Maginnis Irrigation Flume

The aqueduct beside the highway went up in 1912 to carry the district's north ditch across a draw of Lodgepole Creek. Eleven timber trestle spans between concrete abutments held a half-round galvanized trough a little over seven feet across, the run some 180 feet long and close to 15 feet high at most. The district had first met in November 1909, voted on April 11, 1910 to build, and planned on $250,000 in bonds. The canal ran until the district dissolved in 1975. Maginnis had patented his flume on May 20, 1902.

What the plaque says

Maginnis Irrigation Flume In 1910 the Kimball Irrigation District voted to construct an irrigation system with a reservoir and two canals. The rough topography traversed by the canals required several aqueducts, which used flumes manufactured in Kimball, Nebraska, by Patrick Maginnis. He began building flumes in the late 1890s and soon developed the patented Galvanized Steel Flume. The Maginnis Flume Factory opened shortly thereafter, and produced flumes for projects throughout the region. This flume is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Kimball Rotary Club Plains Historical Society Nebraska State Historical Society, 2011

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Panorama Point — 20 mi
  Nebraska's highest ground, a 26-foot rise in a bison pasture near the Colorado and Wyoming lines, found with a First World War altimeter in 1951.