Canadian government to reclaim flooded land
From the Bonners
Ferry Herald
June 1, 1912
Government Is Interested
That the Canadian government will soon undertake the work of reclaiming the thousands of acres of land in the vicinity of Creston which are overflowed each year by the waters of the Kootenai river is the word which has reached this city the first week of the week when Guy Lowenberg and George Huscroft of Creston arrived here to investigate proposed reclamation work on this side of the border line.
The Canadian government proposes to widen the outlet of Kootenai Lake and dredge parts of the river below the lake where the channel is not wide enough to permit the flow of the high waters of the spring and summer. By so doing it is believed that 45,000 acres of rich bottom land can be reclaimed and at a very small cost. Most of this land is owned by the Canadian government.
Would Form
New District
Plans are now being formulated for the organization of a new drainage district in the Kootenai Valley which will include the overflowed lands lying on the west side of the Kootenai river from the city limits of Bonners Ferry to the section lines of Section 26, Township 64, range 1 west. This territory will take in about 14,000 acres.
The lands of the proposed new district are held by about 30 people. Some of these property owners have been interviewed by those interested in the securing of the new drainage district and have expressed themselves as being willing to have their holdings included in it.
The proposed new drainage district is now included in Drainage District No. 6. It is believed that reclamation work of a small district can be accomplished quicker than that of a larger district, and if the proposed district is organized every effort will be made to push the works as rapidly as possible so as to demonstrate the feasibility of various theoretical drainage plans.
It is not probable that an attempt to organize the new district will be made until after the sessions of the next legislature for it is hoped that the laws governing the formation of drainage districts may be changed so as to conform with the requirements of the reclamation work in the Kootenai Valley.
Observe
Memorial Day
Memorial Day was more generally observed in Bonners Ferry this year than ever before in the history of the town. The stores were all closed at noon yesterday and at 2 o'clock a number of citizens went to the cemetery to decorate the graves of the old soldiers and of departed friends.
Briefs
William Rath, a prominent resident of Porthill, was a business visitor in the city on Tuesday.
J. F. Cook, formerly in the drug store business in this city and for a number of years the Bonners Ferry postmaster, arrived here Wednesday from Washington, D. C. (Note: J. F. Cook, a mulatto, also served on the Bonners Ferry City Council and Chairman of the Board for 12 years. P.F.).
The school board has not altogether given up the matter of installing the domestic science and manual training departments and it is possible that some arrangement will be made so that these two departments will be added to the curriculum of next year.
Dan Landon, conductor for the Spokane International railway between Eastport and Spokane, was a visitor in the city Tuesday. Mr. Landon has a fine ranch near this city. (Note: In 1909 Dan Landon owned what is now the Three Mile Junction which was included in the 160 acres of Uriah Edward's homestead he had purchased.