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FmST STEP IN BUILDING A WIRE CHECK DAM 



C W. Roberts farm, 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 corvsiderably higher than the surface of the ground 



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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SDC 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 



Every Farmer Can Build Wire 



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'HOUSANDS of Illmois 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 

 Biit the great majority of Illinois farms 

 cannot receive direct help from these 

 government agencies. Farmers can dc 



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 bi 

 1*2 man days 



SOIL 



Check Dams 



a great dea 

 sion by stop 

 check dams 

 Instead of 

 which hapi 

 rains, the 

 the bottom < 

 ing up. until 

 seeding or 

 winter befc 

 is a good t; 

 to stop soil 

 ing and spi 



stream. If 

 that- shown 

 a deep one 

 vglufi-of th( 



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