River in the Sky

River in the Sky. The river runs … slowly. Water flowed through the Brooks Aqueduct every year from 1915 until it was replaced in 1979. The engineers who built the Aqueduct planned a delivery rate of about 900 cubic feet (25 cu. m) of water per second. The Aqueduct never managed it. From the intake on its west end to the outlet on the east side, the change in elevation was only 5.5 feet (1.6 m), a gradient of just 0.01 percent. This meant the water did not flow very quickly on its own., The rough interior surface didn't help either. It caused friction, slowing the water down. And when the Aqueduct was running full, water slapped against the cross-struts creating even more friction. Even when the Eastern Irrigation District replaced some of the beams with steel ones mounted across the top of the bowl rather than inside it in the 1940s, the Aqueduct's flow never reached the projected rate. At its highest, it reached just 2/3 of it., That wasn't all. No one had counted on the weeds or silt, or the fish swimming through the system. As one man recalled, “each fall when they drained the irrigation canal, there was always quite a crowd that would gather at the aqueduck [sic] the place where it went under the railroad … this would trap all the fish that were in the canal.” When the staff opened the steel drainage doors the people waiting filled up sack after sack with fish. The River in the Sky really was acting like a river., Aquatic plants … just a fancy name for weeds ,

1923 “… chain dragging for weeds over 4½ miles of canal requiring 225 miles of canal chain dragged at a cost of $1019.25 … using a heavy chain 15 lbs per foot … Later used a lighter drag chain to finish as the wave from the heavy chain threw the weeds up stream so that the chain passed over instead of pulling them up.”, 1933 “Ninety-eight and one-quarter canal miles and 344% chain miles were dragged this year. This is an increase of sixty per cent in chain miles over last year. … The increase is due to the very hot weather in June and July, and to the fact that canals cleaned out by the dragline a few years ago are again showing weed growth.”

Canals in the irrigation system had to be regularly cleared of weeds. The low water flow and summer sun warming the water encouraged plant growth. CPR employees drove teams of horses linked by a chain on opposites sides of canals. The chain caught the weeds and pulled them up. At various points in the irrigation system crews hauled the floating weeds out of the water., [Photo captions (left to right)] , . Hydrographers record measurements of water, including flow rates, levels, and run off. Monitoring the water was critical to the performance of the irrigation system and ensuring the delivery of water to farmers. Eastern Irrigation District Library and Archives, B-1251 , . Checking the gauge of the water flowing in the Aqueduct, 1930. The walkway is just 24 inches (0.6 m) wide. Eastern Irrigation District Library and Archives, B-2090 , . Water spills over the Aqueduct as engineers try to get the flow rate right in 1931. Eastern Irrigation District Library and Archives, B-2094 , . Horses and men chain dragging a canal to remove weeds. Eastern Irrigation District Library and Archives, B-1203 , . Workers balancing on the Aqueduct remove aquatic growth. Eastern Irrigation District Library and Archives, B-1025 (main), B-1024 (top), and B-1022 (bottom) . This historical marker is Near Brooks in Newell County Alberta