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southern MN | Big area of southern Minnesota was where the glaciers drained out, left deposits of deep yellow or even denser blue clay subsoil and then the long lasting swamps from the melt water formed 1 to 6 foot deep high organic matter topsoil in rolling hills.
The rolling hills are shallow plates that hold water between the hills. I have a 40 acre field with 14 little hills on it, and wet spots between each hill, as the water flows sideways on the clay layers. We don’t lose much water at all to soaking into the ground, but it will flow down the slopes and bleed out on hillsides and gather in bottoms. Basically all our ground in 14 day springs for every inch of rain we get.
So we end up with a high water table and no where for it to drain.
But because of the glaciers and huge amount of water they flowed, our rivers and creeks created deep valleys to drain. So we are able to develop those waterways and creeks and turn them into an easy flowing downhill drainage system.
Tile took off in the 1920s as counties started digging in ditches, and water districts were developed into the 1960s to set up the ditches to flow water away. From the 1940s to now farmers have worked to turn the water soaked ground into better crop land with private tile put in with machines like this.
The early tile was put in by spade in the depression years, a buck a day or whatever, digging a 2-3 foot trench in mud by hand....... makes a machine like that look high tech!
Paul | |
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What did you guys to for Labor Day weekend?
