The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1906-01-11


less damage Is caused to property es-
pecially in the towns, agricultural
lands are covered with seeds of OBJ
noxious> weeds, and great inconyen-
fence is caused to the inhabitants.
The hill water which comes from
the valleys back of the fiat area, along
the river, is the water which is the
cause of most Of the drainage prob
lens, in the reclamation of river bot
toms and overlooked lands. Rainfall
can be handled by bitches, and pumps;
river overf1ows, by cut-offs and levees,
but, the hill water is the uncertain
quantity, coming from long distance
inland, often reaching the bottom
lands with great velocity, and heavi-
~ charged with sediment, it fills up
bitches, tears down levees and will
spread over fiat areas, leaving fields
OF rowing crops water-logged and
silt-covered wastes. 1t is this hill
water that Is causing the gretest dam
age in the Red river valley.
The water that falls on the higher
lands to the west Is collected in
streams and coulees and carried down
to the flats. At the western border of
the flats the grade of the stream de-
smaller streams and coulees disappear
entirely, leaving the water to And its
way over the surface as best it may.
Perhaps. nowhere In an overflowed
district with such large area to COL
lect hill water, can this troublesome
source of water be easier brought
under control, than in this valley. AS
rule where the water leaves the high
TOD to-,
large streams, and where larger
streams do occur, they, have channels
OF sufficient dimensions, that by some
improvement, they can control the
floods of their watershed as long as
they have a free outlet The water.
which is emptied on to the flats be-
tween these streams is we'll distribu-
ted, reaching the flats by easy grades.
and is not charged by an .unusual
amount of sediment, hence there will
be no serious difficulty in CARRYING the
hill water through the flats into the
river.
The natural water channels of this
neighborhood are narrow, crooked and
usually deeper than are found in the
alluvial countries' These streams
have a. channel sufficiently large to
carry off the rainfall of the water
shed, II 1t was uniformly distributed.
1t is the unusual rainfall, coupled with
the melting SHOWS. that causes the
cannels to become surcharged Near
ly all the side streams could have
their carrying capacity improved by
Improvement of various points along
their course. Drift has been allowed
to collect, trees partially undermined,
have fallen. across the channels. and
In some instances piling for highway
bridges have been driven in such no.
,sition. that they have become obstruc-
tons; in other places timber has been
permitted to grow to the edge of the
low water, Any one Of these, of itself
would not be a serious obstruction,
and none Of them interfere with the
i low or ordinary high water-flow of
the streams. but taken together. with
/ the natural crooked course Of the
stream, they catch the drift and float
Ing ice, and combine to form a series
Of distractions, which retard the We
! locity Of the stream and greatly re-
duce the maximum carrying capacity
of the channel Many of these
streams should be improved In places.
BY cutting OF bends, while there are
one or two localities where it may be
found necessary to provide an auxil-
larry channel for carrying part of the
flood. s'@ :E
In some localities, open bitches have
been constructed, but in the main the
only attempts at artificial drainage,
have been by means of bitches along
the highways. The difficulties with
the road and other bitches which have
been constructed, and are not giving
satisfaction, arises from the fact that
they drain an area entirely too large
for their carrying capacity and the
water from the west coming into their
head fills them to Overlooking, they
only serve to distribute the hill water
over the low lands.
In the latter part of July a heavy
rain occurred on Thursday, the follow
Ing Saturday the road bitches In the
northern part of Cass county were
still overcharged. The water from the
high land on the west had come into
the bitches, which began Overlooking
at distance of eight miles from the
river and from this point on the water
at various intervals was flowing out
OF the bitches and spreading over the
surface of the adjoining fields. On
that day, the roadmen of the survey
corps In passing from the road to the
fields were obliged to wade in water,
often above their knees and their
turning pins, although set out in the
grain fields at the natural level of the
surface, were often two or three
inches under water. These lands not
only receive the water from the rain
fall, but they also receive the run-off
OF the lands to the west Had there
] been bitches of ample size and depth
across this section, the hill water
could have been carried OF below the
surface. and the run-off from the rain
fhll In this section, would have made
It's way through the dead burrows and
lateral bitches at the time of the
storm, and the following night, SO
that by Saturday the surface of the
fields would have been dry and firm,
instead OF receiving an additional vol
ume of water over their surface, for
ty-eight hours after the rain had
ceased to fall.
At NO time since l have been in the
valley have the river channels been
lateral drainage. &.
While the proposed drainage sys-
tenn is not worked out in detail, the
general plan is to divide them up
into series Of districts, the shape
and size to be determined by the CON
tour Of the land Jas indicated by the
survey, each Of these districts hav-
Ing main ditch OF sufficient capac-
lily to carry OF the food water with
out overlooking, the water to be con-
Quoted to these main bitches, by a
series Of lateral bitches, extending to
the boundaries Of the district. The
course OF the main bitches as far as
practicable Will be \ east and west