The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, December 28, 1916, Page 7

P ] " the tremendous task of reclaiming' one : e tracts in.th 'PAST FAILURE DUE - 1TO TWO BIG CAUSES . difches the 5 F lodd Menace in the Red e Valley First of Two Articles Written for the Leader by Herbert A. Hard ITH WHEAT near the $2 marfi, and none to sell for two years in the Red River valley, owing fo the submergence of thous- ands of miles of its wonderfully fertile soils, the troubled thoughts of farmer and business man alike are sharply turned these days to drainage. ‘The estimated agricultural losses alone year and any year.of flood would have paid for all reclamation projects necessary to prevent the destruction, % 3 ] One to one-and-one-half millich acres in North Dakota and five or six times that area in Minnesota made fload-proof at cost of one or two dollars per acre. is very possible, and well worth striving for when we realize that 800,000 to 1,000,000 Beres in North Dakota alone are estimated to have been damaged to the extent of 8 to 10 million bushels, worth over $15,000,000. .This sum would have constructed reservoirs capable of render- ing the valley immune from the flood menace, which for two years has impover- ished the farmer and depressed business generally, which has rendered our cities unsanitary and still holds a threat of future destriction. . Timely articles have appeared in the valley press, urging the people to begint the agitation and long fight for means to obviate the desolation. Important con- ventions have been held and committees have been appointed to work out legis- lative ‘and engineering "difficulties. . The best people in the valley are seeking to find the’ cure, for cure there is, though on a very expensive prescription—cheap, too, when -one takes into- account that an area several times the size of an east- ern state, equal to all New England, will- be. vastly ‘benefitted. . A larger area in Canada will be reclaimed, when the real interstate crisis it is up to North Dakota and Minnesota to take the -initiative in g Past failure in drainage is largely due to two canses. (1). - Insufficient size of the trunk drains, the Red and tributary channels and () lack of a grand co-ordin- ated system of drainage ditches . and" mains. Well intentioned and costly plans for local drainage of local areas here and- there have been tried and have failed— to the.grief of the farmer, Higher tracts - of good natural “fall” may be benefitted, others in less favored locations are actually ruined by injudicious drainage ' projects. Some local “engineers” have not the experience to give them knqwl- edge, or honesty to confess if such project is safe to all concerned, It is a good time to keep competent engineers in office in valley counties. Millions of dollars have been worse than wasted in past years in Minnesota and the Dakotas by, sinking ill-afforded funds in: ditches which either did not help or actually damaged the state. = ~ Just such ill-timed projects are the basis for damages now pending in the United ' States supreme , court—North: Dakota vs, Minnesota, Only when valle drainage is: considered -‘There are two. quite distint b} involved in the. valley’s.negds, Drainage: of farm land is very well—and vital to; the . farmer.. The.. more -‘well chosen" is thrown into the Red River fo. be taken care of, This caring for the channel load is quite a separate problem. _ Ostensibly it is beyond local control, as it involves areas in three states, perhaps. in‘ two countries. This is why the valley 88 & whole must be taken into sccount - and, taken with the magnitude of the work, that the federal government will “ditches, These effect quick drainage of be givén a chance to serve 2 little “pork,” hitherto denied North Dakota though she has regularly contributed her share of the appropriation. : The town problem is very different from that.in the country, but the interest is one. The farmer will continue to send more and more water through the towns by the Red. What will Fargo, Grand Forks, Wahpeton and other cities do with it? If present contemplated Increase of drainage ditches in the valley is continued for 20 years the estimated increased volume of water in flood time will be high enough to lay the dust on every first floor in Fargo! b project of any real or permanent value can any more be built without adequate survey than can a°house without a plan. Again it is seen that after all that has been said about multiplicity ofsur- veys, very little has been done in North Dakota at all, and the engineers had the last laugh at the recent convention. However, it is very true that enough has been done to enable the engineer to determine most of the feasible reservoir and canal sites, with rough estimates on eqnstruction cost. This was done in the “minority report” of the recent congress, The U. 8. war department has made useful surveys-of most river valleys and lakes in Minnesota. ~Further, .in North bgiaddressing Herbert A. Hard, Fargo, o office public roads, Washington, D, G, SEEKING RELIEF FOR THE FARMERS After each flood in the Red River yalley in the last 30 years has followed agitation for relief. These movements baye reésultéd in mass meetings and con- ventibns of interstate chatracter, Once, in 1906, Canada joined in an international conference at Grand Forks,which was at- tended by delegates from both countries. Resolutions have been passed, committees appointed and congress has several.times been petitioned for