480 ANNUAL REPOET SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION^ 1915. 



that is pointed out as a building without a chimney or a gas pipe, 

 electricity being used for heating, lighting, and operating all the de- 

 vices necessary in a modern high school that includes physical and 

 chemical laboratories. 



The Minidoka Project is practically complete as now planned, and 

 it is possible to water 120,000 acres, of which 82,000 are under irriga- 

 tion, including 35,000 acres supplied by pumping. Forage crops, 

 grain, potatoes, and sugar beets are the principal products. 



HUNTLEY PROJECT, MONTANA. 



This is one of the few projects that requires no storage works, be- 

 ing located on the Yellowstone River at a point where the natural 

 run-off from a large drainage area provides a sufficient water supply. 

 The main .canal and lateral system now cover 30,000 acres, which 

 may be increased by small extensions. The most novel construction 

 feature is a hydraulic pumping plant on the main canal where the 

 bulk of the water, dropping through turbines, operates centrifugal 

 pumps that lift part of the supply to a high-line canal, the whole op- 

 eration being automatic and requiring almost no attention from the 

 operating force. 



The project is one of the most successful in operation and about 

 20,000 acres are now in crop, yielding products averaging in value 

 over $25 per acre. Sugar beets have become the most important 

 crop (pi. 9, fig. 1). A company has erected and operates a beet-sugar 

 factory, contracting with the farmers for a certain acreage to be 

 planted with seed supplied by the company, which pays for the beets 

 according to their sugar content. Over 4,000 acres are now utilized 

 in this way, returning to the farmer nearly $60 per acre. Alfalfa, 

 grain, and garden truck are the other important products. 



MILK RIVER PROJECT, MONTANA. 



Ever since the passage of the reclamation act the effort has been 

 made to develop along broad lines the irrigation jDossibilities of the 

 Milk River drainage. The situation is much complicated and delays 

 have been caused by the fact that the river is an international stream, 

 rising in the United States, entering Canada, and returning to this 

 country. Thus between the storage sites and irrigable lands in the 

 United States the river passes through lands that may be watered in 

 Canada, leading to conflicting interests in the limited water supply. 

 After years of negotiation a treaty with Great Britain was finally 

 proclaimed in 1910 for the distribution of the water, but its in- 

 terpretation in detail is still subject to adjustment, which is now in 

 the hands of a joint commission representing the two Governments. 



Meanwhile the Reclamation Service has built certain features of 

 the American project, permitting irrigation of a portion of the lands. 



