Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1912-05-08


The condition of this stricken city APP
peals strongly to ones sympathies and I'M
selfish impulses 1t is in distress through
no fault of its own; and the state can af-
ford to be generous. But you should not
forget that the money you are asked to
donate is not yours but that of the people
you represent: and that its proper ex-
penditure is one of the most sacred trusts
committed to your care.
PORTAGE LEvEE.
What I have just said about the power
of the state to build a retaining wall at
Black River Falls applies also to the CON
Struct1on and repair of levees at PortagS
In each case the authority is the same
In the latter instance indeed two Ippro-
pratlons have already been made; one in
the year 1908 for SAB 900 and the other
in the year 1905 for $4,000.
1t is now asserted that the levees built
or improved by means of these appropria-
lions as well as the one constructed at an
earlier time by the federal government need
TO be strengthened and repaired
A special committee of the Senate and
the Assembly appointed by the legislature
OF 1907, inspected these levees and made
written report that contains much val
liable information. 1t summarized the
facts as follows:
'"Fhe Wisconsin river flowing southwark
and the Fox river flowing nOrthward, are
but one and one half miles apart at Port
age, the intervening ground being low and
marshy At an average stage of water in
both rivers, the Fox is about nine feet
lower than the Wisconsin, and in time of
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,
and has receded to a low water stage be-
fore 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 trife
over four inches per mile in that locality.
The territory protected by these levees
three miles wide and fifteen miles long,
with perhaps an extension up the valley of
the Baraboo river.
This is mostly in farms with the usual
farm houses, except part (perhaps one
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
or the people that are dependent upon
these leVeeS for protection from damage,
to more or less extent, is 1000; and the
amount of property at over $5,000,000
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 its many villages
several cities, and vast manufacturing and
agricultural interests.
'"The absolute necessity of maintaining
these leyeeS 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
OF last fall. Because the water of the
Wisconsin river is now confined to the
comparatively narrow channel between
these levees it then rose to the highest
level yet known and actually overtopped
the improved entertainments built in 1904
and 1905. Only prompt action and unre-
hitting vigilance prevented-and appar-
entity very narrowly prevented catas-
trophe in comparison with which the dam
age done at Black River Falls would be
very trifing indeed. When the water
reached the top Of the levees the people
of Portage and the surrounding country
prevented 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
ers that should there be. recurrence of
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
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.
It 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
ri n times nOipt1V
flowed it's 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 a ditch a mile
and a 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 a 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 its
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 a velocity such as would natur-
ally be 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 a 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
ocean through the Great Lakes instead of
into the Gulf of Mexico as at present T?
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
o1ar