DEVILS LAKE, N.D. (AP) -- The mayor of Devils Lake says the city wants to double check the state's estimate of the amount of sediment built up in a coulee on the lake's east end.
Mayor Fred Bott says a contractor hired by the city plans to finish cleaning out a foot of sediment from the Tolna Coulee once the ground freezes.
Water would flow through coulee south to the Sheyenne River if the swollen Devils Lake ever hits 1,459 feet. The city spent about $29,000 this fall to remove sediment from the coulee and lower the natural spillover elevation to 1,458 feet. That's the level state geologists say existed when North Dakota became a state.
Bott says the city also plans to have the contractor make a new diagonal cut to get a look at other sediment in the channel.
