These gophers are little animals, striped and spotted, and about the size of a large rat.
The Oklahoma Canal was built to bring the waters of the river through the town, with the idea of erecting mills all along the banks and making Oklahoma a more prosperous city.
It was laid out by expert engineers, and took a large amount of time and money to build; it was five miles long.
When the canal was completed and opened, it proved a great success; there was sufficient force of water to turn any number of mills, and a great era of money-making appeared to be ahead of Oklahoma.
Unfortunately the soil through which the canal had been dug was porous and sandy.
Before the work had been long completed, gophers appeared on the banks and began to burrow their holes.
The water washed into the burrows, and soon a crevasse appeared, and the canal swept through the sandy banks.
Repairs were attempted, and for a long time the people were so anxious to preserve their canal that they continued these repairs at great expense. Finally the Canal Company became discouraged; they could no longer afford to fight the gophers, and so they abandoned the waterway and left the little pests the victors.
In a very short time the canal was gone.
The banks, riddled by the gophers, gave way, and the waters soon flowed back into their original course. Where the canal once ran, farmers are now ploughing and planting their crops, and Oklahoma has lost its fine canal.