The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1905-10-06
That River Drain.
Concluding Mr.. .woodman's Answer to
MIR. smith.

| which nothing further need DC sdld'
I beg leave TO differ with Mr.. Smith
in his statement that the river bottom
land furnishes practically no pastur-
age" Twenty-oue years experience
in that line couviuces me that he Is
in error. heard prominent farmer,
living below Mr.. Smiths land, state
that she pastures his sheep on the
river bottom, where they are now and
have been this wet season, and that
they are in fine condition.
Mr.. Smith seems to think that if the
people of Hartford had been over the
ground, their fears of floods and dam
age TO mill property would have been
removed, and eudeavors to show that
their fears are imaginary. 1t is safe
to presume that the people of Hart
ford and Lawrence have intelligence
enough to understand what the result
will be, without a personal eXamina-
ton, if as he says, 1.-THE carrying ca
pacity of the new channel will be
little more than 800 per cent" greater
than the old one. | am informed that
a deputy commissioner was heard to
say: THE people below the outlet Of
new channel will be surprised at the
! flood of water that will be rushed
down upon them. " Mr.. Smith says:
THE new channel will practically
! clear the old channel of water. Per
haps that would be the case if all OBJ
structions were removed from the old
! channel, and if the bed Of the rive
was on a plane parallel with the sur
face Of the running water. Buteyery
boy old enough to carry fishing rod
has intelligence enough to know that
fish collect in the deep holes, and
there throws in his hook. \ few years
ago a yard was built on my land on
north branch, where foc6s Of sheep
were annually washed in swiftly run
ming water about three and a half feet
deep. A SHIRT distance below, the
water VS. nearly eight fees deep; aud
below that the chauuel spreads to
more than twice its normal width,
with water seldom more than two
feet deep. That fairly illustrates tn =
condition of the river bed. 1.-THE new
channel is dug, the deep holes in the
old bed cauuDt fail 10 hold stagiaut
water aud death dealing miasm1. NJ.
Smith thinks that one half OF tn
bridges in Waverly can be saved by
"hlIiug the old channel for road
| beds. Would not such filing serve
as dams? Aud wogld not seved dam
in Waverly, on a channel with
grade of only 86-lO0 Of a foot per
mile. - keep the staguaut water pent
up to overlooking for all time? And
would not farmers who "have ex-
changed loops Oh either. side" to
straighten boundary lines. have to
bridge or fill the old chauael to get on
their island loops" or abandon
them? And yet. he thinks "the w
channel will practically clear the old
channel of water
He seems disturbed over the action
of the legislature in amending The
drainage law - a, to give ths b)lrd
Of supervisors more power over tde
construction of county drains. IF
teen prominent counties Of the state
called for the law. and there can be
no doubt but what public seutim mt
will approve it. He answers my ques-
ton, "Cau it be possible that eiglt or
10 men, and most Of them uou--esi-
dents, can, in opposition 70 public
sentiment. impose upon a BODY IF pro
testing citizens a rIjuoIs burden Of
taxation, and damages watch no
amount Of money could peusate?'
as follows: "There were . nam 5 on
the petition, every man living on MS
land at the time, except two, aud al
liable to assessor eut; aud more could
have been secured, and can yet
Did he intend to be understood as say
ing that 20 who signed the petitiol
were actual residents" living on
land through some portion Of which
the drain Is laid, o. that they lived on
their own land. liable to assessor ent"
| somewhere? As I have list Of the
names of the siguers before me, will
eudeavor 20 make the matter a little
clearer. I am informed that only six
of the "22' are actual residents"
aud live on their land near the river
Three live IN Paw Paw village. one
in Aim ena, one in Kalamlzoo county,
one unknown. two are not freeholders.
and the other eight own laud on the
river, but do not live on it or near it. /
but far away" If it had been such
an easy matter to obtain signers TO
his petition for the drain as he would
have us believe, with over sixty own
ers of the land through which the pc
tition called for the drain, why was it
that only six, living upon or near the |
land effected by the drain, could be