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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Exeter Times-Advocate, 1952-07-10, Page 5■■r Threatened with the renewal of the Haigmeir suit for flood damages, the Ausable Valley Authority took desperate steps at its recent meeting to imple­ ment control measures along the Parkhill Creek System of the river. The body approved the ap­ pointment of an independent en­ gineer to determine costs and benefits of a major dam near Parkhill. If such a project is undertaken, it will cost hund­ reds of dollars, which will be shared by the municipalities in the watershed and the Province of Ontario. To acquaint its readers with the background of the flood con­ ditions, The Times-Advocate re­ prints here the research made available in the 19 49 report, to­ gether with the recommendations made by the Department of Plan­ ning and Development. It should be explained that Dr. L. C. Haigmeir, owner of 5,- 000 acres in McGillivray, has threatened to proceed with a million-dollar suit against muni­ cipalities in the watershed if there is no tangible indication that corrective measures are be­ ing taken. This suit originally precipitated the formation of the authority. The serious flood problem on the Ausable Watershed is con­ fined to an area of approximat­ ely 6,9 20 acres situated in the low-lying land inshore from the sand dune area near the origi­ nal mouth of the river. Three areas, which are usually con­ sidered seperately, are the ham­ let of Port Franks, the Thedford Flats, and the Klondyke area of which the Haig Farm forms a large part. A fourth area which is quite local is the town of Parkhill. This constitutes a nui­ sance flood and disrupts some in­ dustries- for a short time but is not of the magnitude of the other three. Before dealing with these sections separately it would be well to review the his­ tory of this part of the water­ shed and particularly the natural features of the area before it came under cultivation. The flats are believed to have been represented by a bay in the shore of a higher post-glacial stage of Lake Huron, which was cut off from the lake by a bar, which forms dunes along the present shore. This lagoon be­ came partially filled with allu­ vial and peat deposits leaving what was originally Lake Bur­ well, approximately ten feet above the level of Lake Huron, (the lake is believed to have stretched as far south as Port Franks. The present Lake Smith occupied the northern end of the old bed.) In addition to the large area occupied by Lake Burwell itself the area immediately surround­ ing the 'lake was marsh, thickly covered with aquatic plants, and beyond this was an extensive swamp forest composed of soft maple, elm, cedar, tamarack, and willow. The whole area therefore was originally wild swamp flats merging with the Jake which was periodically cov­ ered by flood waters in spring and summer, as .they debouched into this low-lying basin. Thus, this old flood area, like so many others on the rivars of Ontario belonged by anbient. right to the river and by the gra­ dual enroachment of farming, necessary and useful as it is, in­ volves a project of protection which is difficult to solve, be­ cause in dojng so, man is pitting himself against the powerful forces of nature. By this, it is [ not intended to imply that such flood problems cannot be solved, but it should be borne in mind that where nature in the form F*«<> 5the T1MES-ADVOCATE, gXETER, ONTARIO, THURSDAY MORNING, JULY 10, 1952 of large rivers is brought with­ in bounds, the cost usually ex­ cessive, and sometimes the money required to accomplish such control outweighs the bene­ fits to be achieved. Where this is the case, some measure of re­ lief can be achieved, but usually a compromise must be made amounting to half measures. Because this part of the river valley was known to have flood­ ed in early times- to the extent that passage up the lower reach­ es was well-nigh impossible ow­ ing to the accumulation of de­ bris in the Lake Burwell sec­ tion, it can be truthfully stated that flooding of this area can be considered and act of God; and therefore, as far as the lands are concerned the damage is com­ parable to that of hail in the western provinces and late and early frosts in the tobacco lands. Settlement And Drainage When it became known that these lands were desirable for agricultural purposes, drainage was undertaken on a large scale. First in 1872-5, Company built a cut along its present course to ~ thereby draining and creating the Thedford Flats. This cut diverted all the water from the Ausable and allowed it to pour down directly to the old mouth of the river, seriously flood lage. In made Grand with the Cut made in tually River main Ausable flowing directly into the lake at Port Franks the Parkhill Creek and its bntaries flowing down the channel to Grand Bend. In addition to these two jor cuts other large drains have been excavated, not to mention the extensive tile drains on in­ dividual farms, which are essen­ tial in such flat low-lying the Canada Port Franks, Lake Burwell an area known as Flats. hazards in the 1892 another at the hairpin Bend, which increasing above vil- separated the into two systems- cut was curve at together 1875 vir- Ausable -the and tri- old ma- land. Flooded Areas The Tiled ford Flats