Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1912-05-03


to make definite recommendations to you
The whole subject is one that calls for
the exercise of wise legislative discretion
The condition of this stricken city an
peals strongly to ones sympathies and I'M
selfish impulses. 1t is in distress through
nc FAULT OF its own; and the state can af-
ford to be generous. But You should moi
forget that the money you are asked to
donate is not yours but that of the people
you represent; and that its prcner ex-
pend1ture is one of the most sacred trusts
committed to your care.
PORTAGE LEyEE.
What have just said about the power
OF the state to build a retaining wall at
black River Falls applies also to the con-
In each c anu repair rep OF ieyees at Portage
IN the latter instance indeed two appro-
pflatlons have already been made: one in
the year 1903 for $4,000 and the other
IN the year 1905 for $4,000
III Is now asserted that the levees built
or improved by means of these appropria-
tlons as well as the one constructed at an
carrier "a ne time by the federal government need
10 De strengthened and repaired.
A special committee of the Senate and
tne Assembly appointed by the legislature
OF ISQI, inspected these levees and made
written report that contains much val
9able information. 1t summarized the
facts as follows:
The Wisconsin river flowing southwark,
anu the FOX river flowing northward, are
age, the intervening ground being low and
marshy. At an average stage of water in
noIn rivers, the Fox is about nine feet
high, water in the Wisconsin and low wa
Ter In the Fox, the difference is nearly
twenty feet. This condition often exists
from the fact that the Fox, heading off to
the south and without forest cover, is
swollen by the early melting of the snow,
ana mas receded to a low water stage be-
lore the effect of the melting snow in the
north and on higher land caused the rise
of water in the Wisconsin Later, how
ever, the Wisconsin rises while the Fox
is still low.
''The fall in the Wisconsin is one and
one half feet per mile in the vicinity of
Portage; the. fall in the Fox is a trile
over four inches per mile in that locality.
The territory protected by these levees
is, on the south side of the river, about
tnree miles wide and fifteen miles long,
Win perhaps an extension up the valley of
the BarabOO river
This is mostly In farms with the usual
fourth) which is too wet for cultivation.
ION the north side, the extent of pro-
tected country is about the same, in the
vicinity OF Portage. and is also under SINH
lar cultivation. Besides this the lower part
of Portage city is exposed. An estimate
of the people that are dependent upon
these levees for protection from damage,
amount of. property at over $4,000, 900.
Besides this the entire Fox river valley,
at least as far as Lake Winnebago, must
be considered, a distance by river of about
one hundred miles, with It's many villages,
several cities, and vast manufacturing and
agricultural interests.
The absolute necessity of maintaining
these levees for all time, and the import
ance of controlling the water flow in the
wisconsin river are two facts that cannot
be too strongly emphasized"
Since this report was written the only
important flood that has occurred was that
RppanSn
Wisconsin river is now confined to the
comparatively narrow channel between
these leyees it then, rose to the highest
level. yet known and actually overtopped
the improved embankments built in 1904
and 1906. Only prompt action and unre-
hitting vigilance prevented-and appar-
trophe in comparison with which the dam
age done at Black River Falls would be
very, trifiihg. indeed, When the water
reached the top of the levees the people
prevented a general overflow by laying
bags of sand so as temporarily to increase
the height of the embankment and with an
armed patrol on duty night and day pre-
vented it from being cut through by those
who feared damage to their own property.
The strain then imposed upon these en-
bankments, composed as they are merely
of sand, much of it fine and insubstantial,
has weakened the levees and caused them
appreciably to settle. 1t appears to be the
unanimous, opinion of competent observ.
the high water OF 1911 in the Wisconsin
river the Portage levees thus weakened
and reduced in height; will prove INSULT
cient to confine the Wisconsin river with
in its banks and that there is a very great
danger that the accumulated water gath
cred from the 10000 square miles en-
braced in the Wisconsin basin will then
pour into the narrow valley of the Fox,
bringing destruction to dams, bridges,
farm houses, villages and cities and in
evitable injury to other property situated
all the way from Portage to Green Bay.
1t is manifest that the danger here
spoken of is due in a measure to the very
existence of these levees themselves Be-
fore they were constructed the Wisconsin
river in times of high water quietly over
flowed its banks and flooded the entire
marshy area between it and the Fox river.
No harm was done then because the wa
ter spread evenly over a large section of
country and the current was nowhere suffi-
GENTLY strong to cut a chennel between
the two rivers. Upon the completion of
the Portage canal however by the United
States government this condition of equi-
librium was fundamentally disturbed and
new and highly dangerous factor was
introduced. This canal is ditch a mile
and half long, fifty feet wide and deep
enough to accommodate volume of water
which pouring down an incline of twelve
feet to the mile would soon dig channel
large enough to divert the entire current
of the Wisconsin river into the Fox. Why
should it not do so? Here is a vast tor
rent of water suspended as the chairman
of the legislative committee has said from
nine to eighteen feet over the valley OF
the Fox river waiting only to find it's
way down an inclined plane of soft, allu-
vial soil. The government canal now fur
nishes the channel. Who can say how
soon it will be utilized in way not orig
inally intended or even dreamed of? This
danger is enhanced by the fact that solid
rock is nowhere found the soil instead is
fine sand, easily swept away by water
moving at velocity such as would natur-
allyNbe attained here. To protect against
this danger the government levee was built.
But it affords only partial protection. 1t
has been found inadequate more than once
and when overlooked the last time the
lower lock in the government canal washed
out also. All that remained then as a
barrier was the upper lock, The federal
authorities thereupon built new lower
lock and raised the height of the upper
lock three or four feet. Now however they
absolutely refuse longer to improve or keep
in repair these government works although
in food time their canal is the principal
source of danger.
What will it mean to have the Wisconsin
river diverted at Portage into the Fox
to find its way ultimately into the Atlantic
into the Gulf of Mexico as at present !?
What of the probable loss of life? What
of the property destroyed? What of the
industrial disorganization both on the low.
er wisconsin thus left with only a dry
river channel and in the valley of the Fox
flooded with this new supply of water?
The possible consequences are indeed
alarming.
Tho present levees Though temnorarv in