478 NATIONAL RECLAMATION OF ABTD LANDS. 



account, since its character, the shortness of the season, and the 

 remoteness of the site from railroad points did not tend to make it 

 inviting to contractors. 



A remarkable transformation. — In May, 1904, the Minidoka tract 

 was practically uninhabited. The writer drove across this desert 

 and camped for the night on the banks of Snake River at a point 

 which was then selected as the site for the future metropolis of the 

 valley. With the supervising engineer he drew a rough plan of the 

 town, which was subsequently approved by the Department. That 

 night, save for our camp fires, there was no other evidence of human 

 habitation within 30 miles of us, only a vast expanse of sage brush, 

 extending to the horizon. To-day you reach this point on a rail- 

 road, and pass through three towns to get there. These towns con- 

 tain more than 150 business establishments, including 3 newspapers 

 and 3 banks. They are well supplied with schools and churches. 

 Every 80 acres of that desert now has a family living upon it, and 

 where only a little over two years ago the desert held full sway, 

 nearly 4,000 people are settled to-day. The sales of lots in those 

 new towns netted Uncle Sam more than $60,000, and the lots are 

 not all sold yet. 



WYOMING-NEBRASKA. 



North Platte jyroject. — The North Platte project comprises all of 

 the work on the North Platte Eiver, extending from the town of North 

 Platte on the east, near the one hundred and first meridian, to the 

 point where the North Platte River enters the State of Wyoming 

 from Colorado, at about the one hundred and seventh meridian, a 

 distance which, measured by the river, is about 500 miles. The 

 project lies 100 miles north of Cheyenne. It may be reached from 

 the north by the Chicago and Northwestern and the Burlington rail- 

 roads; from the south by the Union Pacific and Colorado and South- 

 ern railroads from Cheyenne, and from Denver and the east by the 

 Burlington Railroad. The project extends from a point on the east 

 which is generally accepted as the eastern boundary of the arid 

 region, namely, the one hundredth meridian, to within a short dis- 

 tance of the Continental Divide. 



In the easterly portion the rainfall is at times sufficient to grow 

 crops, while in the westerly portion arid conditions are found. 

 According to the last census, within the drainage basin of the Platte 

 River is found the largest area of land irrigable by one stream in the 

 United States, and the value of improved agricultural land is proba- 

 bly as high as any other section, with the possible exception of the 

 fruit belts of California. 



The elevation varies from 3,500 feet to considerably over 6,000 feet, 

 the portion lying within the boundaries of the State of Nebraska 



