Delta Marsh Flooding

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Some of you may have heard of some of the flooding taking place in Manitoba and Saskatchewan this Spring.

My brothers and I have (had!) a hunting lodge at Delta March on Lake Manitoba. It was started by a couple of families from Minneapolis in the late 19th century. Current building dates to the 1920s. Just found out it is gone.

8 to 12 foot waves came up to three miles inland from the lake, swept across the marsh and took everything in their way. What's left of our lodge is a pile of debris about 200 yards from the foundations, sitting in five feet of water. All 400 acres of our property is under water.

Water levels are expected to remain at these record heights right through freeze up and throughout next summer. Probably won't even have a chance to rebuild until 2013.

Things like this are always a pain but I tend to think it's just brick and mortar (or in this case wood) that can be re-built. Not lives lost.

The biggest loss is that the lodge was built in the 1920s and filled with irreplaceable hunting memorabilia. Things like a charter membership in Ducks Unlimited or a photo taken at our lodge that was used in a Remington ad in the 1930s in the Saturday Evening Post.

I'm in shock.
 
I'm sorry to hear of your loss. Any photo's of the memories you all experienced there before? When the levels drop, are you considering rebuilding and raising the lodge on stilts? I always figured if I owned property near water I'd lift any building I made, just in case. :(
 
Sorry to hear of your loss. The water is extremely high and is expected to rise another 2 feet with a crest in mid July.

There are many farmers who can't reach their cattle, some have had to truck them to neighbouring provinces and others have been forced to liquidate their herd, and most of their land is under water. More rain is expected starting tomorrow that will add to the dilemma.

All this thanks to the Portage Diversion. You're welcome Winnipeg!

Some info here:
http://www.gov.mb.ca/waterstewardship/whats_new/index.html
 
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Mother Nature can be cruel at times....

Sorry for the loss.

Some of the old lodge contents are I'm sure quite irreplaceable. I recall a few old camps that were lost at Long Point ... blown right out into Lake Erie, in the same storm that the Edmund Fitzgerald went down in. The power of wind and waves is phenominal.

With a little luck, let's hope the high water may otherwise prove
beneficial to the resource once it recedes. You may well have a rejuvenated marsh with less vegetation and some new openings to gun ! Hopefull there will be no problem rebuilding.
 
beretta boy said:
Mother Nature can be cruel at times....

Sorry for the loss.

Some of the old lodge contents are I'm sure quite irreplaceable. I recall a few old camps that were lost at Long Point ... blown right out into Lake Erie, in the same storm that the Edmund Fitzgerald went down in. The power of wind and waves is phenominal.

With a little luck, let's hope the high water may otherwise prove
beneficial to the resource once it recedes. You may well have a rejuvenated marsh with less vegetation and some new openings to gun ! Hopefull there will be no problem rebuilding.
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I'm sure like the storms at Long Point you are refering to, the waters not the problem, it's the waves. When they are rolling inland 2 miles.....who can be ready for that. We lost our hunting lodge. I really feel for all the cattle farmers. They are screwed.
 
canvasback said:
I'm sure like the storms at Long Point you are refering to, the waters not the problem, it's the waves. When they are rolling inland 2 miles.....who can be ready for that. We lost our hunting lodge. I really feel for all the cattle farmers. They are screwed.
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The high water level may not be that big of a problem for everyone yet, but it's coming. Have a look at the map in the link below. Keep in mind that this was created at a lake level of 816.5 ft. and they say now it will be close to 1 ft. above that.

http://www.gov.mb.ca/waterstewardship/floodinfo/pdf/lk_mb_windset_fldzns.pdf
 
It is Wrath of God time when so much water has flowed into the Manitoba lakes that its level has raised a foot over flood stage.
 
When I was in University we did a weekend camp at a place out at Delta Marsh. Beautiful place. Damned shame that so much is lost to the flooding.
 
bearkilr said:
The high water level may not be that big of a problem for everyone yet, but it's coming. Have a look at the map in the link below. Keep in mind that this was created at a lake level of 816.5 ft. and they say now it will be close to 1 ft. above that.

http://www.gov.mb.ca/waterstewardship/floodinfo/pdf/lk_mb_windset_fldzns.pdf
Click to expand...

