Now and Then of the Portneuf River
Submitted by Jennifer McIntosh on Wed, 2017-06-07 00:00
Today, as one of our activities, we got to try repeat photography. We were provided with a 1967 photo before the Portneuf channel was put in by the Army Corps of Engineers. If you look at the banks of the river you can see that the trees have been cut down because they were clearing that area to put in the channel. The contemporary photo of the Veterans' Memorial Building/ Portneuf River shows the channel, fencing, grown trees, a few changes on the Veterans Memorial Building. I believe the shape of the river is very similar in both photos. Can you see similarities and differences? I know they put this channel in to prevent flooding, but could there be a better way that presents itself functionally and aesthetically? The Portneuf River vision study has some awesome photos of what certain areas of the Portneuf could like in the Centennial Park and Raymond Park areas. You could check these out at http://river.pocatello.us.
Comments
Thinking about past and present
Good job getting the pictures to match up!
As I was working on this project today, the feeling I got from the pictures of the past was that the river was very open, and that the people then could connect to the Portneuf. Looking at what it is like today, we are fenced away from the river, we can't get close to it, we hardly notice it is there. I actually felt like the fence was around us, not around the river.
Flood Prevention
Hi Jennifer! I remember last year when they discussed the use of the concrete channel to prevent flooding. At the time I wondered, has it even come close to the top of the channel since it was installed? Well after this last winter, I bet we are glad it is there now. I do think there are better ways of flood control though and it is heartening to know that smart people like Hannah Sanger are currently trying to not only work this out, but also make the river more appealing and useful to the community in the process. Hope you having fun this week!