OCR Text |
Show PROPER LOCATION OF DRAINS. Before Beginning Work Make Accu-rate Accu-rate Map of Area to Be Drained. John T. Stewart, in an nddress to Minnesota farmers, said: Tho basis for all drainage Improvements Improve-ments Is nu accurate map of tho area to bo drained. Such 11 map, known ns n topographic map, should show all local Improvements, the boundaries of lands to bo benellted by tho drain, ago and tho boundary of tho watershed. water-shed. It should also show the elevation eleva-tion above n fixed point of nil sloughs, low lauds nnd the tops of ridges through which It might bo necessnry to construct the outlet chnnnel, and whorover practicable and funds are available live-foot contours should bo sketched of tho, Held. With such a map the engineer can determine the best outlet und route for thu proposed chnnnol. On this map tho location for tho proposed drains enn bo laid out, their grade, slzo and npproxlmato cost determined, aftor which tho ditch mny bo staked out on tho ground, making such minor changes ns aro found necessnry by closer study of tho route. Where 11 dotnlled survey has been mado und tho notes platted It Is economy to establish es-tablish n few permanent marks, from which tho survey could bo contltiuod, or nnothor engineer nt somo futuro tlmo could take up the work where It lias been left oft without having to duplicate that which has already been done. Land owners should select points for these marks whera thero Is little danger of their being molested and then seo to it that they nro pro-sorved. pro-sorved. Farmers as a rule do not realize the advantages In prosorvlng sitrvoy monuments. mon-uments. This fact iiloiiu has been tho causa of a wasto of much money by tho duplication of work. Surveys for drnlnngo often costing several hundreds of dollars, have frequently been made, und where the construction construc-tion work wns not carried out tho notes mid plats were never filed und no permanent mark left. When the work Is taken up n few years later, It Is necessary to duplicate tho survey. A few additional dollars spent In making permanent innrks und In preparing pre-paring tho records for tiling would linvo preserved the entire work for future use. In maly cases an engineer Is employed em-ployed to stake out a drain on n route which Is supposed to bo the best one, no examination Is mado for another route or outlet, tho area of tho watershed Is not looked up. As a result tho size of tho ditch Is merely mere-ly a guusB. Time may develop the fact that tho best routo was not selected, uml tho ditch Is either too largo or too small, uml consequently does not perform Its work satisfactorily. A ditch being Improperly located either doos not drnln nil tho laud It should, or Is exponslvo to construct or maintain. |