No reason to tear out the dam

To the Editor,

     Iowa Electric gave the (Mon Maq) dam to the Monticello Conservation League in the late 1960s. I have been a member for 61 years. We spent many Saturdays and Sundays cleaning up around the dam and dam area. On one weekend, a member, Bob Rink, had a big cylinder and hydraulic pump. Another member, Larry Behrends, had a gas engine. We put the two together and were able to raise the gate at the north end of the dam. The same could be done again with a big track hoe for a lot less. It didn’t lower the river, but the fish could go back and forth.

     The Monticello Conservation League named the dam Mon-Maq Dam; it got to be too big a project for the club so we turned it over to the Jones County Conservation Board. They have no good reason to tear any of the dam out other than they can get $2 million to play with. That money comes from the taxpayers.

     SAVE THE DAM.

Joe Spahr

Monticello, Iowa