396 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



H. B. Garrett is assistant engineer and 

 has charge of the work. The company 

 proposes to irrigate five thousand acres 

 of land near Soap Lake, Wash., 112 

 miles west of Spokane. Most of the 

 promoters are socialists, and the com- 

 pany will be cooperative. The stock 

 is $75 a share cash, and $100 on pay- 

 ments. It is distributed among the 

 members, on installments, by paying 

 $10 to $20 a month. 



The company is incorporated for 

 $300,000, the stock being divided into 

 three thousand shares at $100 each. It 

 is the intention to sell $150,000 worth 

 of the stock, which is considered suf- 

 ficient to put all the five thousand acres 

 under a high state of cultivation. Prac- 

 tically all of the land will then be set 

 out in orchard. At the completion of 

 the irrigation system, and when all the 

 land is in cultivation, each holder of a 

 share of stock fully paid for may ex- 

 change it for an acre of land, to which 

 he will be given a warranty deed and 

 perpetual water rights. However, Mr. 

 Lichty says that not one per cent, of 

 the stockholders will exchange their 

 stock for the absolute title to one acre, 

 for the reason that this would deprive 

 them of their community rights in the 

 per.sonal property of the company, 

 which will be worth several thousand 

 dollars, and also of any share in the 

 big industrial enterprises and munici- 

 pality that is to be developed in the 

 district. 



The company's plan involves the 

 building of an enormous dam. the de- 

 velopment of several thousand electri- 

 cal horsepower, the platting and incor- 

 poration of a town, all the stores of 

 which are to belong to the company and 

 sell their goods to the people at cost. 

 The town will be governed according to 

 plans yet to be decided upon, but one 

 important feature of the municipal con- 

 stitution will be the initiative and 

 referendum. 



These things belong to the more dis- 

 tant future, and the promoters do not 

 expect to see them realities in less than 

 five years, because of the expense they 

 involve, but there will be enough ac- 

 tivity along other lines during the next 



two years. It is expected to have one 

 thousand acres set in orchard by next 

 fall, and water will be available for the 

 larger part of the district next spring. 

 All of the land will be watered by grav- 

 ity flow during the early part of the sea- 

 son, but after July it will be necessary 

 to pump the water, and for this pur- 

 pose a large pumping plant will be 

 built. Work on this part of the enter- 

 prise is now in progress. 



Twenty-five men and teams are dig- 

 ging laterals, deepening the main ditch, 

 building the pumping station and lay- 

 ing the foundation for the dam. The 

 ground will all be ready for cultivation 

 next fall, when the first trees will be 

 planted. Ten miles of the ditch is com- 

 pleted, and the hoisting pump will be 

 installed and the main canal completed 

 and ready to supply water early in 

 June. The company has sufficient capi- 

 tal on hand to insure the completion of 

 the work. The land was bought for $5 

 an acre, and the improvements, includ- 

 ing the irrigation plant, will cost 

 $250,000, or $50 an acre. 



Adrian is in the heart of the Big 

 Bend country. The land is volcanic 

 ash covered with sagebrush, and the 

 fact that the entire tract is almost as 

 level as the sea indicates that the soil 

 does not blow or shift with the winds. 

 The elevation of the district is one 

 thousand two hundred feet. The land 

 is along the banks of Crab Creek, a 

 stream of the "desert," as it might be 

 called by those unacquainted with the 

 remarkable fertility of the miles of 

 sagebrush land that stretch away in 

 every direction. 



Water for irrigation will be taken 

 from Brook Lake, a deep body of clear 

 water, covering one thousand acres. It 

 is one of the chain of lakes all fed by 

 Crab Creek. These lakes are really only 

 deep chasms in the coulee through 

 which the stream runs. The first of the 

 chain is Long Lake, then Tule Lake, 

 next Little Lake, and the last and 

 largest is Brook Lake. Between these, 

 Crab Creek runs through a deep coulee, 

 and this gulch with its rocky, precipi- 

 tous banks, will be turned into a vast 



