256 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



by this legislature, but the work should be begun, and 

 the following suggestion is thought to be safe and 

 conservative. Let there be a law enacted by this 

 legislature making necessary appropriations, and 

 authorizing the appointment of a commission of 

 three men, whose duties are to be as follows : One, 

 who shall be an irrigation engineer, to make exami- 

 nation of arid land which is deemed suitable for 

 selection, making surveys, plans and estimates of all 

 work to be constructed, and to report in detail on all 

 that appertains to the reclamation of each tract. 



Another, whose duties shall be to determine the best 

 method of administration of the affairs appertaining 

 to the operation of canals and irrigation of land in 

 each district. This will require a man well equipped 

 with knowledge of irrigation matters. 



The other, to investigate the work of colonizing the 

 land after reclamation. On his efforts depend the 

 success of the enterprise. Hap-hazard colonization 

 has ruined many good projects, but it should be just 

 as easy to settle these lands with people of skill and 

 thrift as with the opposite class. 



Each member of the commission will thus have a 

 special work to perform, and as the plans of each will 

 have a direct bearing on those of the others, the three 

 will sit as an advisory board, considering and adjust- 

 ing the plans of all, in order to present one harmonious 

 plan of action. 



All this preliminary work should be done next year, 

 and the reports and recommendations of the com- 

 mission transmitted through the Governor to the 

 legislature for its approval, and for the enactment, 

 by it, of such laws as will be necessary to authorize 

 the issue and sale of bonds for the construction of 

 the works. 



BENEFITS TO BE GAINED. 



A brief summary will close this article. 



A million acres of land in this State will be re- 

 claimed, affording homes for one hundred and twenty- 

 five thousand people. 



A section of the State will be developed having 

 great natural advantages, which ought to make it the 

 center of industry of the whole Northwest. 



A conservative business policy for administering 

 the affairs of each of these irrigation districts will be 

 followed by all other districts in the State. 



Under a wise plan of immigration an intelligent 

 class of people will be drawn to this State, building 

 up thousands of self-supporting homes. All other 

 fields of industry will be entered, and trade will be 

 balanced within the State. 



It has been asserted that it will take 140 years to 

 file on all the public land in Idaho at the rate of 340,- 

 000 acres each year. 



At this rate of filing the first class agricultural 

 lands, which it will be practicable to reclaim in South- 

 ern Idaho, could be taken in about four years. 



This will be regarded as a bold statement in the 

 face of representations which have been made by 

 people of our State, but it will be found to be close to 

 the truth after careful investigations have been made 

 on the ground. 



We appreciate the importance of careful manage- 

 ment in the settlement of irrigated land when we see 

 a tract of seventy-five thousand acres lying under one 

 canal line, filed on in about two years' time by mer- 

 chants, professional men and others unable to farm. 

 All claimed, but not an acre cultivated nor a soul 

 living on it, all waiting to be made rich through the 

 efforts of an irrigation company, which of course died 

 just in time to save itself. 



No legislature of Idaho will have as important work 

 before it as the one soon to convene, and we believe 

 it will act in this matter not only for to-day but for 

 the years to come. 



IRRIGATION WORK IN IDAHO. 



A TYPE OF THE DIFFICULTIES ENCOUNTERED IN BUILDING CANALS 



AND DAMS. 



BY A. J. WILEY. 



THE pioneer canal builders of Idaho have sup- 

 plemented by eternal vigilance the mistaken 

 economy of uneven grades, scant banks, steep 

 slopes and timber structures. Experience in the 

 operation of canals has shown the economy of a 

 more substantial construction, and the old canals 

 are being modeled upon a more permanent basis. 

 The narrow banks are being strengthened by material 

 from the steep slopes and the uneven bottoms, and 

 the rotting timbers of gates and flumes are being re- 

 placed by stone and iron. 



New canals are in some cases attempting to 

 avoid the mistakes that have been so detrimental 

 to the old, and a description of the methods used in 

 one important canal now in process of construction 

 will give a fair idea of the better class of canal build- 

 ing that has yet been attempted in Idaho. 



DIFFICULTIES OVERCOME. 



The headworks of the canal system of the Owyhee 

 Land and Irrigation Company are on the Bruneau 

 river in Owyhee county, Idaho. It was necessary that 

 the head of the canal should be twenty feet higher 



than the water of the river. A " rock fill " dam was 

 indicated by the abundance of broken rock with 

 which the banks of the Bruneau were covered, but 

 the narrowness of the canyon prevented the use of an 

 independent waste way and forced the selection 

 of an overflow dam. To build a timber dam in 

 twenty feet of water (the depth of the river at the 

 dam site) involved too great an expenditure, and it 

 was decided to build that portion of the dam below 

 the water surface of loose rock, and upon this founda- 

 tion to build the upper portion of timber. 



THE DAM. 



The loose rock foundation is 176 feet long, 170 feet 

 wide on the base, 110 feet wide on the top and 20 feet 

 high, with its top five feet above low water. Upon 

 the up-stream half of this foundation a timber dam 

 of the ordinary triangular crib type was erected. 

 The face of the dam is floored with four-inch plank- 

 ing. It has a slope of 3^ to 1, and is supported 

 against the water pressure by posts resting on the 

 mudsills. These are continuous beams of 12 x 14- 

 inch timbers, crossing each other at right angles and 



