A Ditch, a Dam and the Fight to Keep Calispel Dry

Messrs. O. A. Onesrud, D. E. Rice and Joshua Beeman, commissioners of Diking District No. 2, held an executive session Monday and listened to a partial report of Engineer Manning. The engineer reported it feasible and it could be the better done, to handle the waters of Calispel river by ditch instead of pump. The ditch would be taken out above Calispel falls and would be 4 miles in length. The engineer was not yet ready to submit estimate of cost, either of ditch or dam across the Calispel river to shut out the backwater of the Pend Oreille. J. Beeman was empowered to go to Colville to consult with the commissioners and prepare the way for bringing the matter before the superior court. The matter of locating the site of the dam, either at the crossing of the county road or the railroad bridge, was left to the discretion of Commissioner Onesrud. Arrangements have already been made with the railroad company for placing it at the railroad bridge should it be deemed the better place. There remains yet the measurement of the number of acres benefited by the construction of the dike. Commissioner Onesrud, who was seen by a Times representative, said the commission was not yet ready to give figures to the public, but he was emphatic in the opinion that the diking proposition was entirely practicable, both as to engineering questions and as to costs. —Calispel Valley Times.