except near the
river, high water will affect 1t no more
with the ditch through than without
it. After high water. lowev er, the
land will be drained more quickly than
Is the case under Its present condition.
The size of the ditch specified by the
engineer ls 40 feet wide on the bottom
with side slopes of to 1. The larger
part of the excavated earth will he
deposited upon the south side. A
ditch of these dimensions and grade
will carry as much water as the old
channel at the Bostwick bridge, but it
is by no means safe to regard this
as maximum flood flow. Some fur
ther provision should be made II the
attempt is made to divert the entire
flow of the Soldier to the Missouri
through this ditch When the river
now everl)ws its banks the surplus
passes over the laad southwark along
such depresslons as exist, all of which
are subject to periodical flooding. Ii
the cutoff ditch should overflow the
flood water would pass over land moi
in the natural course of the stream
10 guard against such an occurrence
1t Is proposed to make the south
waste bank solid i'm the form of IA
levee, a provision against overflow to
be commended.
Waste Way and Overflow Channel.
Another precautlon, however, should
be taken to care for flood water, the
amount of which cannot be closely
computed. The Spooner Ditch should
be extended diagonally in the most
suitable course until it reaches the
line upon which the West Soldier
Ditch is located on the map, and
thence north to the proposed cutoff
ditch. This is where an overflow will