Pueblo chieftain., 1921-10-29
ENGINEER MORGAN
ADDRESSES PUEBLO
ENGINEERS ASS n
Discuss Flood Prevention And
Legal Machinery Neces-
sary For Work

| Fifty or more men assembled in the
rotunda of Central block last night to
listen to A. v. Morgan of the Morgan
Engineering company engaged to pro-,
| pose plans for flood prevention for
! Pueblo.
| w. NJ. Heaton, president of the
| Engineering Association of Pueblo
| presented the speaker. He said sew
eral kinds of work must be carried
| on at once If flood protection is 10 be
done at an early date. AT the outset
we must decide on how big a flood
we shall be prepared to protect from.
! 1t is safe to plan to be protected from
| the one here in June, and better is 1t
to make plans for one as large again.
To so prepare ultimately adds to
| property values OF all land defended.
The type. of protection must be
| finally determined by process OF
elimination. To protect ono part
might leave another part unprotected.
And we must depend upon other in
terests than those of the city only TO
aid. But most important of all at
the very beginning. is to be provided
and protected ourselves by proper
legal machinery. There must be
proper laws to work under. The best
plan may be blocked by poor legal
provisions. laws built to meet only
one situation. The two main objects
to meet are the rights of the public,
and protection from being held up
after work begins. by appeals to
court procedure. The path to
superior court may be worn deep by
fights made on flood protection
law, IL that law be not safeSuarded
at the very beginning.
Galveston had poor law because 1t
was more drastic than needful. The
flood control cost must be spread
over the property protected, and
Flood Reclamation or Protection Dis
trict must boz organized. In Ohio we
have board of three members IN
charge of the plans. When the plans
are accepted the property in the dis
trict is appraised as to the value to
IL OF protection, or for compensation
IL 1t is taken. Appeal can be made 10
court. and tho actual construction be
held UP six months. it is n protection
against misuse of legal machinery. In
the long run a feeling of assurance in
getting legal protection in the prose-
cution OF the enterprise. is worth
something with us in Ohio the cost IL
met by bonds for a term OF not over
thirty years.
How long will 1t take to build ade. I
auate protection, is query heard
from beginning to end. In 1903 East
st. Louis had a flood. Its protection 3
has just recently been completed.
After nine years the plans for protec-
may take five years to get ready for
construction. But dirt flies most
economically when it can fly con-
tjnuousIy. And our law in Ohio has
not had to be amended.
las to the means of protection.
There are three. Tho simplest here
in Pueblo. is to hold back the water.
and it could be completed in half the
time of other plans A dam could be
built at Rock Canon. or two miles this
side of Il. or near the Goodnight
ranch. It is not feasible to combine
flood protection and plan for storage
for irrigation. Such dam as will
hold back flood water. must at the
same time permit thru conduits. the
passage of all water that the capacity
OF the channel below the dam can f,
carry"
Another way. and what the speaker
counts number one In value of plan.
while the dam plan is number two. is