Drain Tile Outlet Walls
In developing the lowlands for farm purposes—and such lands are now most valuable—immense sums are being invested in concrete drain tile.
Where drain tile empty into an open ditch, the banks of the ditch around the drain tile gradually wash away, and often two and three lengths of tile become disjointed, allowing the water from them to further cut away the field land. These exposed tile are often crushed by livestock. Moreover, clay and shale tile freeze, crumble, and mixed with the earth from the bank frequently close the outlet. Muskrats, skunks and mink use the tile as a nesting place, and the drain becomes stopped up and drowns out the crops.
All of this trouble is prevented by a small outlay of time and money in building a concrete retaining wall to keep the end of the drain tile from washing out and to protect it.
Choose the dry season of the year, immediately after the laying or cleaning of the string of tile, when little water is in the ditch.
Dig a trench 12 inches wide along the edge of the open ditch 2 feet below its bottom and under the end of the line of tile. This trench should extend along the bank for from 4 to 6 feet, with wings turned into the bank at its ends, sufficiently long to prevent water from getting in behind the wall and washing the dirt out.
Mix concrete 1: 2½: 5—wet enough to tamp well.
Fill the trench with concrete up to the ground level. Should the trench be full of water, place this part of the concrete dry.
Set box forms, made of 1-inch siding and 2 by 4-inch studding. These forms must be high enough to bring the wall up to the level of the top of the ditch banks. At the proper height to meet the string of tile, place a first-class drain tile (at least one size larger than the regular string) through the forms so that the front end will be flush with the outside wall after concrete is placed.
Bore two small holes in the forms above this tile, and place in them well greased pegs of wood. After the forms are filled with concrete, these pegs are removed, the holes receiving the bolts holding a flap gate to keep animals out of the line of tile. Fill the forms with concrete, and smooth off the top of wall with a steel trowel.
Remove the forms after one week, and fill in earth behind the wall to its top.
