Lögberg-Heimskringla - 18.08.1960, Blaðsíða 7

LÖGBERG-HEIMSKRINGLA, FIMMTUDAGINN 18. ÁGÚST 1960
7
SKULI SIGFUSSON,
former M.L.A. for Sl. George,
Maniloba:
On Controlling
Referring to an article
which appeared in Lögberg-
Heimskringla on June 16th
regarding Lake Manitoba I
am giving an account of my
°wn experience in this mat-
ter. I have lived in the neigh-
bourhood of Lake Manitoba
for seventy-four years and
the behaviour of the lake has
done me as much damage as
it has to any other individuaj.
On that account I think I can
tell a true story of the dis-
asters and setbacks we have
had from high water on the
shores of Lake Manitoba.
I settled here in the year
1887 and at that time the lake
Was lower than it has ever
been since. In fact people
could walk across the Fair-
ford River in ordinary work
shoes without getting their
feet wet. In the year 1890 we
had wet season and the lake
rose until the high peak of
1902 when all the haying and
grazing lands near the lake
Were drowned out. This flood
lasted two years. In 1924 it
began to rise again, but not
seriously until 1953 when the
lake rose even higher than in
1902 and lasted for three years.
fact the level of the lake
r°se approximately six feet.
Many settlers were compelled
to sell much of their livestock
and other evacuated well-
ostablished farms.
In 1903 the people around
Lake Manitoba requested
their representative Theodore
Burrows, who later was lieu-
tenant governor, to see that
s°me method of lowering the
lake was begun. He acted
Promptly, and the following
year, 1904, a contract was
given to a man named Louis
He Moines, of Montreal. He
started on this work the fol-
lowing year and soon found
that he had not realized the
immense amount of lime-
stone rock that had to be re-
^oved. As limestone cutting
ls much more expensive than
earth-moving he soon became
bankrupt. He was required to
make a new channel on the
south end of a rocky reef
which stretched over the
^aouth of the Fairford River.
Át that time people were only
asking for relief from high
'vater, but with years of ex-
Perience with this lake they
somewhat changed their ideas
and now they are asking for
full control of the outflow of
the lake. Some people under-
stand this to be more expen-
sive but that is not true. We
ho not want too much water
taken out of the lake, but, be-
fore anything is done, people
have to come to an agreement
as to what should be the
established level of the lake.
Lake Manitoba
This level should let out sur-
plus water but not dry out the
lake or in any way damage
the fishing of the lake.
The writer of this article
had a half days conversation
with Mr. Cameron, engineer,
who thoroughly understood
the proposition. He pointed
out that the most appropriate
water level would be 811 feet
above sea level. The lake could
not do any damage at that
height and would not harm
fishing. I thoroughly agreed
with him on that point.
Now I’d like to explain the
situation on the Fairford
River. There is a rocky reef
running across the river
where the water flowed out
of the lake. This reef is ap-
proximately 150 feet in width.
The width of the river was
370 feet where the water
flowed out of the lake and it
could not take the drainage
which came from creeks and
rivers that carried surplus
water from the land. In the
year 1934 a bridge was built
across the river and the out-
let was widened to let more
water through. The length of
this bridge is 426 feet and six
inches.
I cannot see that the control
of Lake Manitoba is more ex-
pensive than lowering the
lake by making another chan-
nel. All that is needed is to
widen the outlet maybe two
or three hundred feet and to
lower the rock bar or gravel
so that it would maintain the
lake at 811 feet above sea
level. If the flow is sufficient-
ly wide the channel will carry
out the water coming into the
lake from Lake Winnipegosis
and other sources without
raising the level of Lake Win-
nipeg much, if the water came
gradually. On the other hand,
if the water is allowed to rise
five or six feet in Lake Mani-
toba over the ordinary level,
it could make a considerable
difference on Lake Winnipeg.
Previous to 1910 the Gyps-
um rock was brought on
boats and barges from the
north end of Lake Manitoba
to Westbourne and then ship-
ped to Winnipeg by train. In
places the lake was a little
shallow so the company is
said to have undertaken to
sink three barge loads of rock
at the mouth of the river to
raise the level of the lake.
The truth of this story I can
not substantiate myself, but
two of the men working at it
told me of this being done.
One of these men is still liv-
ing, althojagh this is supposed
to have taken place over five
years previous to the time
that the Canadian National
Railway was built to Gypsum-
ville. The rock pile that is
there hinders the water to
flow more freely. To remove
this rock may be all that is
needed to let more water flow
out. Anyway, this would be
worth investigating.
