Aerial Photographs of the Bull Ditch

From 1952 & the Present

Maxwell's Bull Ditch 1952

Maxwell's Bull Ditch 1952
This Aerial shows the Drainage Ditches around Maxwell Clearly Showing How the Water Bypasses Maxwell through the drainage ditches.

Maxwell's Bull Ditches 2007

Maxwell's Bull Ditches 2007
You can see where the pivot has replaced the drainage ditch.
Though you can not see how badly the Bull Ditch and other drainage ditches have filled in.

Overlay of Drainage into and around Maxwell.
It all is draining into Maxwell but there is very little able to leave.
The culverts under the roads along the Railroad in town have been removed.
The Bull Ditch has not been maintained and very little is getting to the river.
The pivot has replaced the drainage to the east and ditches along the highway going out of town are not flowing.
The Government Rd / Military Rd drainage has been cut off from the river.

Maxwell's Topographic Maps Showing Drainage as it is Now.
It does Not showing how badly the Bull Ditch has deteriorated.
The drainage to the river from the Military Rd has been cut off.
The Spur is also not showing drainage along the highway to the river.
It does show that the pivot has cut off the drainage out of town to the east.

As you can plainly see the drainage in and around Maxwell has seriously deteriorated from when it was a growing town,
when people were caring for the town. As when the Bull Ditch was engineered.
It certainly does not show progress as compared to back then.
The Maxwell drainage problems are happening because of the drainage issues not in the city limits.
Where is Lincoln County?

We don't need money or lots of surveys and busywork we just need a few good men
with a backhoe to restore our Bull Ditches and maintain the ditches along the government roads.
And then maybe the RR could restore our culverts along the tracks.

Has anyone ever read the Justia - Law - Nebraska Law - Nebraska Code - Chapter 31 — Drainage
Nebraska Chapter 31 — Drainage

Here are a few:

Section 31-101
Ditches; drains; watercourses; county board; powers.

The county board of any county may, at any regular or special session, cause to be located and constructed, straightened,
widened, altered, or deepened, any ditch, drain or watercourse, as hereinafter provided, when the same is necessary
to drain any lots, lands, public or corporate road, or railroad, and will be conducive to the public health, convenience or welfare.

Section 31-202.01
Watercourses; obstructions; power of county board.
In all counties the county board shall have the power to cause all natural watercourses to be kept clean and free of obstructions.

Section 31-352
Watercourses; cleaning and changing.
In order to effect the drainage of the district, the board is authorized to clean out and remove all obstructions from the bed of any
stream, creek, bayou, lagoon or other watercourse in the district; to straighten or shorten and deepen or widen the course
of any stream or to abandon the bed of any stream and construct a new channel therefor; and to fill up any channel,
or part of a channel, of any stream, creek, bayou, or other watercourse, in order to turn the direction of the volume of water,
or to concentrate the water, so as to deepen and form a main channel.

Found at - http://law.justia.com/nebraska/codes/s31index/s31index.html

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Old Time Photographs & History of Maxwell, Nebraska

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This site was created in 1999-2008 by A. Olsen ©Copyright 1999-2008, A. Olsen. All Rights Reserved.