Bearkilr, thanks for the link. Our place is directly below the 81 of the 819.5 water level right beside St Ambroise. It's the spit of land that forms the south shore of Waterhen Bay, which is the first bay south of the main lake shoreline. It's all underwater now and looks like it will stay that way for a while.
 
Sorry to hear of your loss.I also feel for the many farmers around the lake losing both their land and their livelihood because of the persistent precipitation since fall of 2008.
 
Yeah, this is a complete and utter disaster. I ranch on the shores of Lake Manitoba and over 80% of my land is under water. I made the Free Press last week

http://www.canadiangunnutz.com/forum/showthread.php?t=617540

Another article last week in the paper puts 2 feet of this water as coming from the Portage Diversion. The people around this lake were sacrificed to keep Winnipeg from being flooded. IF, and I say IF, the government compensates everyone affected the cost will be huge. Kinda makes the cost savings of not improving the drainage OUT of this lake when adding drainage IN rather pathetic.

I better quit before I start ranting bad enough to get an infraction.

John
 
A lot of rebuilding will have to take place including the marsh. After the big flood of 97 we lost most of the vegetation in Netley Marsh. Little potholes are now huge lakes and duck numbers on Netley are way down due to the loss of habitat. Most hunters that I know who used to hunt Netley don't bother anymore, hope your marsh doesn't suffer the same fate. Sorry to hear about the loss of such a historic lodge, history like that can't be replaced. Keep your chin up.
 
canvasback said:
Some of you may have heard of some of the flooding taking place in Manitoba and Saskatchewan this Spring.

My brothers and I have (had!) a hunting lodge at Delta March on Lake Manitoba. It was started by a couple of families from Minneapolis in the late 19th century. Current building dates to the 1920s. Just found out it is gone.

8 to 12 foot waves came up to three miles inland from the lake, swept across the marsh and took everything in their way. What's left of our lodge is a pile of debris about 200 yards from the foundations, sitting in five feet of water. All 400 acres of our property is under water.

Water levels are expected to remain at these record heights right through freeze up and throughout next summer. Probably won't even have a chance to rebuild until 2013.

Things like this are always a pain but I tend to think it's just brick and mortar (or in this case wood) that can be re-built. Not lives lost.

The biggest loss is that the lodge was built in the 1920s and filled with irreplaceable hunting memorabilia. Things like a charter membership in Ducks Unlimited or a photo taken at our lodge that was used in a Remington ad in the 1930s in the Saturday Evening Post.

I'm in shock.
Click to expand...

That sucks. A pal of ours has a cottage right on the lake but so far he's managed to stay ahead of the water with sand bagging and raising the building. Pretty tough when the water comes from the lake to the front of you and from the marsh to the rear. I hope you were able to save some keep sakes and will be able to rebuild. Funny, it wasn't so long ago they predicted that the southern part of Lake Manitoba would be taken over by grass and largely disappear.
 
canvasback, really sorry to hear about that, that's terrible news. I hunt one corner of Waterhen, I'm sure I'll be finding lots of your destroyed stuff in the marsh this fall. I was thinking about your place and Tin Town and the old Eaton's place during those storms.
 
Grouse Man said:
canvasback, really sorry to hear about that, that's terrible news. I hunt one corner of Waterhen, I'm sure I'll be finding lots of your destroyed stuff in the marsh this fall. I was thinking about your place and Tin Town and the old Eaton's place during those storms.
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Thanks for the note Grouse Man. I was going to try to connect with you sometime when I was back hunting in Manitoba but personal events kind of overtook me and I haven't had a chance to hunt the marsh the last two seasons. Now I'm really kicking myself as there are few places in the world I felt more relaxed than I did at the lodge after a good day's hunting.

It can be replaced, but not re-created. It was unique.
 
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