The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1906-02-28
aneous address on the subject Of
hydrographics and the reservoir

aneOus address on the subject Of
photographers and the reservoir
schemes
Prof. Chandler says that all the en-
gineer has to deal with in the valley
is the spring waters or storm waters
of an extraordinary kind in the sum
mer. While in some respects the
overflow may tend to lessen, in others
II grows worse. The water when It
falls, finds more bitches and means of
getting into the streams than before
the land was ditched or cultivated
Wrong Thing Demanded.
Prof. Chandler says that the wrong
thing was demanded by the war de-
partment in their survey of Red Lake
ior the purpose of lowering the. chan
mel and making a reservoir. 1t was
to improve navigation and not to Sc
cure relief from floods in the valley.
He believes that the Red Lake pro-
ject, the lowering of the bed of the
Red Lake river some two or four
feet would be feasible and would act
as reservoir to hold back food
waters.
The war department made many err
rors in their survey, from the fact that
they had little data to work from,
among other things a real flood. He
estimated that they We're off Is per
cent on their estimates along these
lines and as to water flows.
The normal flood of the Red Lake
river above the confluence, is from
one-llalf to two-thirds of the flow of
the Red river below the confluence.
This is under normal conditions. At
times of high water the Red Lake is
about one-third and the Red river
about two-thirds above the confluence.
Reservoir VIII De the Work.
In the judgment of Prof. Chandler,
the Red Lake reservoir will do the
work of preventing floods In the Red
river valley. The lowering of the bed
Of the channel at the outlet of Red
Lake will allow of the storing of
enough water to lower the worst pos
sible flood q foot at Grand Forks.
1t would lower the ordinary food,
like that of two years ago, from two
to two and one-half feet. 1t is the
last foot that does the damage.
The report of the engineers of the
war department favored the reservoir.
scheme at Red Lake but the report
was turned down as the navigation did
not warrant the outlay of $4,000 on
the stream. The survey was to i'm
Drove navigation while what is want
ed now is survey to prevent floods.
There is great deal OF misunder-
standing relative to the contemplated
reservoirs. They will not be made by
raising the waters of the lakes but by
lowering the channels of their out
lets and lowering their levels, except
in flood times, when by dams they will
lie brought to normal level.
Engineers Differ.
Senator Cashel complained that en-
sineers differed in their opinions. In
1897, the big food damaged Walsh
county and he secured an appropria-
ton from congress to make a survey,
which was done. These engineers
and others differed in their opinions
from one Major Jones, also a govern
ment engineer. Major Jones esti-
mated that with the contemplated
system of reservoirs, the average
depth of the Red river above Grand
Forks could be kept at 3.5 feet and
that below it could be kept at As
feet the PIP days of the open season.
He believed that reservoirs would
help navigation and other engineers
believe that they would injure naviga-
ton. He asked Prof. Chandler to re-
concile these things.
Prof. Chandler said that hydo-
graphic estimates were made by the
average rain fall on the area drained.
The trouble with the valley is that
it is about one fourth drained, there
are no rivers to take care of flood
waters. The Red river drains 10000
square miles with an average rain fall
Of 20 inches, one inch of which finds
its way into the river. This is not ex-
actly a desert but ON the edge of
one. For instance the Susquehanna
river in Pennsylvania drains about the
same area but has normal rain
fall of 40 inches year and about four
of them get into the river. The river
has flow all of the time about like
the Red river when it's banks are full.
Many Things Enter In.
Many things enter into the consid-
Grafton of what will happen under
certain conditions and the older en-
gineers had less data than the latter
Ones The ground gets softer with:
cultivation and absorbs more water.
evaporation is greater, etc, and all
these things enter into the question.
bitches make the flow of water more
rapid to the rivers ana the floods are
acute, shorter but higher.
Mr.. Fellows said that Engineer
Stewart who made the survey in the
valley last summer, came to the con-
clusion that under ordinary condi-
tons the Red river took care of the.
water but it was only during flood
periods that the channel was inade-
quate.
Engineer Ralph Talks.
Engineer Ralph said that the
amount of water which the bitches
carried to the stream was relatively
not as great as what found it's way
in before. This is due to the draining
OF low lands and making the soil
more receptive, and under cultivation,
evaporation is greater. He estimated
that the work on the Red Lake chan
rel to lower it four feet could be
done and the dam put in for 100000.
This would not include locks for