NATIONAL RECLAMATION OP AEID LANDS. 479 



being all under 4,200 feet, or 1,000 feet lower than Denver, while that 

 lying in Wyoming is from 4,000 to 6,000 feet, or the greatest elevation 

 reached, and about the same as Cheyenne. 



The project may be divided into a number of subprojects, as 

 follows : 



First. The Pathfinder reservoir, under construction since Januarj^, 

 1905, which will jjrobably be completed in 1908, will store all the sur- 

 plus and flood waters of the North Platte River and furnish all of 

 the other subprojects, which consist of canals, with an ample supply 

 of water. The capacity of the reserA^oir is about 326,700,000,000 gal- 

 lons, or sufficient to cover 1,000,000 acres of land 1 foot deep. The 

 dam will be one of the greatest masonry dams in the world, 210 feet 

 high above the river bed, containing 53,000 cubic yards of masonry, 

 and costing probably $1,000,000. 



Second. The Interstate canal and its tributary systems, on the 

 north side of the North Platte River. This canal heads at AVhalen 

 station, on the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad, about 8 

 miles above old Fort Laramie, and extends easterly to range 49 west, 

 or about 15 miles east of the point where the Black Hills division of 

 the Burlington Railroad crosses the North Platte River at the town 

 of Bridgeport. The subproject has been under construction since 

 the spring of 1905. One hundred miles of the canal are now com- 

 pleted. Water was first delivered in 1906 to some 20,000 acres, and 

 will be delivered to more land in 1907. 



Third. The Goshen Hole subproject, on which only j^reliminary 

 surveys have been made, consist of the Goshen Hole canal, heading 

 at the town of Guernsey, Wyo., on the North Platte River, and 

 extends southeasterly about 140 miles, covering more than 200,000 

 acres of land on the south side of the North Platte River, part of 

 which is in the State of Nebraska. 



Fourth. The Fort Laramie canal, which has the same heading as 

 the Interstate canal, but on the south side of the river extends easterl}^ 

 to about range 52 west, the length being 130 miles and the area cov- 

 ered 50,000 acres, 30,000 acres being in Wyoming and 20,000 in 

 Nebraska. 



Meteorology. — The maximum temjDerature in summer reaches 

 102° F. The minimum in winter is from 15° to 40° below zero. It 

 must be remembered in this connection, however, that these low tem- 

 peratures last for a very short period of time. It is seldom that the 

 thermometer reaches zero every night for any ten consecutive nights, 

 the cold snaps, as they are called, generally lasting from one to three 

 days. The precipitation varies from 12 to 24 inches. During the 

 season of 1906 about 24 inches fell, while in 1904 the recorded precip- 

 itation was but 13 inches. The maximum rainfall during any one 



