Bethel University - Spire Yearbook (St Paul, MN)

Page 10 text:

THE ACORN $ under the canal. Mr. Johnson was silting on the gate as John came riding slowly up. Hello there.” shouted Mr. Johnson while John was yet far away, “I thought you would he coming soon, for 1 saw the water rising in the canal. How are you anyway— you look so tired?” Thank you,” said John, I am all right only a little hungry. You see I have not had a bite to eat since five o'clock this morning.” Ha! Ila! Is that all that ails the boy. Come right up to the house and my wife will have you feeling fine in a jiffy. You take your horse up to the barn and care for him while I go and tell Mary to get some grub ready.” When John had refreshed himself, he continued °n his round until he had been to all the farmers. He stayed at Johnson’s over night. The next morning John got up about three o’clock to look at the water. To his dismay he found that the water in the ditches was much lower than it had been the previous evening. He quickly saddled his horse and started off up the ditch to see what the matter. Either several of the farmers had opened there gates, or else the canal had washed out. The morning was very cold and damp. No rain had yet fallen, but it looked as if it might start at any moment. John rode on with feverish haste. He felt how the horse shivered from exhaustion; still he did not stop. What were a few hardships on his part, or the life of a horse, compared with all those magnificent crops. The rain soon began to fall and made the banks so wet that the horse slipped at almost every step. When John came to the side-hill he kept right on riding on the bank, because be could there better see if the water was increasing or not. although he knew that the horse might at any moment slip on the narrow bank and plunge headlong down the forty foot dike. The flow of water was steadily de- creasing as he went on. If all the water was rushing down that high bank, there certainly was no hope of stopping it by band. And just think what an opening it was making in the canal bank, and how many farms would not be destroyed by the runaway stream! There were many farms, also ditches, aiul levees, which it had taken years of hard labor to construct, that would be utterly destroyed. Then there were those larger farms, and especially that big company farm. Suppose the water was running over them. Their owners would sue the canal company for immense sums of money. These thoughts filled his mind as he rode on, blaming himself because he had not ridden up the canal the night before, instead of resting. As he rode on he heard a sound louder than the noise made by the wind and the rain. What was it? When lie came nearer he heard the roar of falling water. His worst fears were realized. The canal had washed out. and with terrible force the water was over-running acre upon acre of grain. He scarcely glanced at the tremendous wash-out as he hurried with the same feverish haste to the first waste canal, three miles farther up, to turn off the water. (The waste canals are dug at intervals along the main canal and into these, the water is turned at any emergency. They conduct the water to the river or some slough where it can do noharm). When John had the water running safely down this waste ditch, he telephoned up to headquarters, telling them of the wash-out and that they could use all the water, since it would only go to waste where he was. There was now a general stir-up througn-out the settlements below the washout. “What's the matter with the water? Where is that old ditch-rider.” were the words the farmers greeted one another with when they chanced to meet. Soon the awful truth was learned. Wagons, loaded with

Page 9 text:

