Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1915-09-30
A NEW DRAINAGE PROPOSITION

"a NEW DkAlNAUE PkUPUSlIlUN
North YAKIMA, WASH, Sept 3, 1915.
MR. L. G. VINCENT.
Missouri Valley, Iowa.
DEAR SIR:
In accordance with your recent request ! have made
an examination of Royer River and the Willow Greek
and the Allen Creek bitches Harrison County The regu
laon of these bitches presents some Interesting problems
but which cannot be worked out quite ceaply On
the Allen Willow Greek bitches there has been
siderable deterioration of the channels and these bitches
they are Supposed benefit The fall these bitches
light and not sufficient to remove the silt brought wn
to be maintained in efficient condition Trey
cleaned at frequent intervals or some means must be
ing the deterioration these bitches has been quite
rapid it is apparent that it would be very expensive to
The silt which settles in the ditch must be taken of
and prevented from reaching the lower part OF the bitches
object but believe that the most feasible way OF contro
ing hese streams is to construct settling basin at the
the bottoms These settling basins should Re arranged
that the flood from the creek will spread out
tie velocity of flow. The transporting power Of the
streams is greatly reduced by small reduction in the
the creek brings down wod be deposited while the water
is che settling basin. Settling basins have been in
number of years drainage districts similar
to yours in Illinois along the Illinois and Mississippi
Rivers Very satisfactory results have been secured
from these basins and the bitches which formerly
filled bs the deposition OF the silt within year alter they
had been constructed have been maintained Tor numter
of years without trouble. The plan followed in Illinois
has been to lease the land occupied by the SILT basin on
basis of six per cent return to the land owner Usually
the lowest wettest land in the district is selected for the
silt basin and the cost of these basins has not been very
large In uctng the silt basin levee is thrown up
around which it desired to for this pur
pose that the which comes from the creek will be
held on the land for short time often
and carries it to the main ditch While the amount OF
material carried by the streams in which you are inter
difficult problem to contend with as theo have solved in
Illinois and think that you will ind the use OF these set
f1inuh and cnO m
the two bitches in question These bitches should be re
and ven o5 to n
damaging the adjacent land 1t will probably add TO the
efficiency Of these bitches and decrease the tendency to
tured and the kept short SO that the Silt would not
water This land which yields return to the dis
rict shonld afford quite income if used for pasture
1 have watched the Boyer River Improvement with
much interest this first constructed I'm
til this year have always thought that the ditch was
perfectly M o and
Efficient Tie only questionable place on the river
the mouth The stage Of the water in Missouri was
such that when examined this stream could not tell
section Before any plans improving this part the
decided upon the condition OF this section of the
river should be ascertained efficiency when
pared with the upper of the determined
Judging from the condition of the bottoms along the Boyer
told in regard duration Of the gh water the pres
channel of the Boyer nearly large enough to
carry the water during high water. The grad
ual enlargement the so WY destroying the
waste banks which evee both sides of the chan
mel Ii high water similar Of The present year
again. and it very prob lble that will prec
taons such occurred during the present year are fire.
quent western Iowa tie evee is apt to break in the
same manner believe that it would be well to construct
new levee along the Boyer back OF the Old levee
The for constructing tins levee could be taken
from bank of the BERN of not less than 20 it.
should left between the edge of the bank and the toe of
the levee if did The too much it
would we'll TO have the BERN wider With this enlarge
the channel of the Boyer River should be sufficiently
large handle any food excepting during of extra
ordinary precipitation, such as 1881 One further sag
geson TO result OF inspection OF your
drainage and that is in regard to the desiraby of
providing wider bcrms your drainage bitches. 1t has
been observation that wide BERN increased the life Of
the ditch materially The cost of widening the berms
is small the increased life of the Improvement more
than warrants the expenditures, would suggest that a
of 10 it. be left all the small bitches constructed
by drag line machines dppe dredges and BERN of II
or Is fl be left the larger bitches If is decided
slit basins Of these streams sha be
glad assist your engineers in possible in plan
ming these improvements.
Very truly yours
S. H. McCRoRY,
Chief Of Drainage Investigation,
U. S. Dept of Agriculture.