[CONSTRUCTION] [NORTHERN MINNESOTA] Photograph album documenting the construction of "judicial ditches" in Koochiching County, Minnesota

[Photographer not identified]

Edité par International Falls, MN [vicinity], 1915

A propos de cet article

Oblong quarto. Album contains 9 leaves (both sides used; 18pp. total) of photographs, plus an additional 36 leaves, unused. Album slightly shaken, but sound, and several of the used leaves are detached and laid-in. Prints (about 115 total, varying in size between about 2" x 3" and 4" x 6"; mostly towards the former, and none larger) vary somewhat in terms of condition, with some variation in camera and printing processes; generally the prints, which are all tipped onto the leaves, are very good or better. A fantastic album documenting a short-lived but quite interesting infrastructure project in northern Minnesota, in Koochining County, on the Canadian border. The project, called "judicial ditching," was an effort to make low-lying marshlands habitable by the rapidly-growing immigrant population in Minnesota. Any resident landowner could petition the county to dig a ditch, at the county's expense, along the edge of a property to drain it, yielding a much more controllable environment for agriculture in the short growing season in this northern climate. The photographs are a nice mix of technical images, showing steam shovels in action, as well as portraits of tent-dwelling workers (and even some families), who lived temporarily at the various job sites. Much of this work, surprisingly, was done in the winter, which seems agonizing, as much of the ground would have been frozen or nearly so. Some of the ditch photographs bear inked captions, indicating who had done the work, e. g. ("Ecklund's dredge - ditch no. 14;" or "'Battleship' - ditch no. 14 - Kohler's work"). Images of felled trees and a resulting log-constructed bridge over a ditch give a sense of the work involved to complete this task. At least two photographs show what appear to be ruined or destroyed steam shovels, which may have been worked past their rasonable limits by the daunting task, or possibly by the frozen ground. According to a history article on the county website, the "judicial ditching" program was not much of a success. It cost the county a great deal of money, and it never attracted significant groups of settlers to populate the area. Begun in 1913 and ended by 1917, it nevertheless left a permanent mark on the region, and most of the ditches are still visible today, intersecting county roads and highways.

N° de réf. du vendeur 9186

Détails bibliographiques

• Titre: [CONSTRUCTION] [NORTHERN MINNESOTA] Photograph album documenting the construction of "judicial ditches" in Koochiching County, Minnesota
• Éditeur: International Falls, MN [vicinity]
• Date de parution: 1915
• Reliure: String-bound
• État de l'article: Good +
• Catalogues du vendeur:
  • American History