Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1929-05-09

QUIET only in midsummer and when
locked in the embrace of winters
" icy grip, the famous Powder river,
often described as a stream that is 100
miles long, q mile wide and an inch
deep, is again offering a problem to
the people OF Broadus, the county seat
OF Powder River county in southeast
ern Montana.
The river objects to a bridge that
forms the connecting link between the
people living in the east side of the
county and the western portion III
which the county seat is located. The
problem is not n SO much of keeping
the bridge from going out, but rather
one Of keeping the river under the
bridge. With the breaking up of the
ice in the stream during the present
season, the county authorities at
Broadus are again confronted with the
question Of maintaining the bridge and
preventing the water from finding a
new channel and leaving the structure
standing over dry ground.
Considerable traffic also is served by
the Powder river bridge near Broadus
between Miles City and the Black hills
vagrant current in the stream. in the
past. has made it difficult to keep the
water running properly under the
bridge. This fact, it is pointed out,
has been the source OF much incon-
yenience and neceSSitating fording
when the water is at low stage.
Asked by the board of county COM
m~issioners of Powder River county to
make some recommendation with ref
erence to the bridge and high water
effects upon it, c.. E. Shipman, district
engineer of the state highway depart
ment, has filed his report with Chair
man Harry Ittig Of Broadus. Follow
ing an examination Of the conditions,
Mr.. Shipman stated that Powder river
is sweeping around to the east and has
taken out a part of the highway lead
ing to Alzada. 1t threatens to cut
through a grove of trees and pass en-
tirely east Of the bridge near Broadus
as the trees do not offer any hindrance
whatever to the cutting processes OF
the flowing waters, he stated.
Leaving this point, says Mr.. Ship
man, the main current swings to the
west side and is cutting badly on the
west bank above the bridge. A part
of the rip rap made up of rock has
disappeared, the current evidently UNI
dermining it, causing it to slide into
the water. 1t was at this point that
the people of Broadus concentrated
their efforts last month in a success
full effort to prevent the high water
from going around the west end of the
structure. A water flowing stage equally
as high is anticipated with the annua.
June rise when the snow in the moun
tains meltS and comes racing down
providing a further problem of how tt
protect the east and west approaches
from being cut away.
Declaring that it is a problem Of
keeping the water under the bridge
Mr.. Shipman suggests the installation
Of a system of ~jetties placed at the
east and west banks at a point farther
up the stream in an effort to make
the river dig for itself a new channel
across a big sand bar where the water
is now cutting deeply. There is also
a possibility, he says. that by the con-
struction of jetties a new channel could
be made across the sand bar and this
would give the river a better direction
towards the bridge and should elm
mate the possibility of cutting farther
up the stream. Mr.. Shipman is of the
opinion that the jetties should be OF
stone and bundled willows, or timber
or log cribs filled with rock, or pos
sibly some we'll established and sue
cessfully manufactured jetties that are
calculated, to meet such emergencies
as arise in a turbulent stream.
The construction of a new bridge
might be necessary, in the opinion adj