The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1906-05-24

Hennepin county has suffered consid-\
cradle damage from the heavy rains
this week. = County Surveyor W. E.
Stoopes has been notified, from all parts
of the county, of the destruction of
cnlvcrts and the consequent washouts
of roads. j. He estimates that fully for
ty culverts are gone and the. roads
made impossible in consequence. This
will prove serious Inconvenience to
the farmers thruout the county and will
demand prompt action by the county
commissioners.
About seven years ago the county be-
gan to replace the old wooden culverts
with steel pipe and has already laid
several miles. The work has not been
completed, and it is believed that all
the old wooden culverts have sue.
cumbed to the ravages of the storm. It
Will take a large sum of money to re-
pair the damage and substitute steel
pipe.
Considerable damage is reported
from Wayzata. Several places are re-
ported to be inaccessible on account of
floods. For a time the tracks of the
Greet Northern railway were threat
ened, but the company rushed a crew
Of men to the scene and a waterway
to the lake was hurriedly constructed. :,
Record In Danger. /
With one week to go. the present
month stands second in amount of IRE
cipitation in the May rainfall records
OF the weather bureau, which reach
back to 1887. Up to today the total
precipitation for the month was 7.34
inches. which just beats out the 1888
inches recorded for 1879: but makes a
poor second to May, 1877, when l44S
inches of rain fell.
There is chance that the present
month may overtake May. 1877, in the
next week, tho the lead is long one.
IT things 60 on as they have in the
past three days, the record established.
tWenty.nine years ago. may be broken.
According to the official gage, 1.4s
| inches of rain fell in the twenty four
hours preceding am. today. The
greater part of this fell during the
downrour between 8 and 10 O'Clock
last night.
Led the Northwest.
Minneapolis led the northwest in
rainfall last night. St. Paul comes the
only .o4 inches and Moorhead none at
all. Only two places in the Unite
States beat the Minneapolis record
they were Jacksonville, Fla, with 2Ot
inches, and Lander, Wyo., with 2OZ
| inches.
The effect of the rains is slowly max
ing itself felt in the river. The gage
reading at St: Paul is now 9.8 feet, g
The danger. point is IA feet. The loca
weather bulletin announces that the
Mississippi river at st. Paul will rise.'
Bassett's Greek.
The government weather bureau is
publishing no record of Bassett's creek
and no prediction. But the creek was
being hardly perceptible, and no fur
Their damage is expected. Western ave
nue. and Sixth avenue N are still pass
able, indicating that the food does no
approach IN magnitude those of formc
years when both these thorofares were
Hooded and made impossible.
The alleged discovery of the cause O.
the flood is ridiculed by the city en-
gineer's force. 1t is charged that tn,
false work in the culvert along Dupon
avenue N, which was left in after tn
work was completed, has blocked tn
passage of the water and caused it t.
back up over the low lands south O
Western avenue. City Engineer An
drew Rinker said today that at no tim
! from the top of the culvert, whic
proves that the false work has been n
obstacle to the flow of the water, a
the overfowed lands are lower than tn
eulvert.
Had the banks of the creek for tina
portion in the marsh been raised hig
enough to contain the water ther
| would have been no flood, as the Gu
:; verts would have been, large enough t
carry it away.
The solution of the problem of pre-
venting overfows will be to . bull
t dikes along the banks, or to extend til
| Dupont avenue culvert so far up tn
j.. creek that the water can be retaine
before they can reach the swamp.