From the archives: Long Arm Extends Helping Hand

Dec 9, 2021 - 3 years ago

The Surrey Dyking Commission was formed under a provincial statue in 1911. Early inhabitants of the Lower Fraser Valley were aware of the tremendous potential from agricultural lands surrounding the Nicomekl and Serpentine rivers which run through Surrey and Langley.

Both rivers flow into Boundary Bay just south of Vancouver. As both rivers are subject to tide fluctuations, flooding was a common problem and rendered the adjoining lands useless for agriculture production.

The Dyking Commission’s initial mandate was to install dykes and two tide flood gates on the rivers. The ultimate objective was to reclaim 10,500 acres of prime agricultural land. With the progress of time and development, the land surrounding both rivers is home to many cash crop farmers who grow an abundance of produce for the local market and for export.

Presently the Dyking District maintains 40 miles of river channels and dykes as well as the two original tidal dams. Recently, the Commission purchased a new John Deere 790E long front excavator to replace an aging 22B Bucyrus dragline. Ron Bishop, operator, says “The 790E long front does three times as much work as the old dragline and I am not worn out after running it for eight hours.”

The 790E weighs 53,500 lbs and has a reach of 59’5” at ground level.

The ability to get more work done is extremely important. Both the Serpentine and Nicomekl rivers are major fish spawning areas and as such, work can only be performed in work windows provided by the Department of Fisheries. In recent years the work periods have been reduced substantially. The excavator provides the opportunity to perform the necessary maintenance within the time frame afforded. Also, to achieve better machine utilization, the Dyking District will do custom work for contractors or other utilities outside their fisheries window.

This article first appeared in Supply Post, July/August 1994.