Early Agricultural Drainage in North Central Iowa by Mary Tesdahl
Drainage is the practice of removing excess water from the subsurface of the
soil. Soil types and slope dictate
the number and size of tile needed.
When done correctly, tile should be capable of removing ½ inch of water from the
surface in 24 hours.
Early settlers talk about Wright County being so wet farmers could only farm the
hilltops. To increase tillable
acres, farmers
drained water
from the
high ground
and created
permanent pastures. They
ran surface ditches from one
slough to the next. They dug in
underground tile lines. The first job for
many immigrants was working on
a tiling
crew and
digging ditches
by hand.
As soon
as drainage
districts were
laid out,
engineers became part of the
process. An engineer would
determine and mark the grade and then come back to check on the progress of
those digging. Because so much tiling needed to be done, farmers came up with
creative ways to allow tiling to go on all year.
They might dig one spade depth in the fall before the ground froze, then
fill the ditch with straw. The next layer
would not freeze and could be dug deeper when there was time.
One farmer put cobs on top of the path for his tile line and set them on
fire overnight. In the morning, the
ground was thawed enough to dig.
Sometimes ditches were
saved for
winter –
the sides
of the ditches would freeze
overnight and would provide safe conditions.
Digging in the winter was a cold job, so that would be the time to be
happy to be digging in the bottom of the ditch.
The advantages of removing excess water had
been known
for many
years. Some
old wooden tile
have been
found, but
most tile were made of clay.
Goldfield and Dows had clay tile factories for a while, but the clay was
better quality near Sheffield and Mason City, so
local factories did not last. The importance of
keeping accurate
records of
tile lines
has become more
evident as
telephone and
other cable lines
began being
laid in ditches.
Also, heavier machinery
used today
has damaged some tile. In
Wright County, 65% of soils are drained
in some
way. This
is approximately 236,595 acres and
that work continues today. Clay tile
worked well
and acres
of rich
farm ground continue to be drained by these tile laid over 100 years ago.
Today, long plastic tubes are used
instead of clay tile and a GPS system tracks the slope.
The goal remains the same: allow
rich northcentral
Iowa soils
to reach maximum productivity.