This digital story recording was created in conjunction with the Smithsonian's Museum on Main Street program and its Stories from Main Street student documentary initiative, called "Stories: Yes." The project encourages students and their mentors to research and record stories about small-towns and rural neighborhoods, waterways, personal memories, cultural traditions, work histories, as well as thoughts about American democracy. These documentaries are then shared on Smithsonian websites and social media.
Recorded by the Sargent Natural Resources Class, Custer County, Nebraska, 2018.
Speaker 1 (00:00): Flowing out of the Sandhills of Nebraska, the Middle Loup River has been an important part of the development and history of Northern Custer County. The waterway has provided habitat for wildlife. A site for a variety of recreational activities, such as hunting, fishing, swimming, and even boating at Doris Lake. But in the last seven years its greatest gift to the Middle Loup Valley has been surface water for irrigation. In our presentation we will talk about the three diversion dams on the Middle Loup River near Milburn, Sargent and Comstock. When each was built, and how many acres they irrigate. We will describe and demonstrate past and present methods used to distribute the valuable resource to the crops of the Middle Loup Valley. Methods to be covered include irrigating with lath or pillboxes, siphon tubes, gated pipe, and finally center pivot irrigation.
Speaker 2 (00:50): This is where it all starts.
Speaker 3 (00:53): The Milburn Diversion Dam constructed and completed in 1959 is located near Milburn 27 miles from Sargent.
Speaker 1 (01:00): It consists of earth dykes, a concrete spillway, and slews way that works with the Sargent Canal, which extends South easterly for 39.6 miles to western edge of [inaudible 00:01:09] County. The dam serves as a dual purpose of diverting water and controlling sediment. Serves water to over 13,000 acres of land. The Lillian Canal was supposed to begin at the South side of the Milburn Dam and extend South Easterly for 15 and a half miles, but it was never completed.
Speaker 3 (01:23): The Milburn Dam is a great place for families to picnic and fish for the day.
Speaker 3 (01:45): (Sound of water)
Speaker 4 (01:45): Sargent Diversion Dam irrigates about 25,000 acres of land that goes from Sargent to approximately Comstock. Plans for the dam first began in 1933, but after several unsuccessful tries and non-interest work began on the 39.6 miles now in January 1955.
Speaker 5 (02:06): Shortly after on January 25th of 1955, excavation of the dam begin. It cost $414,711. This dam was later destroyed by a flood in 2010. The cost to build the new one was $2.15 million. The new one was completed in the summer of 2011.
Speaker 1 (02:32): Arcadia Diversion Dam, located three and a half miles south of Comstock, was completed on November 6th 1962. It sits on 777 acres of land and 109 acres of water. The dam serves some farmers, and ranchers, and Custer County, but it's primarily used in Sherman and Howard counties. Water is carried 20 miles from the Arcadia Diversion Dam to the Sherman Reservoir through the Sherman Feeder Canal. A system of canals, pumping plants, laterals, and drains provide irrigation of 53,414 acres of high yielding land.
Asset ID: 8621
Find a complete transcript at https://www.museumonmainstreet.org
