1 October 1971
A sedimentation survey was made in 1939-40 in Beaver Creek valley, Jackson and Trempealeau Counties, Wisconsin, by the Stream and Valley Sedimentation Research Section, Soil Conservation Service, under the direction of S.C. Happ. Forty-eight valley cross sections were surveyed in the main valley and three tributaries, by W.F. Witzgall and E.H. Moser, Jr. Most were marked by iron pipes set in concrete at each end. Mr. Moser also was in charge of surveys of Lake Marinuka and the Ettrick Mill Pond, both artificial reservoirs in the main valley. Auger borings, to measure the "modern" sediment covering the natural alluvial topsoil, were made chiefly by Howard S. Kunsman, a graduate student in the Geology Department at the University of Wisconsin. Mr. Kunsman also assisted in the reservoir surveys, and collected samples of the valley sediments for mechanical analyses. He later (in 1944) reported his findings, and a summary of results of the reservoir surveys, in an M.A. Thesis prepared under guidance of Professor W.H. Twenhofel.
Intermittent stream gaging and suspended load sampling were carried on from 1939 to 1942 at the head and outlet of Lake Marinuka, in an attempt to evaluate the proportions of sediment being deposited in or carried through the lake. The gaging and sampling was done mostly by or under direction of Mr. Moser. Some samples, and perhaps parts of the record, apparently were lost because of circumstances arising from war-time conditions, but most of the records are preserved in SCS project files. Some of the records may be in files from the SCS Bedload Station at Greenville, S.C. where analysis were made by R.D. Grassy; part of those files are in the attic of the Agriculture South Building, Washington, D.C.
Notebooks containing the survey records are now in the National Archives, Washington, D.C. Those pertaining to the valley cross sections and part of the Ettrick Pond and Lake Marinuka surveys, are filed in Part I (Stream and Valley Notebooks), and remainder of the Ettrick and Marinuka books in Part II (Sedimentation Studies Lakes and Reservoirs), of "Records of Sedimentation Studies accessioned by the National Archives April 1947, Job. N. 447-126." Elevations of Lake Marinuka survey monuments (range ends) are also recorded in a notebook designated Coon-6, filed with the Coon Valley, Wisconsin, Stream and Valley Notebooks.
Beaver Creek watershed maps (some showing location of valley ranges), plotted cross sections, and a tabulation of results of mechanical analysis; plane table sheets, map tracings and cross sections of Lake Marinuka and Ettrick Pond; and tracings of illustrations for Kunsman's report, are stored in a map file case in Bay A-236 in the attic of the Agriculture Department South Building, Washington, D.C.
Most of the remaining project files have been transferred to custody of the State Conservationist, 4601 Hammersley Road, Madison, Wisconsin. Copies of most of the data are also in custody of S.C. Happ, at the USDA Sedimentation Laboratory, Oxford, Mississippi.