Originally published in The Vidette-Messenger of Porter County on April 9, 1941.
LONG-DELAYED WORK ON SALT CREEK BEGINS
City Officials, Farmers On Hand for Ceremony Late Tuesday Afternoon.
The epochal event in the annals of Valparaiso and Center township took place Tuesday afternoon about 5 o’clock when the first shovel full of dirt was hoisted out of the bottom of Salt Creek, marking the initial step in the cleanout of the ditch over an eight-mile course.
The colorful ceremony took place on Hagen Road, two and a half miles west of Valparaiso, and about half a mile north of the Lincoln Hills Country Club. Present were Dr. C. L. Bartholomew, mayor of Valparaiso; J. A. Fleishbein, city attorney; George Jungjohan, city councilman William Brown, Keith Brown and Albert Wagner, farmers living in the vicinity; E. Zimmerman, Sr., and Paul B. Pattee representative of The Vidette-Messenger; John R. Fabing, engineer at Valparaiso Camp 20, Soil Conservation Service, and Dale Pearson, of the San Pierre Cement Products company, which has the digging contract.
Start Today
This morning work started in earnest with Pearson in charge of the big link belt dragline, equipped with a 45-foot boom, digging huge chunks out of the creek bottom and along the jagged sides. The digging was begun east of the bridge on the Hagen Road, but plans call for a cleanout of the ditch to a point about 700 feet west of the bridge.
Some idea of the size of the proposed cleanout may be gained from a statement made by Engineer Fabing that the main ditch is 45,000 feet in length or over eight miles, while the laterals are 12,970 feet, or two and one-half miles long.
Land - Owners Bear Cost
A total of 130,451 cubic yards of dirt will be removed from the main channel of the ditch, and 15,490 cubic yards from the laterals. The bottom width of the ditch at the lower end, in the Hagen road vicinity, will be 20 feet. This width narrows down to around three feet at the upper end at State Road 49, near the Stoner farm, south-east of Valparaiso.
The cost of the project is being borne by land owners living along Salt Creek, which also includes the city of Valparaiso. They are paying $5,690.70 for the rental of the dragline. The city’s share of the undertaking is $2,725, which sum was appropriated last fall and approved by the state tax board.
On the other hand the federal go ornament is paying the wages of the dragline operator, furnishing all gasoline and supplies for the digger CCC labor and engineering.
Is Flood Project
Salt Creek ditch was originally built in 1905 and 1906 at a cost of $17,000 following its establishment in Porter circuit court in 1904. Previous to that it was a natural creek.
The ditch at the present time affords drainage for 22.7 square miles of farmland, in addition to the city of Valparaiso. The waters from the ditch empty into Burns Ditch, which in turn find their way into Lake Michigan.
The primary purpose of the cleanout, engineers said, is to prevent farm lands from being overflowed. At present the creek is low, but nevertheless a swift stream of water about 12 feet wide and at various depths flows in the lower part in the Hagen Road section. Springs at the upper end provide a considerable part of the water and Valparaiso drainage and additions from several streams, notably Sager’s Lake overflow, provide accretions.
The design of the ditch cleanout was worked out by engineers at Valparaiso Camp 20, Soil Conservation Service, the Porter county engineer and Valparaiso city engineer. The ditch as planned is expected to take care of floods of a 10-year frequency.
EVERYBODY'S HAPPY AS SALT CREEK JOB BEGINS
While onlookers grinned at the cameraman, His Honor, C. L. Bartholomew, mayor of Valparaiso, fiddled with gadgets operating the giant power shovel which will dredge Salt Creek. The mayor was scheduled to be on hand at 4 o’clock to turn the first shovel full of dirt but in the press of business affairs he forgot the appointment and it wasn’t until after 5 p.m. that the ceremony got underway. Shown above are Engineer John Fabing and the mayor at the controls of the shovel; Councilman George Jungjohan and City Attorney J.A. Fleishbein standing in the door of the cab; Eng Zimmerman, Dr., reporter; William Brown and Keith Brown, farmers whose land adjoins the creek. The lower photo gives some idea of the size of the equipment to be used on the job.