This reclaimed marshland is very fertile and returns are high from specialized crops of celery, onions, root crops and pepper­ mint. Of the 2,450 acres affect­ ed by the 19 4 7 flood, 77 per cent (or 1,890 arces), is under this intensive cultivation. The remaining 560 acres would be suitable for the same crops if they were broken up. The greatest damage in the old Lake Burwell summer flash floods. is done area by Breakup freshets are accepted as inevit­ able and even welcomed for the fertilizing effect of the silt de­ posited, as well as the supply of sub-soil moisture ensured. In addition, they occur before the ground is normally workable so that there is little loss of the farmer’s time. The summer floods, although lower and less extensive, cause heavy losses to sown crops, making re-sowing or substitution of a quicker grow­ ing crop necessary. The 1947 June floods, though only reach­ ing an elevation of 585 feet, five feet above lake level at that time, covered 500 acres in the most heavily cultivated parts. It affected a large number of grow­ ers as part of this area is work­ ed 10 and 20 acre plots by vil­ lagers of Thedford and neigh­ bouring farmers. An indication of the amount of possible loss is the fact that a grower may live in Thedford and derive his cash income from as little as five acres, returns varying from $200 per acre for sugar beets to $2,- 000 per acre for dutch sets. In the case of spring freshets the water rises in the river channel south of the Canada Company Cut and overflows over a length of 1,500 feet at Black’s Bridge in Lot 26/27, Concession 1, Township of Williams West, flowing northwest and spread­ ing west into th© flats area, joining the water backed up the drainage ditches from the cut. Of the remaining flow down the river, at the highest stage, not more than 20 per cent overflows down the old channel to the Klondyke Area, the balance flow­ ing down the put. The Cut has sufficient capacity to contain the flow until the low ground of the Lake Burwell bed is reach­ ed and water backs up the drain­ age ditches onto the flats. North of the Cut, water backs up the Teitzel Drain to tween lots 20 and east end of that point the higher Haig Farm area back up the De- fore Drain, overflow the road and make their way to the Cut. The Klondyke Area rrhe Klondyke area consists of 7,500 acres, about half of which is under cultivation, on the old Ausable channel and lower Park­ hill Creek—locally knokn as the Ptsebe—and includes the greater part of the flooded area of acres or 7.59 square (1947). With the exception of a amount of water flows down, the channel from the Cut, all the flood from the Ptsebe system and two small creeks which empty into the old Ptsebe. Spring elevation above Lake Huron and 2 'feet above the flood water in the Thedford Flats area. The water first rises out of the channel near the junction of the Ptsebe and Old Ausable and covers the flats on both sides of the river. To the west it backs up the De- fore Drain, across the Klondyke road south of the Haig Farm office and spills into Smith Lake/ Part flows to the south along the upper part of the De- fore Drain and overflows the New Road between Lots 20/21 and makes its way to the Cut through the Teitzel Drain. Summer floods as in the Thed­ ford Flats are lower but equally costly. In June, 19 47, water rose to an elevation of 5 87 feet covering about 900 acres, most of which was in crop. (Two oth­ er areas are also affected by floods, although damage is not excessive except: at Port Franks where severe bank erosion has harmed property. The other is at Parkhill Village.) the road be- 21 and to the road. At this waters of the 4,470 miles small over- Ausable which old head of the water comes Ausable below the flood water reaches an of 59 2 feet—12 feet area they are harvested. They are the result entirely of excessive rain­ fall over the watershed and in the case of the Ausable, two and one-half inches of continuous rain, depending upon the amount of moisture in the soil, will create a flood condition in the critical lands near the mouth of the river. In fact, the heavy loss of crops at this time of the year is responsible more than any other factor, for the urgency to solve the flood problem on the river. (The flood control measure now being considered by the Au­ sable Authority deals exclusively with the Parkhill Greek System which floods the area owned by Dr. L. C. Haigmeier. The latter’s suit for damages to his property by the 1947 flood was one ofby the 1947 flood was the precipitants of the Report and the formation of the jty. A recent threat to proceed with action on the suit, unless evidence of correction measures was shown, has spurred the Authority to consider projects along this system. The following excerpt deals with the Parkhill Creek System only and discusses suggested flood control meas­ ures. 1 Author- Creek 1.2 miles above its con­ fluence with the Old Ausable River at Devil’s Elbow, an over­ all distance of 9.56 miles. The channel would be dredged and widened uniformly from a 27- foot bottom width at the upper end to a 70-foot bottom width at Grand Bend. Designed to carry 10 feet of water through­ out, the channel would have a uniform slop of .014 per cent, and at a lake level of 580.0 it would safely discharge flows of the 1947 summer flood magni­ tude. Assuming