NEWS AND NOTES 



Irrigation Development in Washington 



FOUR thousand acres of historic 

 ground, surrounding old Fort Oka- 

 nogan, Wash., northwest of Spokane, 

 is to be put under ditch by J. G. Mc- 

 Donnell and J. B. Vallentine, and it is 

 estimated that the cost of installing the 

 plant will be $125,000. Water will be 

 taken from the Columbia River. 



Water for the tract, to be known as 

 Bridgeport Orchards, will be distrib- 

 uted by gravity from a large reservoir. 

 A pumping plant with a capacity of 

 twenty thousand gallons a minute will 

 be installed, operated by a gas-producer 

 engine of two hundred horsepower. The 

 water wdll be lifted fifty feet into the 

 reservoir, from which it will be distrib- 

 uted through ditches. The domestic 

 water problem is easily solved, for the 

 reason that water can be reached by 

 boring only a few feet. Four and a 

 half miles of ditches will be dug. 



Bridgeport is 738 feet above sea level. 

 A part'of the land to be irrigated has 

 been under cultivation for years, and 

 there are several ten-year-old orchards. 

 Some of these have made remarkable 

 yields even without irrigation. 



With the exception of the Astoria 

 settlement, made by the elder John Ja- 

 cob Astor. Fort Okanogan is the oldest 

 habitation of white men in the North- 

 west. While the land will produce 

 abundantly without irrigation, there 

 have been half a dozen projects started 

 during the last twenty years to put it 

 under the ditch, but all for some reason 

 have ended in failure. Now there is 

 every indication that the district will 

 soon have railroad transportation by 

 the building of the Okanogan Elec- 

 tric Railway Company's line between 

 Nighthawk and Brewster, Wash., by 

 Col. A. M. Dewey, of Spokane, and his 

 associates, and this will mean rapid de- 

 velopment. Work on the line seventy- 

 five miles in length, will begin July i. 



The lands are cheap, costing not 

 more than $50 an acre, this being be- 

 cause of the lack of water and trans- 

 portation facilities. The Great North- 

 ern Railway has completed the pur- 

 chase of a right of way between We- 

 natchee and Oroville, and is now ask- 

 ing for an easement across state lands 

 which indicates that it will begin con- 

 struction of its branch line in the near 

 future. At the same time Congress is 

 busy with the project of making the 

 Columbia navigable. There are also a 

 number of smaller railroad-building 

 projects, which, if carried out, will 

 provide transportation for most of the 

 river between the junction of the Ket- 

 tle River and the Pend d'Oreille, above 

 which there are now railroad lines. 

 Between Kettle Falls and Wenatchee 

 there is river-boat service. 



Based on what is being done at We- 

 natchee, Yakima, Prosser and Spokane 

 A^alleys, where the most intelligent hor- 

 ticulture is followed, it is estimated 

 that a five-year-old tree should aver- 

 age twelve boxes of apples every year. 

 These should sell at from $1 to $2. 

 There are from fifty-four to eighty 

 trees to the acre, so the yield of an or- 

 chard should be from $1,200 to $2,500 

 an acre. Of course, this is done only 

 when the most modern methods are 

 employed, both as to growing the crop 

 and marketing it. 



Ui $^ 5^ 



Reclamation Work for Socialist Settlement 



THE Adrian Irrigation 

 founded by James J. 

 years ago, and abandoned a 

 expenditure of money, has 

 rected by Spokane people, 

 H. Rosenzweig, president ; 

 ty, secretary and manager. 

 Waller, acting president of 

 ington State College, chie 



Company, 



Hill, nine 

 fter a large 

 been resur- 



headed by 

 J. S. Lich- 



and O. L. 



the Wash- 

 f engineer. 



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