Nov. s, 1917 
Run-off from Drained Prairie Lands 
259 
sion of some outside water. Normal conditions were restored in Novem¬ 
ber and records resumed on December 1. (See Table VII.) 
DES AEEEMANDS POEDER NO. I—AREA I,88o ACRES 
This district includes a portion of the town of Des Allemands, in 
Lafourche Parish, and borders on Bayou Des Allemands. The land from 
which the district was taken is typical of that lying along Bayou Des 
Allemands. It has an elevation of from 1 to 2 feet above the mean 
water level in the bayou, and a large percentage of the land is made up of 
firm silt ridges with a very thin layer of muck on the surface. The muck 
was originally from 8 to 12 inches deep and was quite turfy. With the 
exception of a few scattering trees on the ridges, the tract was covered 
with a heavy growth of the natural prairie grass. 
The reservoir canals extend across the district with a spacing of about 
2,000 feet and have a storage capacity of about 0.35 inch. The pumping 
plant capacity under average conditions is about 0.75 inch per 24 hours. 
Pumping was started on this district in October, 1912, and was continuous 
thereafter. Ditching operations were commenced at the same time and 
carried on throughout the year 1913, so that by the end of the year about 
one-third of the area was completely ditched. Cultivation was started 
early in 1913, and by the end of the year 250 acres were cultivated. 
During the months of January and February, 1913, a section of levee 
about 300 feet long allowed a considerable amount of seepage water 
to enter the district. This seepage had to be pumped out each day. In 
the latter part of February this defective spot was repaired. After that, 
except for a period of about a month in the latter part of September and 
the early part of October, it is considered that no appreciable amount of 
seepage entered the district. 
Conditions during 1914.—During 1914 about half the tract was com¬ 
pletely ditched and drained. The remaining portion was partly drained 
w T ith ditches having four times the usual spacing. The reservoir canals 
needed cleaning, and their poor condition made it necessary to pump 
much oftener than would otherwise have been the case. The water had 
to be lowered to near the bottom of the canal at the pumping plant before 
the effect was felt at the end of the district remote from the plant. If the 
canals had been in good condition, the number of days on which the pumps 
operated would have been much decreased, although the total amount 
pumped would have been little different. In the latter part of November 
a rainfall of 5.45 inches occurred in about three hours. This caused the 
pumping plant to operate at full capacity for about three days. The 
canal was full at the station for about 24 hours, after which it lowered 
very rapidly. If the canals had been in good condition, they would have 
delivered much more water to the pumping plant than it was able to 
handle, while with the canals in poor condition the pump was capable of 
taking the water away faster than it flowed to the pump. The area under 
cultivation during the year was increased to about 600 acres. 
