International Falls Daily Journal - Lake Levels - Comments

On a week to week basis, the

Anton1965 — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 19:49:30 -0500

On a week to week basis, the water rose .72" in the Rainy basin and .48" in the Kab/Nam basin. This would seem to be a mild and unimportant rise in water levels.

On closer examination, the more alarming figure shows that in only 6 days the Rainy basin rose 4.56 " and the Kab/Nam basin rose 2.16". That just doesn't seem possible or logical to think there is that volume of water entering the Rainy Basin to cause that kind of increase. Although the volume constituting the Rainy basin is several times that of the Kab/Nam basin, at this rate and "level of control" the point is being reached where there exists a high probability of some flooding in the Rainy resevoir or extremly high flow discharge rates at the Falls dam resulting in flooding down river in the Lake of the Woods area.
It is noted that Boise has not as yet requested that the city, county state or either the U.S. or Canadian governments turn over the Rainy River to them for their own use (as a safety problem for boaters and fishermen on the river) so that they can control the river for their exclusive use.

Of course the Boise paper mill will benifit from these higher discharge rates by being able to produce a large amount of cheaper electric power for their use in the plant with those beautiful antique dynamotors in the power house.

This is just one of those mundane blogs I mentioned a week ago or so but if you have read this far you have probably read more then you need to know, or want to know, about the water situation in the area. I guess it would be easier to just walk down to the lake and see for yourself if you think the water is high or not. I just didn't have much else to do this evening but I do have an alterior motive with all this talk of water and such.

Sure hope it doesn't rain

Anton1965 — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 21:51:03 -0500

Sure hope it doesn't rain much more as these current levels seem to be a tad high and Lake of the Woods is already high. Of course these higher levels make for deeper water in the Kempton Channel and Black Bay for those that are concerned about "wake" issues in those waters by boats. Also, unstable waters are not particularily good for the "wild rice" crop in the areas waters either. Gold Portage should be running pretty strong, sorta like a strong wake to flush out that channel a little bit also. I guess this flushing action is just nature at work when its just nature at work and its only called two cycle motor wake problems when its not. Sure is a mystery how things get to be the way they are when we try to define them ourselves. Couple more timbers pulled from the Kettle Falls dam and opening of the local gates a bit more should make for a good flushing of the river. Of course all the fish will end up down river into the "Walleye Capitol of the World".

Has anybody noticed how clear and clean the water in the river looks? I wonder if walleye like clear and clean water?

It doesn't have anything to do with water levels but I read today that some interested parties, opposed in their agenda's, are arguing over whether we should protect the salmon by killing the seals or protect the seals by killing the salmon. Go figure!! Must be another of those scientific arguments instituted by someone like Gore or his ilk. Read that carefully and you should discover thats a no-win situation for the seals!! Anyway, I guess Darwin was correct as the salmon are reportedly "walking" out of the water at night and attacking the seals while they sleep and clubing the poor things to death. What a terible thing to do!! I wonder if the salmon could be trained or paid to club the Canadian Lynx while they sleep? Anyway, the reason I was interested in all this water and salmon stuff was because I figure it won't be long before the walleye are walking up onto my lawn from the river and I can just club them. Its not my fault the walleye don't understand this slot limit stuff, they just all walked up together, honest!

I'll bet mother nature or God could figure it out if we just let them.

Informational Data that all

Anton1965 — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 17:03:45 -0500

Informational Data that all might need???? That is really awe inspiring but I hope this is not investigational reporting at its best. Actually there are many in the area that probably are interested in this data, which is probably why its being reported!!! Is it high, is it low, is it normal? Or should I just walk out on the dock and see?

These water levels are

flatfishancrawlers — Thu, 29 May 2008 11:08:58 -0500

These water levels are probably going to cause flooding in Kabetogama soon as the snow melt in the Crane Lake and Lac La Croix drainage was un-usually high this year. Any serious rainfall in the area will cause high water on Rainy and high water flow rates in the river too.

Hope we don't have any fires but hope we don't have any "serious" rainfall either as water over the resort docks and under some cabins always dampens a vacation. Not much we can do but watch the effects however!!