 In 1921, Thomas Kilby began to recruit his neighbours to sign a petition to the Municipality of Kent urging construction.However, a rival petition circulated by James Duncan upset the Kilby petition and he did not manage to collect the necessary 51% of the property owners.By 1925, the farmers had organized in a committee that constructed a private dyke that consisted of a 3' wall from the Bateson Slough to the CPR tracks at the Harrison Mills railway station.