THE A C 0 R N 7 f aimers were already in an ugly mood at seeing so much water passing them and and going to those below. As far as John could see there would be less water every day. 'Phis made it necessary that ho lower the gates of each farm as lie went down that those below might at least get some water. As he rode along the high side-hill he reflected on all these things. There were no gates along tins hill, as the fanners below received their water from another canal. All he had to do was to watch for gopher holes or other crevices through which the water might be making its way. Xow and then he would see some water coming out of the high bank. He knew it came from the canal, but just where It stained, it sometimes took hours to find out. Sometimes, as he was trying to find the hole, he would see the stream at the foot of the high bank increase. This hastened his anxiety. What if he could not find the opening until it was so large that he could not stop it with a shovel. This, of course, would mean a washout, which at this critical time was the worst thing that could happen, it was nearly noon when lie arrived at the first gate. He was tired and out of humor. The farmer who took his water through this ga‘e had ordered two hundred inches, but as there was only about one halt as much water in the canal as it would take to fill all that was ordered, he bad to half shut the gate. lie was in the act of doing this when he saw the farmer coming up the ditch with long strides. Good morning, Mr. Scheidiger. said John. What have you mit all the water done? said Scheidiger without answering the greeting. —and here have you my gate nearly shut. What do you crazy ditch-riders do anyway? My crop is drying, yet you just put n ' gate down all the time. I will go to Benton to sue the company, and they will have to pay for my whole crop. Then I will find out if they can’t hire common sensahle men lor ditch-riders.” To tliis volley of threats, John gave no answer. He simply rode on, warning Mr. Scheidiger not to meddle with the lock on the gale. At the next gate he found a trench dug around the gate from the canal into the ditch. He had filled up the trench, entirely shut the gate, and was putting a sign or • .No Trcaspassing on it when the farmer’s sen ai rived at the place. John paid no attention to the young man. but kept right n wi h his work. The young farmer looked at the filled trench with a guilty look. He evidently felt to humilatod at being caught in the theft to have courage enough to censure John for closing the gate. When .John was done, he looked around and said, Hello Jack, nice dry weather we are having. isn’t it? Yes, the weather is dry enough. said Jack, and so are the ditches.” Weil, some cl them at least, were not dry during the night, replied John. I don’t care if they weren’t. We did not have half our share of the water after you meddled with the gate yesterday. It is just like father says, you are always helping those fellows down along the canal, so they get more than their share of the water. Hut just wait till we have threshed and find our kernels are dried up little things, that won t weigh anything. Then they will tell us how poor farmers we are.” John replied, “Well. I am not here to say who can farm best. 1 am here to look after this canal, and I will do it. If anyone I as not got more respect for right and law than to steal water from his neighbors as you did here last night. I have the right to close his gates. And that is just what I have done.” At nearly every gate John had some encounter. He was getting very tired and his horse was about to drop in his tracks. About five o’clock in the afternoon he arrived at Johnson’s one of tlie last farmers

Page 11 text:

THE ACORN 9 all kinds of ditching machinery, were soon on their way to the scene of the washout. The ground around the washout was too wet to drive on, so a plank bridge was made below the bank. Sacks were now brought, filled with dirt and hauled to the washout on the plank bridge. Here now began the construction of a bank of sacks. Load upon load of sacks was brought and piled up, until late that night, a bank forty feet high and over six feet wide at the top was ready. A thick layer of wet dirt was now placed over the sacks inside the canal and then canvass was spread over the whole so that no chance whatever would be given the water to break out again. The water had been turned on before the work was finished and almost as soon as the last canvass was laid the water passed by the washout. The water had only been running a few minutes when a small stream was seen trickling out at the foot of the sack bank. John and several others immediately plunged into the water and began to tramp around hoping to find the place where it started. In spite of all their efforts the stream at the foot of the bank kept steadily increasing. Soon the suction of the water was so hard that it caused a small whirlpool in the canal. This led to the speedy discovery of the hole. Several sacks filled with dirt were quickly thrown into it. Then the water was completely stopped with loose dirt put upon the sacks. The washout was repaired, and the next morning John was again riding down the canal, having his usual scraps with the farmers. FROM COLOGNE TO MAINZ FREDA SWENSON. A. B. From across the Rhine, the towers of the magnificent cathedral of Cologne greeted us, in the twilight, long before we reached Deutz and crossed the bridge into Cologne, the German Koln. This is an old city, full of historical memories, dating back to the days of the Romans, when it was merely a Roman camp, and later a Roman colony, Colonia Agrippina, called after the wife of Emperor Claudius. It was dark and raining. when our train pulled in at the Central Bahnhof. and we went directly to our hotel, one block from the cathedral square. The next morning found us early visitors at the cathedral, which is the chief object of interest in the city. It is built in the form of a cross, and is considered one of the finest Gothic edifices in Europe. But how is It possible to describe this amazing magnificence. when even in seeing it. the mind and the imagination seem unable to fathom the wonder in the builder’s art. without, towers extending toward the heavens, and within, lofty pillars, chapels, richly colored windows, monuments, figures and decorations of stone! We shall leave it to you to visit, to see and to describe. There was some disappointment for us. in that the day set for our trip up the Rhine was a rainy one, but the varying, picturesque and interesting sights along the river, compelled us to forget this. The first stopping-place was the neighboring Bonn, the “city of the Muses,” a university town, and to music lovers, the birthplace of Beethoven. Here, several tourists boarded our small but comfortable boat, crowded with passengers, most of whom were English or American. We passed the little town of Godesberg. with the steep cliff and the ruins of some old castle, bearing the same name, and soon saw on our left the “Siebengebirge,” whose high summits at one time were crowded with castles, but only on one of these are the ruins still remaining. Legends say that these mountains are the rocky ground, which seven giants, in answer to the people’s prayers, dug out