PUBLIC LANDS IN IDAHO. 



73 



two or three weeks it should be capable of carrying 

 an immense amount. 



With an abundant and constant supply of water in 

 the North Platte, with an at present unmanageable 

 amount of flood water in the South Platte, with the 

 Lodge Pole occasionally supplying its quota, the 

 only remaining practical questions are whether the 

 elevations admit of ditch construction at reasonable 

 cost. 



THE PROPOSED PLAN. 



The object in view is to irrigate the great expanse 

 of table lands south of the South Platte river, tak- 

 ing in on the way parts of Cheyenne, Deuel and 

 Keith counties between the rivers, Logan, Sedgwick 

 and Phillips counties in Colorado, and Perkins, Chase 

 and Hayes in Nebraska. 



The elevation of Holyoke above the Gulf of Mex- 

 ico is 3,734 feet, that of Sterling on the Platte, 50 miles 

 away, 3,920 feet. Here is a difference of over 150 feet, 

 or sufficient to carry a large ditch 150 miles. The 

 elevation of Grant is 3,400 feet, that of Camp Clark 

 on the North Platte, 100 miles away, is 3,800 feet, a 



difference m level ample for a large ditch though it 

 should be 400 miles in length. 



The plan on a large scale should be to tap the 

 North Platte as far west as practicable, with a mighty 

 ditch 10 feet deep and 100 feet wide, to rise on to the 

 divide between the two rivers and irrigate all the 

 land under the ditch as far as Ogallala, to cross the 

 Lodge Pole, which should also be tapped for any ex- 

 tra or flood water it might supply, to unite with a 

 large ditch tapping the South Platte near Sterling 

 and feeding into the North Platte ditch above Jules- 

 burg, and then crossing the South Platte on an aque- 

 duct to rise to the table lands of Phillips and Perkins 

 counties. Such a ditch would cost millions, but it 

 would also irrigate, in connection with reservoirs, two 

 to three million acres and, in time, double that quan- 

 tity. In its construction, precincts, counties, the rail- 

 roads and private capital should unite. 



The river water is there, the table lands are fertile 

 and occupied, the reservoirs are made by nature. 

 Man must intervene, divert the rivers, fill up the res- 

 ervoirs and make one vast garden out of what is now 

 only too often a burnt and arid waste. 



PUBLIC LANDS IN IDAHO. 



BY E. T. PERKINS, JR. 



1WISH to describe briefly and in the most general 

 way the present condition of the public lands of 

 Idaho. Idaho is an almost unknown country with an 

 area, in round numbers, of 54,000,000 acres, or 85,000 

 square miles. Of this only twelve per cent, has been 

 "taken up, 1 ' or " located upon," that is, passed out of 

 the possession of the general government; and, of this 

 amount only seven per cent, or 3,500,000 of acres has 

 passed into the hands of private individuals, the re- 

 mainder being railroad grants and Indian reserva- 

 tions. During the last five years settlers have been 

 taking up land at the rate of about 340,000 acres, or 

 seven-tenths of one per cent, a year, so that were all 

 the land available and no increase in immigration, it 

 would be over 140 years before all the State became 

 private property. 



The settlements have all been in the southern and 

 western parts of the State. The crest of the Rocky 

 mountains forms the northeastern boundary, and the 

 spurs of this range, running into the center of the 

 State, preclude agricultural settlements. 



There are four sources of information concerning 

 these lands, the " Hayden," the " Wheeler " and the 

 "United States Geological'' surveys, which are topo- 

 graphical, and the surveys of the general land office, 

 which are divisional. The "Hayden '' and " Wheeler " 



surveys were made during the years '78 and '79 and 

 cover an area of about 14,000 square miles in the 

 southeast corner of the State. 



The Geological survey has mapped about 10,000 

 square miles in the west and is still at work. The 

 General Land Office has extended its "lines "over 

 about 19,000 square miles in various localities and still 

 has much to do. 



The locations of these surveys have been governed 

 by the features of the land and the needs of the set- 

 tlers. In the southern part of the State, irrigation is 

 everywhere necessary, and the land office work fol- 

 lows the water courses, while the topographical sur- 

 veys cover in part the irrigable lands and in part the 

 mountainous water sheds which supply the needed 

 water for irrigation. So that while the topographical 

 maps cover solid blocks of country, the land office 

 work, in the south, is over detached areas and gener- 

 ally in lengthy strips following the water courses. 

 But in the north irrigation is unnecessary, dry farm- 

 ing prevails and the land office surveys cover solid 

 areas. 



SETTLEMENTS. 



As the settlements have governed the locations of 

 the surveys, we find the conditions of the settlements 

 the same as the conditions of the surveys; that is, in 



