Montana farmer-stockman. [volume], November 01, 1951, Image 1

About Montana farmer-stockman. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1947-1993

Image provided by: Montana Historical Society; Helena, MT

                
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Ü, S. Rang« Livestock Experiment station
dikes installed on Sadie bottom near Miles
- City. The water flowing toward the Yellow«
stone river (left top) is stopped by the first
dike oil the right. The water that doesn't
soak into the soil then runs "through pipes
in the right dike and into the area to its
left above the second dike and so on until
it covers the entire area.
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Dikes Do It All
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Water flowing from the water shed above the dikes cut this
deep channel in just one year from where O. W. Monson. left,
head of agricultural engineering at Montana State college and
J. R. Quesenberry, station superintendent, are standing to
the immediate foreground.
Automatic Floodwater Irrigation
Triples Range Carrying Capacity
WATER COLLECTED and held by an ingenious arrangement of
dikes, is expected to treble the carrying capacity of poor grazing
land of the U, S. Range Livestock Experiment station at Miles City,
according to J. R. Quesenberry,- superintendent.
This grazing land is located on Sadie bottom. The land in the
watershed above is rough and broken. Because of the nature of the
soil, water from rains soaks in very little. Because of this, the water
rushes to the Yellowstone river whenever it rains. On its way to
the river it cuts a deep channel and carries away good top soil. The
heavier the rain, the deeper the cutting and the more top soil carried
away.
This watershed has about 3,200 acres. The average rainfall there
is about 12 inches a year. Now that the dikes are installed the
water from that 3,200-acre watershed is collected and allowed to
soak into about 900 acres of Sadie bottom.
Each dike is on a contour and level, except at the ends. The ends
curve upward until they are about a foot higher than the rest of
the dike. When it rains the water runs down the watershed until
it is stopped by the first dike. The dike holds it until it backs up
the slope, covering the area above the dike thoroughly.
To keep the water from being held too long, there are pipes
through each dike about every 1,000 feet. These pipes let the water
run through each dike so it can be impounded by the dike im
mediately below it. • _ •
If the rain is heavy enough, the water is backed up until it covers
all the area between the dikes. If there is too much rain, the water
runs around the - ends of each dike and (Please turn to page 29)
S MONTANA AND NORTHERN WYOMING
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This shows the 2-foot dikes, the barrow pits holding water after the rest of the
rain water had soaked into the soil to both left and right of the dike. (Montana
state college photos)
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