Jasper County Democrat, Volume 19, Number 82, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 January 1917 — THE RYAN OR GIFFORD DITCH, WHICH? [ARTICLE]

THE RYAN OR GIFFORD DITCH, WHICH?

>• 1 IVII . (By Lewis S. Alter*. Civil Engineer) Long ages ago, so geologists tell us, -Northern Indiana was drained through a valley in the solid rock, extending across Jasper county from near tlj.e northeast corner to the west side, or from the east end of Walker township, passing two or tihree 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 passing into Illinois some two miles north ot Kentland. This old channel was from 75 to 150 feet fewer than the surrounding country and whether it

(By Lewis S. Alter; Civil Engineer)

was formed front 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 2nd huge fields of ice plowed their slow but' irresistible way from north to south over the surface of- the earth, scooping up material in some places and depositing it in others. That aetjon filled 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 clean and suitable for use in building roads and mixing concrete. In some places the surface was covered with sand which by the action of the wind was afterward piled up into ridges 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, which 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.— " • . Because .the rainfall and the run off of water from higher ground exceeded the amount of evaporation the lakes of necessity had outlets. These were wide and shallow and no doubt often changed by drift material and winds. The largest and most important marsh in Jasper county was the Haddock’s marsh, now generally known as the Gifford marsh. This mapsh and its arms comprises an area of from 15.000 to 20,000 acres, with its outlet, down the line of the mink river and over the surface-of the rock ledge from above Saltillo bridge on the Francesville roadAto near where the Pinkamink enters the line of the Iroquois river just above Rensselaer. Tn 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 tb 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 almost directly, in the line of the old pre-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 Pinkamink had stone bottom where the vegetation could not get hold so readily, so it did up so easijy. - In the year JBBO the 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' later he. surveyed the lirie of the fbelvas ditch from the east, line of the 1 leivas marsh. to a point in the Iroquois marsh near where ’the Gifford ditch later emptied into the Iroquois river, with 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 fpund that the Big marsh • was one. foot lower than the Helvas marsh at that time. The ridge or divide between themwas fourteen ipches higher than the Helvas marsh on the west. Thus a cut of twenty-six inches across the .'.“divide”- would, be on a level with the Big marsh at this point. The south or Pinkamink outlet of the Big marsh Was' the lowest one and so we call it the “natural channel.” arid so far as nature was concerned it ariswered all require, ments. But there came a time when men wanted tot improve upon nature —a time when (the marsh would" pay better in stock and grain than in fish an<j game-—so an artificial channel was necessary. Here we should copy nature by following the line of least resistance. Mr. Gifford partially solved this problem, the all important one in drainage, “the best andyohc-apest route,” and he would have fully solved it if he had used a larger dredging machine at that time. Had he donri this that country would how be 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 rock. Most of' us know -what it is to diteh in clay, sand and dirt, and a few of us know what it is to cut through stone. Now let us do a little figuring in/ dollars and cents and see if it does not look plain to the average person Which is the cheapest and best route. The actual cost of removing clay and dirt as compared with the cost of removing rock is about One to twenty. The actual expense of about 100 .miles of dredge ditch cut by Mr. Gifford was about three cents per yard, for labor and fuel. First cost for plant, repairs and overhead expense brought the cost up to something less than six cents per cubic-yard- He had some rock removed from the line of thePinkariilnk 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 j "was on the dredge and timed (hem many times and I assisted the contractor with the stone work, Now a channel fifteen feet wide and twelve feet deep will" cost in the stone about $ 10. per running foot, or. nearly $53,000 per mile. A. ditch down the Gifford rouite, with a sixteen foot bottom and an average adeptli of sixteen feet, with sufficient 'slope of banks would cost about $1.75 per running foot, or about $9,250 per mile, and froin this cost would be deducted the yardage of the ditch already there, perhaps one-third the above amount.. This would give more than double .the capacity at from one-fifth to one-tenth the cost. Agam. a twelve-foot ditch in the stone would lower she 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 the marsh at the head 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 to accomplish anything but*- surface drainage of the affected lands. For that reason rhe Pinkamink or Ryan ditch will, if constructed, be 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 draim -’age 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’l once heard Mr. Gifford say: “A difference of six inches in the drainage may mean a crop.”,,. . , , Another important item is that front; the center of the big marsh near the northwest corner of ■ section -17, township 30, range 5 to the Iroquois river by 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 is to get any relief. From the same point to the Price bridge below the rapids in the Gifford ditch the distance is less than seven miles. If this seven miles is deepened, and as it is all dirt and can be constructed in a short time and .at small cost, the main outlet of the marsh will continue to be on the Gifford route where all the waters from the entire area, except the southeast portion, have been draining for more than twenty years, and this will continue to be the outlet even though the proposed Ryan ditch is constructed at' whatever cost If the ditch on the Gifford route were to be continued^ down the Iro'quois ditch to the outlet o the Pinkamink above Rensselaer the distance from the center of the

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 tne water. To sun) up, the dirt route is the shortest, cheapest, quickest arid 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 ank 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 done no' large drain would be needed through the rock and most of the Pinkamink lands would be taken care of by the present river channel Bv the construction of tne Hoagland ditch in White county one branch of Monon creek been diverted -from the old channel through .the rock and taken n a new ditch across the country south of Monon to the Tippecanoe river. That ditch is twenty-twc feet deep and has been operating successfully for several years. . The Ketman 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 ago at a cost of riiany thousands of dollars. The new ditch is being-con-structed ito a depth of from twenty four to thirty feet for a distance of four miles, through Sandy,-cav-ing soil, and they are doing this rather than further improve/ the rock cuit. Their rock channel is as good as the proposed Ryan ditch will be and after several years trial they are abandoning if and digging an entirely jiew r channel deep and - wide, where the watei never ran before in order to get around .the rock trouble. One hun fired thousand dollar ditches are pretty costly experiments.

- Here the water has been running down the Gifford ditch foi more than twenty years arid if if proposed to throw that ditch away and undertake to divert . the wate around through the. rock which ear not be done* for much less that' a half million dollars and will fail of itp Qbject when completed. If the Ryan ditch is right, then the (Hoagland ditch and the . Netman ditch are both wrong-.and al' three of the ditches are in adjoin ing territory and only a few miles apart. ■ '■ - All three propositions can be in vestigated In r>ne afternoon by any one interested in learning the trutl of the matter and the machin-w-ould have to travel only a few Now if the land owners in thi

district woultj consult their own interests they would see the advan tage of a clay and dirt route in preference 'to a stone route.