FIRST STEP IN BUILDING A WIRE CHECK DAM 



C. W. Roberts form, Downs, McLean county, 111. Here the posts have been 

 set in place and the soil from the trench has been piled upstream. Note that 

 the posts are considerably higher than the surface of the ground. 







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7-141. 



STAPLING THE WIRE TO THE POSTS 



Next 6 inch mesh wire is stapled to the posts to catch the straw, slow up the 

 water and dump the silt as it is brought down the gully. Old wire fence not 

 suitable for regular use may be utilized in building check dams. The next 

 step is to place straw over the bottom of the trench. See 3-143. 



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SIX WIRE CHECKS STOPPED 

 THIS GULLY 



Six wire check dams were used on 

 the Walter Knable farm in Madison coun- 

 ty to check this' gully in a permanent 



SLOWING UP 



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Every Farmer Can Build Wire 



'HOUSANDS of Illinois farms are 

 losing more fertility annually 

 through soil washing than can be put 

 back in ten years of good farming. The 

 soil conservation camps and CCC boys 

 in Illinois are doing some good work in 

 building dams and terraces, encourag- 

 ing contour and strip farming, and get- 

 ting land back into pasture and wood 

 lots that never should have been plowed. 

 But the great majority of Illinois farms 

 carmot receive direct help from these 

 government agencies. Farmers can do 



LET 'ER RAIN THE DAM IS READY 



This wire check dam will catch a lot 

 of soil and result in the ditch gradually 

 filling up. It also will prevent the gully 

 from cutting deeper and working up- 



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pasture. Th 

 by grasses, 

 straw, and ; 

 seed. To b' 

 12 man days 



soil 



Check Dams 



a great dea 

 sion by stop 

 check dams 

 Instead of 

 which hapF 

 rains, the s 

 the bottom i 

 ing up i^ti] 

 seeding or 

 winter befo 

 is a good tii 

 to stop soil " 

 ing and sp 



stream. If i 

 that shown 

 a deep ohe 

 value of th( 



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