The Amazon

       Winnipeg is a storm drain deficient city. So when you find a drain an explorer gets quite excited about the chance to explore it. However to find a huge drain (12 feet in diameter) you can only imagine what my reaction was.  The only problem was that the entry point was nearly impossible to get into. A year passed and I had nearly forgot about the drain known as "The Amazon." But then by chance as I was conduction research about the environmental impact of traditional suburbs versus New Urbanism I found a number of sewer drain maps. As I sifted through the maps I soon found the map containing the Amazon drain. Through this find I was able to determine another point of entry that could possibly be an easier entrance. The only problem was that I had to cross a golf course first in order to get to the outlet. Trespassing it turned out was the easy part. The hard part was getting the sun to shine and the water levels to drop.

     After a soggy month the sun was finally shining so I made the decision to tame the Amazon. I put on some decent clothes, hopped the golf course fence and put on a smile. Walking past the golfers perplexed stares I continued across the greens until I reached the outlet and jumped into the murky water. The current was still quite strong making the waist deep water quite difficult to navigate.

     Within 50 meters of the outlet the drain makes a sharp 90 degree turn. As an un-experienced drainer I told myself to expect the unexpected. But I was completely taken back by the dense fog that quickly consumed me a mere 20 feet from the first corner.

     The first manhole cover did not take much time to reach and with my curiosity nagging at me I popped it open. It turns out that I was still on the golf course unfortunately. With golfers looking as if they had seen a ghost I retreated back into the drain to continue the trek.

     The further and further I continued into the drain the thicker the fog became. At one point I could not see the end of my hand but as I neared the second turn the fog began to dissipate, albeit slightly. However some interesting engineering reared its head. Directly following the turn were three corrugated metal tubes with manholes at the top. The interesting part was that neither of these large tubes had a ladder and that the ceiling of these tubes were mainly made of concrete and not steel grating.

     With another turn behind me the water began to slowly grow shallower as the grade increased. The minnows and fish I had followed now disappeared as the flow of the water greatly increased. Walking upstream became difficult at times due to the high volume of water but I pressed on until I reached the first manhole. Curiosity got the best of me and I wanted to see where exactly I was. Wedging myself into a position that ensured I would not fall I began to loosen the manhole. After having what seemed like an entire beach fall onto my head I was able to get the manhole about two inches above the rim. Then my worst fears came true. Some sort of vehicle ran over the manhole forcing it and my arms to come crashing down. With this defeat I continued on my journey toward the end.

     It seemed like an eternity by the time the next manhole revealed itself through the fog. Once again I wanted to see where I was. In order to avoid another thrashing I waited for the sound of cars. Hearing nothing but the birds I heaved the manhole above my head as a crap load of sand covered my head. To mark this achievement I took a picture of the manhole on the street and sat in the middle of the street for about a minute. There was a lot more of the drain to cover so I grabbed the manhole and tried to put it back on its lid. Unfortunately its increased weight (compared to the other manholes) and my fatigue resulted in quite a struggle that yielded no favorable result. Growing frustrated I went beneath the manhole and attempted to slide it into its place. However when two of the spikes cleared the pavement the weight of the manhole cover was far too much for me to handle and it came down. This setback would not have caused any trouble had my fingers not been in the way but as luck would have it they were. "Ffffffff-------ccccccckkkkkkk" wailed throughout the neighbourhood as I quickly lifted the manhole cover off my fingers and back onto pavement.

      With some people coming out of their front doors to see what the commotion was I decided that I should call it a day and put the manhole back in place. People continued to stare at me as I walked down the street back to my car and at the trail of water I left behind but I did not care. I was defeated by the Amazon but I vowed to come back and conquer it.

One of three ladder-less manholes.

This is the only way (using flash) that I can show you what the fog was like in the drain.

The manhole of pain.

End of the line.