Warren sheaf. [volume] (Warren, Marshall County, Minn.) 1880-current, 1910-03-31

ditch No. IL, which contains 300 square
miles, yet within this area there are
less than ten miles Of continuous open
river channel, and this single stretch
Of river is where the storm water from
about 200 square miles has been com
PEELED by reason of some small cross
rssuG s s0E H rv snd cba mnRd Of
a size increasing from twenty feet wide
and four feet deep, at the upper end,
to forty feet wide and eight feet deep
at the lower end.
Here, however, it meets a broad
marsh about three miles across with
practically no fall. Coming to this
ley'l area the waters part and spread
out over whole townships, but are col
Mud lake. The general IL route ute Between %tSs I'm
these points is scattered over with
pieces OF rivers, sometimes connected,
although crooked and poorly put to-
gether, while at other places they are
wholly disconnected.
Ample Outlet.
''To remove the excess storm water
from this area in time to insure the
ordinary, planting season and properly
bordering lands at harvest time, this
outlet should be about sixty feet wide
ing 1000 cubic feet of water Sec
ond. But nature has here provided
only crooked stream about thirty
feet wide and five feet deep, and given
such a small slope that it can deliver
only about four hundred cubic feet a
second. Thus. the usual time for the
placed at from two to three weeks, is
here: heightened into two to three
months, while at the same time the
ordinary season furnishes enough dur
ing even the drier summer months to
keep fully replenished this small
amount of run-off.
Z" A large part of the Thief river
watershed IS thus kept, wet by reason
of it's peculiar topography, that is, hav-
dering impossible the usual and natural
processes of river making. Consider
able relief from too much surface wa
ter is frequently furnished by a per-
vious 'sub-soil, consisting of sand or
gravel, which permits much of the
ground water to get away to remote To-
calities, later appearing as springs and
Usual Relief Denied.
"But all such relief is denied this
area, as the whole tract is underlaid
with a stratum of impervious clay, ex-
tending from two to four feet below
the surface to an unknown depth. Test
pits made during the last season to the
depth of and along the line of all the
bitches show this clay sub-soil to be
always present.
$50 in order to correct this two-fold
unfavorable condition imposed by nat
ure, the drainage engineer is called in
counsel. He must provide complete
system for the whole area, since the
Thief river, which is to receive the
water from the several main bitches, is
as inadequate in its present size and
capacity as are any of the present
small streams, to provide adequate
drainage to the bordering lands.
I Up to State.
"No way has yet been pointed out
by which either state or federal aid
can be secured for the proper improve
however, that the state, which has
spent about $25O,O0O in the Red River
valley alone, for drainage, and is con-
tinuing to assist other localities in
be moved, should northern Minnesota
at least lend a helping hand in this
Thief river Improvement. The federal
government mas opened CneSe lands to
the settler and has accepted his money
in payment for them, thereby declaring
that they are suited for agricultural
purposes. But these lands in their
present conditions, except in a success
sion of dry seasons, are not suitable
to agricultural use and so federal aid
would be logical if on no other theory,
than to smooth the edge a little of a
sharp bargain.
Representative Halvor Stevenson,
of Crookston. whose district includes
this watershed, has worked on this line,
but thus far without success. He re-
ports that he was told such aid is un-
constitutional. 1t appears to be con-
stitutional to take the money obtained
from the settler on these lands ($1 20
an acre even though he lives on it four
vears) and take it off to Idaho or Ore.
| gon to finance irrigation schemes, but
| It is unconstitutional to allow it to. re-
main here in Minnesota, even as loan
to the settler. with which to construct
bitches to drain the land he bought
from the government.
Counties Do Share.
! Meanwhile, this tract is to be
! drained through the efforts of Marshall
and Beltrami counties, and Mr.. Steen-