Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1911-11-07
oI0 plrchEs WILL HAVE 70 eE
CLEANED At LEAsr ONCE
IN TEN YEARS.
EXPENSE Will AMOUNT TO
oNE-rENTH or COST
Cattle and Trees Contribute to Gradual
Filling and stoppass Of Flew-A Pie-
nssr Auto Driver in Iowa and His
Enviabls No-Aoeidsnt Rsesrd-WiI.
sons Rural Observations.
Special to Times Republican.

Alden, Nov. THAT the big open
bitches that have been run thru the
flat counties of this state for an out
lei for tile drains will fill up so that
they will have to be cleaned out about
once In ten years and that the cost of
the cleaning will be about one tenth
the original cost of the ditch, is the
opinion of one Of the best authorities
on such matters in this part of Iowa.
1t is said that the quickest way to
put one of these very necessary but ex-
pensive improvements out OF commits
sion is to allow herd of cattle to
Craze along it's banks or drink of the
water that 1t carries away In climb
ing up the banks the animals loosen
great deal of earth that would other
wise remain in place for years and OBJ
structions below make trouble for long
distances toward the source, especially
where the fall is slight. Another dan
ger that threatens the dredge ditch is
the little cottonwood seed that finds
congenial lodging place along the sides
in the dirt thrown out by excavation
and on the borders of the bed. Near
the town of Eagle Grove particularly
there Is ditch dredged only about
three years ago along whose sides a
line of cottOnwoods, some of them as
much as twelve or fifteen feet high
has already sprung up. The occasional
breaking off of a limb and the annual
deposit of leaves from these are GER
tain to make trouble very soon and
soon the ditch will have to be cleaned
out to prevent the obstruction of the
many lines of tile that lead into 1t.
Asked II the four foot tile wouldn't be
better than the open ditch the author
ity above quoted declares that no COW
cred drain will ever be found adequate
to carry off the water that falls during
heavy and continued rains in time to
prevent great damage to crops, that
the plan has been tried in older parts
of the country and has always proved
failure.
To be the owner of one Of the more
than 10000 automobiles in this state is
not accounted at all remarkable in
these days. To have owned and run
a machine ten years ago is at least a
beginning toward the unusual. To
nave attained the age of 65 years a de-
cade ago and then to undertake the
.ob of handling an auto, to have kept
1t tito the present time travelling many
thousand miles in the meantime and all
his without an accident of any kind
,ither ofthe driver of the two autos
lie has owned in that time. his ma
hines or any OF the innumerable horse
nd buggy outfits which he has met or
,assed while travelling over the coun-
Try is remarkable and without many
parallels in Iowa or anywhere else.
This however is the record of Mr..
:. II. McMillen who lives with a son
III a farm near this town. More than
half century ago this old man was
assisting in the appraisement of school
lands in Hardin county. They were
valued then at 81 an acre but have in
creased to seventy-five times that
amount since. Today he is guiding his
car thru the same regions on trips to
Des Moines on the south and to Albert
Lea on the north. Last summer the
auto was brought into use in the haul
ing to local markets of some 5000 worth
Of melons grown on the farm and at the
present time it is being utilized in the
TRANSPORTATION Of turtles from wher-
ever they happen to fall into the hands
of their expert captors to the railway
station from which they are consigned
to the eastern market McMillen and
his auto are inseparable companions
Is it possible for man to keep up with
the march Of progress until he is five
years beyond three score and ten? In
this case it certainly appears to be so.
The complete reversal of time-ho
ored custom was the feature Of the
arrival of a Rock Island passenger
train at the station of Abbott Crossing
the other day. Every traveller chang
ing cars there for the first tinRe learns
to his or her sorrow that modern rail
reading methods are not practiced
there to the fullest extent because the
agent is not provided with wire
not even phone. Nobody knows
when train is to ro'; in Unit. It rolls
Babies have been known to cry for
something to eat while waiting there
for belated trains which might come
and go while father or mother was
making the mile trip to the nearest
available food supply. Il the roads
that maintain the station had q dollar
for every uncomplimentary reference
to the subject made by waiting travel