Town of Kipling Dam Traditional Cache
RWIDDUP1: Location cleaned up
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(small)
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Well everyone has seen a dam before, and there is nothing special here. A dam is a dam is a dam, (and this isn't the Hoover). What brings you here isn't a story of the dam at all. Rather it is a story of the volatility of nature, and how we try to control and manipulate the most valuable resource, water.
Here you will find Kipling's new dam. It was constructed to replace the inadequate old dam, which didn't retain enough to last through the drier years. And yes, when you think of dry, you often hear of rationing and restrictions, of which most of us have probably experienced. What happened here in 2011 is an opposite story.
The dam itself sits in the last third of a regular watershed, stretching upstream to the Southwest. Spring runoff flows into the dam area, and any excess if any is spilled off and carries on to rest to the Northwest of Kipling. Rewind to 2010 when nearly 40 inches of annual precipitation fell on the region. Every spot that could hold water was full and running over. Factor in that half of the cropable land was being somewhat drained into the watershed. Now add above average snowfall and more spring rain. Enough water bypassed this dam to fill it a thousand times over, and it continued on to rest North of Kipling in what we call the 'Marsh'. A necessary note here is that this marsh area was near dry in the spring of 2010. Crops were starting to be seeded, before the larger rains started. By July of 2011 enough water had collected here to be fourteen feet in depth at the deepest. Water covered all or portions of 54 quarter sections, approximately 5000 acres, or twenty square kilometers. My estimate(wrong of course) places volume at 25 trillion liters assuming 1.25 meters of average depth. Rurally there was a threat to low lying farms and acreages, and the rapid deterioration and destruction of roads. Neighbors were threatening neighbors for diverting and draining water at one another. In Kipling itself, the sewer systems were compromised and the supply lines in and out were near flooded over. There was even talk of shutting down the school and hospital. A state of emergency was declared locally to secure funds to help deal with the problem.
The rain thankfully stopped at the end of July 2011. Through an existing drainage ditch built in the early fifties, almost two thirds of the water was moved on in Manitoba's direction. Visitors here in 2012 will still see water to the North of Kipling, now only covering 2400 acres at time of listing. Contributors and consequences to this event are too numerous to mention.
The irony here is that there hasn't been enough runoff to fill this dam in the past, and there is no doubt that will be an issue in the future.
Anyways, if this event doesn't turn your crank, you are looking for a 3 inch camoed loc. Terrain rating of two for lack of a highway straight to the site.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Tebhaq Yriry Svfu?
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