that the excavat­ ed material may be disposed of along the banks, the estimated cost (1949) would be $267,501. McInnis Dam And Reservoir To reduce the peak summer flow of 2,470 c.f.s. to the pres­ ent channel" capacity of the old river bed would require approx­ imately 4,000 acre feet of stor­ age. rPhis amount of storage is available at several points along the upper part of the creek, but the McInnis site being closest to the flood problem would be the most suitable one. The dam for this reservoir would be located about 1.5 miles southwest of McInnis just east of the road between Lots 20/21, Concession 6 of McGillivray Township. At full capacity, the reservoir would have 20 feet of water at the dam and would extend back 3.0 miles on the north arm and 1.8 milest on the south arm, with a total surface area of 54 0 acres. This would be an earth-filled controlled dam with n concrete spillway section capable of dis­ charging 5,190 c.f.s. Estimated cost (1949) is $227,638. (The Ausable Authority, at its last meeting decided to ap­ point an independent engineer to determine costs and benefits from a major dam near Parkhill. As the report suggested, there are other places suitable for dams other than the McInnis area and these sites will be in­ vestigated by the engineer. Wil­ liam Haugh of Hay, chairman of the flood control advisory board of the authority, is the munici­ pal representative in charge of this project.) z • Portable Arc Welding •> • Acetylene Welding ® • Steel Fabrication ® • Machine Work ® • Grinding ® Marshall & Murray Machine EXETER ONTARIO ‘ap t r n H t i ' i E H n i i t i i i t i i t n i u i i t i i m t m t n i i n m i i t H t i i i i t t t i H u ' i i j n i n m u t u i u u n t n ! — ■■■■■" . ........................................ H S H. J. CORNISH & CO. CERTIFIED PUBLIC ACCOUNTANTS Types Of Floods Spring- Floods Spring floods^ are the ___ severe as regards volume of wat­ er. At this time of the year, the ground is either sealed with frost or saturated with moisture and if snowfall has been exces­ sive, the volume of water com­ ing down i$. correspondingly great. However, at this time of the year the lands which are subject to flooding are not in crop; and while water becomes a nuisance and creates hardship in getting about, the entire damage is not great to crop as floods which occur during the summer months. Such spring floods, however, always carry a certain amount of wilt which re­ presents, for the most part, the top soil of the farmlands far­ ther up the valley. Such floods are usually the cause of damage at Port Franks. Summer Flash Floods Floods of this type occur per­ iodically during the early spring and summer after the crops ha.ve been sown, or later on before Bend most Suggested Solutions Means of regulating flood flows in the Parkhill Creek Sys­ tem would be reservoirs and channel improvement. The flood­ ing here is more extensive than on the Ausable and will be more difficult to handle owing to the large uncontrolled portion of the watershed (approximately 50%) being situated below the trouble area but which contributes to the flooding of the latter and also because able storage There are into the Old nel between Parkhill Creek and Grand Bend. These streams have an average gradient of 17.5 feet per mile giving rise to a very heavy run­ off which soon fills the channel to, and often beyond its capacity. With the lower part of the chan­ nel full, the flow from the up­ stream areas is seriously ham­ pered and the water is backed up onto the low-lands in the vic­ inity of Devil’s Elbow. This old channel was proved in 1929 from above the tri-county bridge to Grand Bend, a total distance of 9.5 miles, at a total cost of $91,OK*. During the twenty years since this im­ provement the channel has been silted up places overgrown The actual capacity of nel has thereby been ably reduced. Thus it would see provide increased flow in the lower part of the Old Ausable River channel and to build dams and reservoir above to regulate the flow into this part of the Parkhill Creek system and j>rt- vent flooding of the lowland. Summer floods of the magni- ture of the 194 7.. one have a probable frequency of once in 1 2 years for the summer months and every year for the spring months at normal lake level. The capacity of the Old Ausable River channel at Grand Bend is estimated 1,200 c.f.s. The peak flow of the 194 7 summer flood was approximately 2,4 70 c.f.s. Therefore to prevent summer floods of this magnitude it will be necessary to (a) increase the present channel capacity from 1,200 c.f.s. to 2,470 c.f.s. or (h) provide a reservoir to reduce the peak flood flow from 2,4 70 c.f.s. to 1,200 c.f.s. Less Old River Bed Improvemeinil This plan would provide for an improved channel from Grand to a point on Parkhill of the lack of suit- above, six creeks emptying Ausable River chan- its confluence with irn- considerably and in with brush, the ch an­ con sid er- logical io LONDON, ONT.29 DUNDAS ST W ant to Keep YOUR Freedom? We like to sing about this Canada of oujs being "the true North rising free . It is a fine sentiment, and on the whole .it has been quite true, But our freedom is a thing which needs constant care lest it die here as it lias died in so many other countries through­ out history. 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