The Bismarck Tribune

Regrettable Loss

Failure of the dam in the Cannonball river at New England brings to nought one of the finest community enterprises in the history of Southwestern North Dakota.

In 1928 the forward looking citizens of the community decided that a dam would be a good thing and so they built one. But they had more zeal than technical knowledge and it was washed out in the spring of 1929.

That only strengthened the determination to give New England a recreation center. Under the leadership of such men as W. L. Gardner, Mart Connolly and Al Hammes, the townsfolk were organized and a much better job was done. Everyone donated and many voluntarily spent their leisure hours in hard labor at the dam site.

But again, something must have been overlooked for now the dam has again been washed out and the boys and girls of New England will have to look elsewhere for a swimming hole.

If any community in North Dakota is entitled to a dam it is New England. The citizens of that bustling little town took the lead in such work long before many communities recognized the desirability, to say nothing of the need.

For this reason New England should be given preference in any state or community program which contemplates dam construction.

At the same time, failure of this dam proves definitely the need for expert engineering and infinite care in building such structures. Thus New England presents a lesson to the rest of North Dakota, both in community enterprise and in the need for proper preparation of such projects.