Jasper County Democrat, Volume 6, Number 2, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 April 1903 — A BIG DITCH IN NEWTON. [ARTICLE]

A BIG DITCH IN NEWTON.

Morocco Courier: Surveyor Hamilton has completed the field work for the ditches in the “Big Beaver, Drainage and Levee District” of Iroquois County, 111. The main ditch will begin at the State line and extend west to the McMahn bridge, a distance of four miles. It will be constructed with a steam dredge and will have a bottom twenty-five feet wide. There are also three laterals aggregating three and one-fourth miles in length, to be constructed. These will probably be constructed with scrapers. The main ditch will be a continuation of Beaver creek, and will carry the water from about 39,000 acres of land in IJewton county. A petition has already been filed to deepen and widen Beaver creek from its source to the State line, a distance of ten and a half miles. Fifteen miles of laterals will also be constructed, making twentyfive and a half miles of dredge work in Newton county. The two systems will provide for the drainage of all lands that must drain into these ditches.