Show PROPER LOCATION OF DRAINS Beginning Before Beginning Work Make Accurate Accurate rate Map of Area to Be ae Drained John T. T Stewart in an address to Minnesota farmers said The basis for all drainage Improvements Improve ments meats is an accurate map of the area are t to be drained Such a map known i as a topographic map should show all alt local improvements the boundaries of lands to be benefited by the drainage drain age age and the boundary of the water shed It should also show the elevation elevation eleva tion above a fixed point of ot all sloughs low lands and the tops of ot ridges through which it might be necessary to construct the outlet channel and wherever ver practicable and funds are available foot five foot contours should be sketched of at the field With such a map the engineer can canI determine the best outlet and route I for the proposed channel On this map the location for the proposed drains can be laid out their grade size and approximate cost determined after which the ditch may be staked out on the ground making such minor changes as are found necessary by closer study of ot the route Where a detailed survey has been made and the notes platted it Is economy to establish establish es a few permanent marks from which the survey could be continued or another engineer at some fut future re retime time could take up the work where It has been left off oft without having to duplicate that which has already been done Land owners should select points for these marks where there Is little danger of their being molested and then see to It that they are preserved pre pre- served Farm Farmers rs as a rule do not realize the advantages In preserving survey mon men This fact alone has been the cause of a waste of ot much money r I by the duplication of ot work Surveys I for tor drainage often orten costing sever several l hundreds of ot dollars have frequently been made and where the construction construe construe- tion Uon work was not carried out the notes and plats were never filed and no permanent mark left When the work Is la taken up a few years later later It ItIs itis Is la necessary to duplicate the survey A few additional dollars spent in making permanent marks and in preparing pre paring the records for filing would have preserved the entire work for future use In maly cases an engineer is employed em em- employed I to stake out a drain on a route which Is supposed to be the best ono one one no examination Is Is' made for another route or outlet the area of the watershed is not looked up As Asa a result the size of the ditch la is merely merely merely mere mere- ly a n guess Time may develop the fact that the best route was not select selected d and the ditch Is la either too large or too small and consequently does not perform its work satisfactorily A ditch being improperly located either does not drain all aU the land it should or Is expensive to construct or maintain |