It’s not nearly as costly to
widen the river as the pro-
posed government plan to
make the new channel north
of the main outlet. I had the >
land north of the main out-
let surveyed and sounded
with a steel rod every 100
feet, for rock bottom, in the s
year 1916. The channel would
have to be dug approximately
two miles, that is, until it
reaches patridge Crop Lake
below the railway bridge. The
way I see it, Lake Manitoba
can be controlled easily, as I
mentioned before, by lower-
ing the rock bar at the mouth
of the river, and by giving the
channel a wider flow. The
water would flow over that
barrier when the lake is too
high and it would stop run-
ning when it reached the level
of the rock and therefore
would always be maintained
at a reasonable height.
There is a sufficient fall
from this outlet of the river
to Lake Winnipeg, hence, the
water would come into that
lake gradually and wouldn’t
be noticed much except in ex-
tremely wet seasons. This
would cost less money than
any estimate I’ve heard and
is more practical. It’s true
that the bridge over the river
would have to be lengthened,
but there is very little danger
of ice drifting, therefore, the
bridge wouldn’t be carried
away. /
As for the possibility of
hydro development, there is
no place on Lake Manitoba
where that is feasible, but
there is more water power in
the Nelson River than Mani-
toba will ever need. There are
at least five or six places, the
first place being Whitemud
Fall at Cross Lake. A survey
was made of that in 1916 by
the Norris Government. The
engineers gave a report that
Whitemud Fall could give
5,000,000 horsepower and in
addition there are at least five
more possible sites on the
same river.
As to raising Lake Winni-
peg, it is not a necessity. Al .
the surplus water from the
Rocky Mountains comes
through Saskatchewan, Mani-
toba, and east of Lake Winni-
peg for about 200 miles. There
are no less than fourteen riv-
ers, big and small, that carry
the water from the east. Fur-
thermore, there is the Winni-
peg River which is now being
developed. Should it be found
out the water doesn’t come
fast enough from Lake Winni-
peg into the Nelson River a
channel could be made from
Limestone Bay over a grassy
reef into Grassy Lake. What
could bring the water faster
to the Whitemud Fall if it is
developed?
If my recollection is right
Lake Winnipeg is somewhere
from sixty to seventy feet
higher than the Whitemud
Fall on the Nelson River. To
get the water to flow faster
would require a channel
which is only a short piece in-
ito Grassy Lake. Grassy Lake
'is on the same level as the
Nelson River above White-
mud Falls. This would add.
. considerably to the water
which could produce hydro
power. It was customary in
the olden days for the Hudson
Bay Transportation boats to
come through Grassy Lake
and transport their boats over
the rocky reef into Limestone
Bay. This route was much
shorter than following the
Nelson River, across Lake
Winnipeg to the west shore
and then following the shore
up to Selkirk Island. When
coming from the north, they
had to transport to the Sas-
katchewan River and from
there up that River all the
way to Edmonton. It would be
wise for Mr. Kuiper and the
surveyors to investigate this
possibility before they recom-
mend to raise Lake Winnipeg.
Bjargstakkur, merkileg
íslenzk uppfinning
Fréttamenn mættu í gær
inn við Sundlaugar, þar sem
Gísli H. Friðbjarnarson, fram-
kvæmdastjóri Múlalundar,
sýndi þeim nýjung, sem hann
hefir fundið upp. Nýjungin er
sjóstakkur úr gallonefni. Inn-
an á stakknum er komið fyrir
eins konar björgunarbelti,
sem er soðið á hann. Undir
handarkrikanum er lítið hylki
með pressuðu lofti (kolsýra)
og þegar tappinn er dreginn
úr hylkinu, streymir loftið inn
í beltið, sem er eins og fóður
innan á stakknum, og þenst
það út samstundis, og virkar
sem björgunarbelti.
Gísli klæddist stakknum;
sem er léttur og að öllu öðru
leyti sem venjulegur stakkur,
og stakk sér í laugina. Er
hann var kominn útí, hleypti
hann lofti í beltið. Beltið
þandist út og Gísli flaut eins
og korktappi, enda þótt hann
væri í stígvélum og öllum
útbúnaði.
SÍBS mun framleiða þessa
stakka, en Gísli hefir þegar
sótt um einkaleyfi á þeim;
eru þeir nefndir Bjargstakkar.
Eftir er að vita hvort þessir
stakkar reynast heppilegir í
vinnu á sjó, en margt virðist
benda til þess. Stakkurinn á
að halda manni uppi þótt
hann sér meðvitundarlaus. Á
stakkana verður sett sjálflýs-
andi efni, svo hægara verði
að leita að manni, sem fellur
útbyrðis í dimmu.
Virðist hér vera um merka
uppfinningu að ræða.
Þjóðviljinn, 1. júlí
I was not born yesterday =
ég er eldri en tvævetur.
Kill two birds with one stone
= slá tvær flugur í einu
höggi.
Some are wise, and some are
olherwise = sumir eru
vitrir og sumir eru öðruvísi.
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