THE IREIGATION AGE. 



181 



LARGE ENTERPRISE. 



A Council Bluffs, !&,, correspondent states that ac- 

 cording to a report filed recently with County Auditor 

 Innes by Commissioners J. K. McGavren, of Missouri 

 Valley, and Bobert B. Wilson, of Carson, the cost of the 

 proposed drainage ditches in Harrison and Pottawatta- 

 mie Counties, Iowa, will be $87,467.73. The commis- 

 sioners estimate that 155 square miles of land in the -two 

 counties will be directly benefited. This report will 

 come before the boards of county supervisors of the two 

 counties at their regular meeting in April. J. K. Mc- 

 Gavren is the commissioner appointed by Harrison 

 County, and B. B. Wilson is the commissioner appoint- 

 ed by Pottawattamie County. They have selected 

 Thomas Tostevin, of this city, as engineer jn charge 

 of the work. 



The commissioners before making their report went 

 over the ground and made a thorough investigation of 

 the existing conditions and the need for the proposed 

 drainage ditches. As a result of their investigations 

 they have to all intents and purposes accepted the sur- 

 veys made by County Surveyor Cook in Pottawattamio 

 and those made in Harrison County by Surveyor J. S. 

 Wattles. They recommend only a few minor changes 

 in the two surveys. 



The commissioners recommend the construction 

 of two ditches in Harrison County, which will meet 

 in Pottawattamie County at a point in Bockford Town- 

 ship, and from there be merged into' one large ditch 

 which will drain into the Missouri river. The total 

 length of the ditches will be about thirty-seven miles. 



LOCATION OF DITCHES. 



The two ditches in Harrison County are designated 

 as the Willow creek and the Allen creek ditches. The 

 one in Pottawattamie County is designated as the Boyer 

 Cut-off ditch. The Willow creek ditch will start about 

 five miles north of Missouri Valley, passing directly 

 through that town and after merging with the Allen 

 creek ditch in Pottawattamie County will tap the Boyer 

 river at a point about one mile south of Loveland. The 

 Allen creek ditch starts in Eaglan Township, in Harri- 

 son County. 



These two ditches come together in Pottawattamie 

 County about one mile north of the Boyer river, and 

 from this point they form one ditch until they tap the 

 Boyer. From the point where they enter the Boyer, 

 a ditch to be known as the Boyer Cut-off ditch, will be 

 constructed in almost a straight line to the Missouri 

 river. This ditch will be about one and one-half miles 

 in length, and will strike the Missouri river in Section 

 21), Township 77, Eange 44. 



The Boyer river formerly ran directly to the Mis- 

 souri, but of late years has followed an erratic course 

 and from the point where the two ditches enter it is 

 eleven miles to the Missouri river. By making the 

 Boyer Cut-off ditch one mile and a half in length, ten 

 miles will be saved and for most of the way the old 

 course of the Boyer can be utilized. 



ESTIMATES ON THE WORK. 



The total amount of excavation which the con- 

 struction of the ditches will necessitate, the commis- 

 sioners estimate at 834,831 cubic yards, divided as fol- 

 lows: Willow creek ditch, 418,848; Allen creek ditch, 

 322,836; Boyer Cut-off, 93,147. 



The estimated cost of the drainage scheme is placed 

 as follows: Cost of excavating, at 8 cents per cubic 

 yard, $66,786.48 ; cost of right-of-way, $16,681.25 ; ex- 



penses of commissioners and engineer, $3,000; apprais- 

 ers, $400; miscellaneous expenses, $600; total, $87,- 

 467.73. 



The commissioners in their report state that during 

 the last year the larger part of the area which will be 

 benefited by the drainage ditches has been flooded se- 

 verely, injuring or totally destroying the growing crops. 

 The conditions in Pottawattamie County, they say, are 

 similar to those in Harrison County. 



Eegarding their suggestion that the water from the 

 proposed ditches be carried to the Missouri river by 

 means of the Boyer Cut-off ditch instead of following 

 the present course of the 'Boyer, the commissioners say 

 that the Boyer river, having an approximate water shed 

 of 900 square miles, with a channel varying from forty 

 to sixty feet in width and from twelve to fourteen feet 

 in depth and for many miles in Pottawattamie 

 County haying practically no fall, it is unaible to 

 carry the overflow of the proposed ditches. As it is at 

 present, it is only able to carry its water through by the 

 force of head or weight of the water above. 



The commissioners say there is no foundation for 

 the report that the sewerage of Missouri Valley would 

 be drained through the Willow creek ditch, which passes 

 through that town. The work of constructing the 

 ditches, they say, can be completed in one season. 



The Boards of Supervisors of Pottawattamie and 

 Harrison (Iowa) Counties yesterday took favorable 

 action on the petitions for drainage ditches extending 

 from Harrison County across the boundary line into 

 Pottawattamie County. 



Harrison County appointed as its commissioner 

 in the matter, J. K. 'McGavren, of Missouri Valley. 

 Eobert Wilson, of Carson, was appointed as the Pot- 

 tawattamie County commissioner. These commission- 

 ers will elect a surveyor, who will either make a new 

 survey or accept the plat and surveys already made by 

 County Surveyor Cook. 



It is expected that the commissioners will have 

 their report ready for presentation to the two Boards 

 of Supervisors by their April meetings. If the plans 

 reported receive the approval of the Supervisors the 

 work will be ordered and will at once be commenced. 



The Harrison County people interested in the con- 

 struction of the ditch yesterday paid the expenses in-- 

 curred by this county in the ditch matter heretofore, 

 amounting to about $1,000, and put up a bond for fu- 

 ture expenses. Omaha World-Herald. 



The following hill was recently introduced in the 

 New York Legislature by Senator Fancher, entitled, "An 

 act to provide for the promotion and preservation of 

 the public health in the Conewango Valley in the coun- 

 ties of Cattaraugus and Chautauqua, and making an 

 appropriation therefor," reads as follows : 



"Section L The sum of fifty thousand dollars 

 or so much thereof as may be necessary, is hereby appro- 

 priated out of any moneys in the treasury not otherwise 

 appropriated, to be expended by the superintendent of 

 public works in payment for the drainage of low swamp 

 lands in the Conewango Valley in the counties of Cat- 

 taraugus and Chautauqua, done by and under the direc- 

 tion and supervision of commissioners appointed by the 

 udgment of the Supreme Court, adudging and decree- 

 ing that the public health required that such lands be 



