Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 7, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 January 1917 — THE RYAN OR G`IFFORD DITCH, WHICH? [ARTICLE]

THE RYAN OR G`IFFORD DITCH, WHICH?

(By Lewis S. Alter, Civil Engineer) Long ages ago, so geologists tell ns, Northern Indiana was drained through a valley in the slolid rock, extending across Jasper county from near the northeast corner to the west side, <or from the east end r o£ Walker township, passing two or three miles north of Rensselaer and crossing the Iroquois river near the Lameon farm. Thence running westerly on the south side of the present channel and pasping into Illinois some two miles north oi Kentland. This, old chahßeL w;as from 75 to 150 feet lower than the surrounding country and whethSf it was formed from sesmetic causes or by the wear of the water for long ages is not known. In the course of time the 'glacier age set in and huge (fields of ice plowed their slow but irresistible way from Aorth to south over the surface of the earth, scooping up material in some places and depositing it in others. That action tilled this valley with fine clay and gravel, leveled off the rock surface, and finally , ended up by leaving a lot of debris in ridges composed in the main of? gravel and boulders mixed with clay. At some places this gravel is quite dean and suitable for use in building Yoads hnd mixing concrete. In some places the surface was covered with sand which by the action of the wind was- afterward piled up into Tidges or dunes. This leveling by the glaciers left a large part of the country covered with shallow lakes. As the climate became warmer these grew up in vegetation, wfltiidh by maturing and decaying year after year formed the muck and peat of our marshes. The shallower lakes were thus changed into marshes. The deeper ones became sodded over and formed swamps, and others still deeper continued to be lakes because the wind acting upon the water prevented the growth of vegetation in them. the rainfall and the run off of waiter from higher ground exceeded the amount of evaporation the lakes of necessity had* outlets. These were wide and shallow and no doubt often' changed toy drift material and winds. Thw largest and most important marsh in Jasper county was the Haddock’s marsh, now generally known as the Gifford marsh. This marsh and its arms comprises an area of ffom 15,000 to 20,$ 00 acres, yith its outlet down the line of the Pinkamink rjver and over the surface of the rock ledge from above Saltillo bridge on the Francesville road to near where the Piikamink enters the line of the Iroquois river just above Rensselaer. In 1851 Lewis Davisson constructed a levee across the main outlet of this marsh and built a small mill to be run by water power accumulated by the dam, but he found that the water took a course to the southeast, flowing around the dam to Me-te-mo-nong creek. This required about one-half mile more levee to hold the water and when this was built he found he could not get much head of water because the marsh had another outlet across Barkley township to the west along what Is now the Gifford dredge ditch, and the water overflowed and passed down this line to the Iroquois river near the point where the Burk’s bridge was afterward built. This was alrpost directly in the line of the old %re-glacier channel. • This outlet was over good soil where the vegetation grew rank and the drift lodged so it was easily choked up and obstructed. The channel to the south along the Pinkamfnk had where ithe vegetation could not get hold so readily, so It did not clpse up so easily. In the year 1880 writer ran a line of levels from near the east end of Walker township down to the Squire Moore farm at his own expense. Some two or three years laiter he surveyed the line of the pelvas ditch from the east line of the Helvas marsh to a point in the Iroquois marsh near where the Gifford ditch later emptied into the Iroquois river, wttih a ‘fall of 20 feet from the Helvas marsh to the Gifford outlet in the Iroquois. From the head of the Helvas ditch he ran Levels across to the Big marsh and found that the Big marsh was one foot lower than the Helvas marsh at that time: The ridge or divide between them was fourteen Inches higher than the Helvas marsh on tihe west. Thus a cut of -"twenty-six inches across the “divide” would he on a level with the Big marsh at this point. The south or Plnkamiqjt outlet of the Big marsh was the lowest one and so we call it the “natural channel,” and so far as nature was concerned it answered all require* ments. But there came a time when men wanted to improve upon nature —a .time when 'the marsh would , pay better in stock and grain than fn fish: and game—so an artificial dhannel was necessary. Here we should copy nature by following the line- of least resistance. Mr. .Gifford partially solved this problem, ybhe all important one in drainage, “the best and cheapest route,” and he would have fully solved it if he had used a larger dredging machine at that time. Had he done this tfhat country .would now he well drained’ and at a very .Small cost of what is now contemplated. Mr. Gifford’s ditch follows in the main the old channel where the stone' is far below any artificial ditch work. The Pinkamink line has from five to seven miles of solid rpek. Most of us know ’"hat It ta ditch In clay, sand and dirt, anda few of us' know what It Is to cut through stone. Nowlet us do a little figuring. In dolla ™. cents and see If It does plain to the average person which is the cheapest and best route The actual cost of removing .r I ’

