Canal treasure hunt

	H&N photos by Andrew Mariman A gull flies over a discarded shopping cart in the canal near the Washington Street Bridge.

October 24, 2006

By TY BEAVER

H&N Staff Writer

The next time there aren't any shopping carts available at your grocery store, go check under the Washington Street Bridge.

Irrigation districts have begun draining their respective canals as the growing season ends and winter sets in. Shopping carts along with other oddities such as children's bikes and even a pair of crutches often show up as the water levels drop.

“Most of the time, it's just an assortment of junk,” Dave Solem, Klamath Irrigation District manager, said.

Water levels in the canals are lowered slowly to prevent banks from sloughing or collapsing, Solem said. As the water drains away, objects that have found their way to the canal bottom are revealed.

Popular things to throw away

Bikes and shopping carts appear to be a popular thing to throw in the A Canal, he said. The Washington Street Bridge appears to be the most popular place to tip a “borrowed” shopping cart into the water.

“That seems to be the favorite place to see if you can dump them in,” Solem said.

Jerry Pyle, assistant manager for the Tulelake Irrigation District, said some equally interesting things are found in canals south of the Oregon-California border. Bikes are also found in that district's canals, along with anything that is portable and can wear out or become lost.

“The more regulations they put on the dumps, the more stuff we find in our canals,” he said.

Once, district employees pulled a small black and white television from the receding waters and left outside for a winter and spring before an employee took it home to see if it would work. Five years later, the employee still uses it, Pyle said.

Some of the things found after the waters have subsided are a little more surprising in size. Ten to 15 years ago, Solem said a car was found in the A Canal near Klamath Union High School. The car was missing for weeks before its discovery.

“It was submerged the whole time and no one knew it,” he said.

But interesting discoveries such as cars and crutches aren't the norm. Most of the time, district employees spend their time removing trash like tires and food wrappers from the canals, Solem said. At the end of the day, it's all just another maintenance issue. Pyle said his district employees are so used to it, they just pull the stuff out and haul it away.

Lost and found

Between the Tulelake and Klamath irrigation districts there is quite a list of objects people have “lost” through the years.