The Brownsville daily herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1897-1910, 1909-09-10
BRIEF SURVEY OF
CANAL SITUATION
SCARCELY ANY OF LARGER
CANALS SERIOUSLY HURT.
Those in Immediate Brownsville
Section Not Hurt at AII-San
BenitO Canals Damage TrifIing-
Serving Planters as Usual.

obtain exact details oil the situation
in the valley above Harlingen, as
telephone and rail communication
are not yet restored, yet it is already
apparent that the damage in that
part of the valley from the high
water of the past week has not been
nearly so great as was feared at
first
The big gravity canal of the San
Benito Land and Water Company,
some sixteen miles above Browns
Vile, has suffered very trifling dam
age. This canal took care of fully
ten per cent of the flood water from
the river The magnificent head
gates at the river we're thrown open
and the flood allowed full sweep
filling the immense main canal
throughout the entire 81 miles of its
length, besides its many ramifica-
tons, and when these were filled
to their capacity, the surplus was al
lowed to pass off through the spill
ways. 1t was due to one of the
locks opening into the spillways not
working as it should that the canal
suffered any damage at all. The
lock refused to work at the proper
time, and in order to prevent the
,rata,- from, ovor6ou-ipo cou,o Of Tho
adjacent land, Chief Engineer Sam
Robertson had the dam cut in order
to relieve the pressure, letting the
water into the resaca, its old natural
drainage way The damage to the
lock and dam will be easily repaired
and the cost will not be over 81, O0O,
according to the estimate reported
by Col. Alba Haywood, president of
the company
The ease with which the tremen-
dous volume of water was handled
showed that Sam Robertson, the
Dlanner and builder of this immense
irrigation enterprise knew what he
was about when he planned it.
Someone said, in fact, that it was
a monument to Engineer Sam, but
he replied that he was not ready for
4 monument as yet, being very much
alive, in fact
Other canals this side of San Be
Rito have not suffered Neither the
Brownsville canal, five miles above
town, nor the indiana canal, a few
miles below town, was injured in
the least. These canals are already
serving planters with water, and
things are moving along as if the
big river had not gone on another
jamboree.
At San BenitO, there are 5000
acres in cultivation, chiefly in su-
gar-cane, truck and forage crops,
and not an acre of this is reported
to have been overf1ffowed The
planters all along the canal are in
high glee at the successful manner in
which the flood has been handled,
and are very optimistic over the out
look there.
The Brownsville canal has sew
eral thousand acres in cane also and
considerable truck. The company
manager reports that none of this
has been damaged in the least This
canal is also operating its pumps
as usual and serving water to plant
ers.
On the Indiana canal there are
about 1000 acres in cultivation,
comprising chiefly sugar-cane. sor-
ghum, corn and truck The COM
pany employees report that none of
this has been touched by the over
flow In fact, the water is SAID not
70 have reached the top of the bank
at the pumping plant of this canal.
Theditehes are all filled with water
and all corners are getting what
water they want Everything IS re-
ported as looking fine ON the canal,
the planters being busily engaged
in planting fall truck, including cab
bage, egg plants. peppers, tomatoes,
okra, etc, cabbage predOm1nating,
however There is also about fifty
acres of corn growing on the canal,
for fall roastingears. which is now
knee high.
No Canals Seriously Hurt.
]. ]. Cooke, the well-known sur
veyor, who returned home yesterday,
having made the entire trip from
Fordyce at the head of the lower
valley. to Brownsville partly by wa
gon and partly on foot, passing thus
through the entire irrigation district
of the Lower Rio Grande Valley, re-
ported that so far as he could learn
scarcely any of the larger canals
have suffered very serious damage
| from the flood Some temporary
| fumes were washed out, and canal
| banks injured more or less. but
probably none have suffered damage
| that cannot be easily repaired. Sc
far as Mr. Cooke could ascertain
the pumping plants of the La Lo-
mita, San Juan, McAllen, Donna
Mercedes and Harlingen canals were
not damaged. About mile OF the
Mercedes canal was washed oui
| three miles north of town. The
washing away of the big fiume O
the Harlingen canal, over the Ar
4 ~