The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1912-12-05

and maintain such channel. improve.
.ments OF tho Red river by dredging. Il
q makeshift that will, .necessitatt
greater ultimate expenditure, with less
assured benefits. than the improve.
ment. OF the river by the other method
namely. by s%lackening
namelSss by slackwatering by a system,
of locks and dams: this latter method
would be" an incomparably greater
Improvement In respect to the certain.
ty OF resulting benefits.
The Red River Of the North offers
opportunity for improvement by locks
and dams that is in several ways re.
! markably favorable.
FIRST of those Is the very small fall
Of the river. Along the lower portion
81. theSriver. from the Canadian bOun.
Diary up past Drayton, Oslo and Grand
Forks to Belmont. a distance Of about
100 miles in Il direct line. or 10 miles
along the channel Of. the river. the to-
than four inches to the mile OF chan
mel. II by dams Of such height as to
! a deep channel at all seasons the
river were so completely slackwatered
that during seasons of small flow the
w~ater-surface would have no percept-
ible slope but. would be merely a suc>
ccssion Of level pools. and If. for en-
ample. the lift through the lock at
each dam (when the river came to the
lowest stage) We're. twelve feet. only
four dams would be needed in this
whole length OF 10 miles. Or II it
We're desired to maintain a navigable
depth of only four or five feet, in
which case the water-surface would
still have a measurable slope at all
stages. probably only three such dams
would be needed to secure the desired
result.
Fargo-Bclmont Fall Greatest.
Between Fargo and Belmont the
rate of fall of the river Is greater. av-
eraging nearly a foot to the mile; but
above Fargo toward Breckenridge
more gentle slopes are found again.
"A second advantage is this. The
Red river flows in a narrow valley or
ravine through the prairies. and along
most of it's length the banks slope up
rapidly from the water edge at low
water mark to the ordinary high wa
ter mark. and Immediately up to the
prairie level at a height Of from thirty
to thirty-fve feet above. low water.
Hence. If dams that raise the river on
ly ten. twelve. pr fifteen feet above low
water are suitably located. the flow
g damages will be. very small: the
additional strip Hooded by reason of
the dam a, ordinary stage will be mar
row. and along much Of the river the
benefit to adjoining land by reason of
being able to use boat-landings at an
elevation nearly constant through
most of the year will more than coun.
terhalance the loss of this narrow
strip.
Little Danger Possible.
"Furthermore. because Of the depth
of the ordinary water surface below
the prairie level. the river must rise
IN the spring floods twenty. thirty. or
forty feet before 1t goes ''out Of its
banks" or causes any considerable
damage from overflow during floods.
A dam which raises the river fifteen
feet at low stage will raise the river
an additional five feet. more or less.
during a food that would naturally
raise the river to the fifteen foot
point. but will only raise it two or
three fee, during a twenty-foot flood.
less than a foot during a twenty-five
foot flood. only,a efw inches during a
flood rising to the thirty-foot height,
ana not 'pereeptihly during the high
hoods n a overtop the river banks. A
ten-foot dam would offer still less OBJ.
struction to flood flows.
"Accordingly 1t may safely be con-
sidered that a series Of dams such as
here advocated. rising from the bot
tom of the channel only a minor frac-
ton Of the height to the top Of the
banks. will not augment spring flood
overflow injuries: therefore that there
are no important objections to fixed
dams and that there is no need for de.
signing movable dams to obviate ex.
cessive flood heights.
The characteristic troubles attach
ing to such work as this in the Red
river valley will be found to be foun-
dalton difficulties. because there is no
solid rock that can he reached at any
practicable depth. and the clay banks
and sub-soil, especially on the steep
slopes. are liable to slide and slip or
more gradually toward the middle Of
river. At some points along the
banks of the Red this gradual move.
ment is almost continuous. and aver.
ages nearly or quite a foot per year.
But your petitioners argue that there
will be little trouble arising thus II in
each case a location is found for the
dam at a sharp bend. where the river
returns below the dam close to its own
channel above. so thai the lock can
be built entirely separate from the
dam in a cutoff canal across the neck
OF land. An example of such a loca-
ton is shown by the attached blue
print sketched from a rough survey
made last week by the committee at
n such point. Along the whole
length OF the Red river other such To-
cations. equally good Or better tina
this typical example are frequent.
Would Not suffer.
by such an arrangement the dam
Will be in a solid mass without break
or opening and will not suffer even If
the banks move slowly onto it from
S.1nr IN S,oo~ T1,@ i~~l, ,ftf r. 49,.