and dirt as compared with the cost of removing rock is about one to twenty. The actual expense of about 100 miltjs of dredge ditch cut by Mr. Gifford was about three cents per yard, for labor and fuel. First cost tor plant, repairs and overhead expense brought the costup ’to som'ething less' than six cents per cubic yarfd. 'He had some rock removed from the line of the Pinkamink and although much of it was loose and could be picked out without blasting the contractor made little profit at sl.lO per cubic yard. I know whereof I speak for I was on the dredge ’and timed them many times and I assisted the contractor with the atone work. Now a channel fifteen feet wide and twelve feet deep will cost in the stone about $lO • per running foot, or nearly $53,000 per mile. A ditch down the Gifford roulte., with a sixteen foot bottom and - an average depth of sixteen feet, with sufficient slope of banks would cost about $175 per running foot, or about $9,250 per mile, and from this cost 'would be deducted the yardage of the ditch already there, perhaps one-third the above • amount —This' woulri give more than double the capacity aJti from one-fifth to one-tenth the cost. Agam, a twelve-foot ditch in the stone would lower the water level in the marsh at the head of the rock cut in ordinary stages of water from five to* eight feet below the surface of tne marsh at ithe heafi of the rock cut, but as you extend the ditch across, the level marsh the water in the ditch will come approximately one foot nearer the" Surface for each mile up stream until when a distance of five or six miles is covered the ditch will be too shallow Jto accomplish anything but surface drainage of. the affected lands. For that reason* the * Pinkamink or Ryttn ditch will, if constructed, toe comparatively worthless so far as the north and west sides of the marsh is concerned. But the land at- the most remote end of the marsh getting but two or three feet of drainage will likely be assessed as much as that getting' eight or ten feet of drainage. The Gifford ditch or the Oliver route, if, constructed as suggested of an average depth of sixteen feet, would lower the water level at the west side of the marsh ten feet below the surface and would carry most of-the water from the marsh area, even if the rock cut is constructed as proposed. The greater depth of drainage on the dirt route would mean a great deal, for as I once heard Mr. Gifford say: “A difference of six inches In the drainage may mean a crop.” Another important item is that from the center of the big marsh near the northwest corner of section Ilf township 30, range 5 to the Iroquois river toy the Ryan or Pinkamink route the distance is about 15% miles and fully twofifths of the distance is in the rock, and all this distance must have a deep ditch if the marsh area if to get any relief. From the same noint to the Price’ bridge below the rapids in the Gifford ditch the *ll®* tance is less than seven miles. If this seven miles is deepened, and as it is all dirt and can he constructed in a short time and at small cost, the main outlet of the marsh will continue to toe on ttof Gifford route wtoere all the waters from the entire area, except the southeast portion, have been draining for more than twenty years, and this will continue, to .he the outlet even though the proposed Ryan ditch is constructed at whatever cost If the ditch on .the Gifford route were to be continued dowr the Iroquois ditch to the outlet o the Pinkamink above Rensselaer the distance ffom the center of thr marsh to the common outlet would be three miles less by the Gifford route than by the Ryan or Pinkamink, thus giving a much better fall and more rapid flow to the water. To sum up, the dirt route is the shortest, cheapest, quickesrt and the most efficient. The—Ryan or rock route is the longer, will have less fall per mile, will -cost from five to ten times as much to build, and will take years to construct after the contract is let before it will furnish any relief to the marsh lands. Probably some drainage is needed •on the Pinkamink but the writer believes that the Gifford outlet, if deepened, would take care of the flood waters. and prevent the march from overflowing, and if this were dom? no large drain would be. needed through the rock and mo«b of the Pinkamink lands would be taken care of by the present river channel By the construction of tne Hoagland ditch in White county one branch of Monon creek har been diverted fro-m the old channel .through the rock and taken 1? a new ditch across the countrj south of Monon to the Tippecanoe river. That ditch is twenty-twc feet deep and has been operating successfully for several years. The Kettnan ditch is now being constructed in Pulaski and White counties to divert the waters from the north branch of Monon creek which now flow through , a rock ledge which was improved twenty feet wide only, a few years age at accost of maty thousands of 'dollars. The new ditch is being constructed to a depth of from twenty four to thirty feet for a distance of four miles, through sandy, caving soil, and they are doing this rather than further Improve the rock cut. Their rock channel Is as good as the preposed Ry»h ditqto will he and after several years trial they are abandoning it and digging an entirely new channel deep and wide, where the watei never ran before in order to get around the rock trouble/'* One hun dred thousand foliar ditches arr pretty costly experiments. Here the water har been running down the Gifford ditch so: more than twenty years and it i' proposed to throv that ditch awe: and undertake tc divert the wate aroynd through the. rock which car not be' clone for much lees that

a half million dollars and will fall of its object - when 'completed. If the Ryan ditch is right, then the lßoagland ditch and the. Ketman ditch are both Wrong and all three of the ditches are In adjoin ing territory and only a few milet apart, . ’ All three propositions can be In vestigated in one afternoon by An j one Interested in learning the fftttl ohik* matter and the machine Would have to travel only a few m 1169 Now.it the land ownera In. t'hidistrict would consult their own in- * terests they would see the advantage of a clay and dirt route In preference to a stone route.