Bonners Ferry herald. [volume] (Bonners Ferry, Idaho) 1904-current, 1922-07-27

When Drainage District No. l was
formed two years ago, reclaiming of
Kootenai Valley land by dyking had
been considered for many years. 9th
er districts had been organized and
much money spent in preliminary
work, but no dykes had been built
The lands are among the richest in
the west, but for two months each
spring are overflowed, so that dyking
is the only means of bringing them
under cultivation.
Prior to organization the sponsors
of District No. l bought up all land
owned by men opposing drainage and
started preliminary work with a dis
trict solidly in favor of the project
In this manner iniunctions and liti-
cation from within were eliminated
On September 16. 1920, petition
to the district court of Boundary
county asking for the appointment of
commissioners was granted. A. j.
Kent, Frank Clapp and Wyman r.
Hoagland were named as commission
ers by Judge Flynn. After serving
one year, Mr.. Kent resigned and
Henry Mcdonald was appointed All
onh 4oh0 III NlC dioli lIl anu are ItSl-
dents of the county.
Others prominent in the development
Of this project were the four McDon-
aid brothers, Simon, Henry, John and
Hugh. The former is the largest land
holder in the district, owning more
than 500 acres. Henry owns close to
$50 acres, and Hugh and John have
smaller tracts. However, their hold
ings were much larger a few years
ago. They are a family of practical
farmers who saw the feasibility Of
drainage when they located here The
success of the work in District No. is
due largely to their efforts.
Another large tract in the district
belongs to DR.. Oscar Stenberg of
Spokane. This farm, consisting of
$50 acres, is perhaps the finest piece
OF land in the district, as we'll as the
most picturesque location for ranch
home. Wheat was seeded on the Stem
berg place this spring. The grain is
now in the milk and will easily yield
80 bushels to the acre. Oats ON the
Hoagland tract will yield between so
and 60 bushels to the acre.
Other ranchers of the district in
clude John Davidson, 20 acres: Dan
Landon, 160 acres; Edward Erickson,
40 acres; w. r. Hoagland, 100 acres;
Frank Clapp, so acres; s. M. Bauman,
$50 acres, and Henry A. Moore, 35
acres. There are many other tracts
of 20 to 40 acres already under culti-
walton, and the showing for new
ground is remarkable on each one.
j. Harley Cave was the engineer in
charge.
The dyke begins at point one mile
down the river from Bonners Ferry
and is four and one-half miles long.
IL is 1S feet wide across the top and
in height varies from five to IA feet
Construction work began last Sep
tember by the contracting firm of
Woldson e. Degerstrom, of Spokane
Sixty men were employed in the work
and were divided into three shifts.
From high hill at the west end of
] the project earth was loaded into
dump cars at the rate of 1000 cubic
yards a day. until 100000 yards were
used in the embankment which now
holds the Kootenai from overflow
ing the district. The high water of
last month was seven feet below the
top of the dyke. and this years freshet
was considered as high as the
average.
Following the completion of the
dyke came the dredging of Mirror
Lake and Fry Lake. Two Monaghan
drag line dredges were placed in OPP
Grafton. one at each lake, and the
work is now in it's final stages The
contractors report that Fry Lake,
comprising an area of 43067 acres.
will be completely drained in 80 days.
and Mirror Lake, covering 10155
acres. will be dry the first part of
September. Each dredge is excavat-
ing 1000 cubic yards day The
bitches are six feet wide at the bot
tom and "a feet wide at the top Once
the water is drained off it is doubt
full if these bitches will have be to
maintained The soil in the lake bot
toms is a soft, peat-like substance
which should prove highly fertile as
farm land but makes dredging opera
tions difficult Good progress is being
made in spite of the difficulties by
laying ponchons ahead for the
dredges to travel over
The two bitches join just before
their outlet into Deep Creek A flood
gate has been placed at the outlet
This gate was closed on May Is. at
the beginning of the high water in the
river, and was opened July Is, since