Calispel Votes Again to Hold Back the Water
Property owners back a diking district 31 to 2, setting up a court survey and a railroad partnership to protect lowland farms from overflow.
Property owners of Calispel Diking District No. 2 again voted on the question of forming a diking district to protect their lands from overflow, and the proposition was carried by a vote of 31 to 2. The matter is now in shape to take up in the superior court of the county, and for the making of an official survey to determine just what territory shall be included in the district.
The I.W.N. railroad officials have expressed their intention of co-operating in every way to assist in the project, and will build abutments in their bridges over the valley streams, which will facilitate the installing of dams and pumping outfits to take out the water from the small streams, while the dams are closed to keep out the waters of the Pend Oreille.
“The proposition was carried by a vote of 31 to 2.”
Flood-control districts are still how rural Washington pools money and legal authority to protect low ground, and the 31-to-2 vote shows how local consensus can move a project toward court and survey. With climate-driven flooding now raising the stakes, the old question remains: who pays for the dikes, and whose land is saved?
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