aid. As the Red and Minnesota rivers are held navigable extensive marsh lands heretofore untap- ped or but slowly drained through a long season by crooked streams. ' In fact, they dump the run-off into the main river within a few hours or days, which form- erly évaporated, seeped into the ground on survey of ‘valley on the Dakota side. : In all fairness to the rest of the valley ~this survey should be extended west from ‘the river far enough to benefit all the stricken lands, and, as the ’06 survey was not extended into Richland county at all, ‘this rich area should now be or gradually - filtered through - peat- -included in a larger project. : marshes to sluggish streams before find- ing its way to the Red river. : These -are no ordinary ditches which gather up the many laterals, but are. in fact good healthy-sized riyers, measur- ing from 8 to 15 feet deep and 15 to 3Q feet . wide, Having air line .courses, they vomit their contents at maximum speed, Their rapidly .increasing number: has caused the acute situation in the Red river valley, which will rapidly become more serious in any year of large snow fall or spring rains, At this time the soil in most of the: valley is well saturated with water and many marshes - are undrained as’ they freeze up. ‘Thus the conditions are ideal, if accompanied’ by: heavy snow or spring rain, for a:record-breaking flood in 1917. . The :crop loss:of the last:two seasons _Would not only have erected protecting: about.every 11 years._ Just as regularly have come. the periods of agitation for. fiood control. This in turn has repeatedly- ended in a federal “survey,” followed by, no beneficial action, so that the mere mention of . “survey’’ became the signal for shouts of derision. 'In faet, business men have become as shy of a “survey” as the well informed: farmer is of a lightening-rod ' vendor. In’ their well- founded suspicion the pioneers in flood control are in danger of Wé’rlobldg‘j:hfii_g : best bet, for after “all, no_engineering . NO ACCURATE SURVEY' IN WEST VALLEY No accurate survey has been made in the higher portions of the west side of the greater valley, cqmprising the very dam sites of the several reservoirs pos- sible in the Sheyenne, Tongue, Pembina,- Wild. Rice;, etc., valleys. This’comprises, therefore, a very:icritical area. Some sort of preliminary examination at least will- perforce ‘be necessary before “any engineercan safely base any very reliable estimates. The information got in' the early ‘surveys is indispensable and, while the job must be finished soon, it is high time a start be made towards -getting all existing data collected and-standard- ized. When ‘the tie surveys are made and the work extended into the west. side of the valley, all ‘data should ‘be built into ‘one. usable map, report upon which' state and federal action may-be based. ~ Chief" L.” Wallér - Page of the U. 8. office “of public- roads submitted a’ pro- * pesal to the " Tri-State Flood: Control SRR AR AR TR congress: to bring in federal experts and’ i Floogs jn the region are said to recur do: all this work, largely with: govern- nient funds. Representative Steenerson and’' ‘some others feared jealousies between the war and agricultural depart- - ments might arise. However, since the ‘ large portion ‘of the unsurveyed part. of . North Dakota is not on a ¥navigable” river, perhaps this action was'a mistake. offer to do a much’ needed work " and 95 ‘Truly Chief Page's Was 8 very generous desérves " caveful’ éanqulmfioqby the' “ this winfer, and (#)" mittee established, -Reports and map. of the Noyth, Dakota afi%%y;hlbfig.the,h river can be had ; G itk was ever ‘accomplished. A. period of ensuing dry years lulled the agitation to sleepy indifference to the certain dutmu 4 tion: imminent " in- the. yalley. Following the 1916-1916 floods, agita- - tion resulted in the revival of several - large so-called development associations in ‘Minnesota. Feeling that the energy was again being dissipated in the multi< plicity of efforts,- several of the leaders " in_ the different associations decided i best to unite them in a.singls-compact body striving to a common end. - Accord- ingly A. L. Crocker of the all-Minnesota association, Herbert A. Hard, represent- ing North Dakota in the same organiza~ tion, and A, E. Kaercher of Ortonyille called a tri-state congress to meet in Fargo, November 13-14-last. . Seeretary ' Hardy, standing . sponsor- for. the meet, interested the Commercial club, gener-. ously arranged the details and’financed the meet. 2, T - A large delegation of Minnesota repre- sentatives attended, - and;: while': the response -in :North Dakota was not im proportion to the- tremendous loss sus-’ tained from the floods, &’ good ‘mumber: attended. : B : Altogether about 75 veterans of several’ floods were present; men who have large’ experience ‘and ‘were capable of ‘definite" action. ' While many valinblé“addresses were heard, ‘including thosé'of Governors. Frazier and Byrne'and several congress- men, the real valie of ‘the congress Jies’ in - the gharp decisivé “action- taken by committees. B { (1). - Permanent’ ofganization ' was. effected.. (2), The ' principal engineer- ing projects, practicable for effectin § flood control, ° were” pointed ont. and approved by the engineering committee. - et (3). ~Three thousand dollars was raised for organizing, work and freparing the ‘data-of ‘the various early surveys ready 2 ng "congress’ {0 action for ‘use In swa e S K A A A S At e S iR a5~ e e e e Y