PULSE OF THE IRRIGATION INDUSTRY. 



215 



THOS. FROST, 

 Member of the National Execu- 

 tive Committee for Minnesota. 



ONE of the rising 

 young lawyers of 

 the bustling city of 

 Minneapolis is Thomas 

 Frost, who was elected a 

 member of the National 

 Executive Committee at 

 the recent Congress. Mr. 

 Frost stands as the repre- 

 sentative of a Northern 

 State which has not as yet 

 adopted the practice of 

 irrigation to the same ex- 

 tent as many of her West- 

 ern sisters, but judging 

 from indications recently 

 manifested it will not be 

 long before the thrifty 

 farmers of Minnesota 

 will greatly increase their 

 yield of agricultural pro- 

 ducts by a practical sys- 

 tem of artificial watering. 



PROGEESS IN UTAH. 



J. V. ADMIRE, 



of Oklahoma. 

 Member of the National 

 Executive Committee. 



THE great Southwest was 

 fully represented at 

 the Fourth National 

 Irrigation Congress, and 

 among the leading delegates 

 was J. V. Admire of Okla- 

 homa. Mr. Admire is an 

 energetic and successful 

 business man, the publisher 

 of a newspaper, and in- 

 terested in several other 

 enterprises. He is a stanch 

 advocate of the possibilities 

 of Oklahoma and can fore- 

 see the day when his chosen 

 section will stand among the 

 ranks of the most prosperous 

 communities of the West. 



IN an article in this number 

 the advantages of South- 

 west Texas are vividly 

 portrayed by J. S. Atkins of 

 Portland. The outlook in 

 Texas is indeed bright and 

 already the influence of the 

 favorable legislation recent- 

 ly enacted is beginning to be 

 felt. Capital is inspired with 

 confidence when it is assured 

 that proper precaution will 

 be taken to protect it. Mr. 

 Atkins has been a faithful 

 and tireless worker in be- 

 half of the interests of the 

 great State of which he is so proud and he is looking 

 forward hopefully to the developments which will 

 follow the opening of the deep water harbor at Aran- 

 sas Pass. 



Send for a copy of THE IRRIGATION AGE pre- 

 mium list. No other publication offers such valuable 

 premiums. Young people can make money soliciting 

 subscriptions for THE AGE. 



J. S. ATKINS, OF 

 TEXAS 



THE following extracts are taken from the re- 

 port of the Utah commission to the Fourth 

 National Irrigation Congress, presented by C. L. 

 Stevenson, secretary of the commission: 



The impetus given through the Irrigation Con- 

 gresses has been most marked in our Territory; in 

 fact it may be called a "revival" in a region which 

 was the forerunner in showing what could be ac- 

 complished through irrigation in the inter-mountain 

 region known generally as the " Great American 

 Desert.'* 



During the past year we may be said to have fairly 

 inaugurated in Utah the era of reservoir construction 

 for irrigation purposes, thereby making available 

 three times the amount of water possible to obtain 

 heretofore from our streams. In no region probably 

 has there been exhibited a stronger opposition to the 

 impounding of water by construction of dams; this 

 opposition has been natural enough from the many 

 disasters which of late years have accompanied badly 

 constructed impounding reservoirs. 



With the increasing knowledge that under proper 

 engineering surveillance safety and greatly enhanced 

 supply can be had, great advances are now being 

 made, and one of the factors that tended most 

 strongly to do away with this sentiment was the great 

 success of the people of Gunnison, who with a few 

 hundred of dollars constructed an earthen dam some 

 thirty feet high across a small stream known as the 

 San Pitch River, and which during the irrigating 

 season dwindled to a flow sufficing for only a few 

 thousand acres, the winter and spring flows enabling 

 the reservoir to be twice filled, and this season their 

 dam will be raised another five feet and by also 

 draining some of the small affluents the Gunnison 

 irrigation district now covers 25,000 acres. 



The success of the Bear River dam, or rather divert- 

 ing weir across that river, further strengthened the be- 

 lief that dams could be built which would stand all 

 freshets. It may be well to here state that the Bear 

 River company's works are among the largest irriga- 

 tion plants of the West. At a cost of nearly $2,000,- 

 000, there is here over 100 miles of canals, with towns 

 and settlements thereunder, already covering 315 

 square miles of most fertile lands, part being 

 colonized. During the past year 5,000 acres have 

 been placed in cultivation, 40,000 fruit trees set out 

 and an extensive grain elevator constructed. 



Among the first to go extensively into the im- 

 pounding of water we find the works of the Clear 

 Lake Land and Irrigation Company situated on the 

 Sevier River, near Deseret, in Millard County, where 

 Swan Lake and a series of smaller lakes are con- 

 nected, and raised by dams to cover some twelve 

 square miles of surface, which reclaim upward of 

 15,000 acres. 



Near the south end of Utah Lake is the extensive 

 reservoir and canal system of the Mt. Nebo Irriga- 

 tion company. The works of this company are of a 

 more expensive character than the average, due to the 

 first class methods of construction and the character 

 of the country. Their dam across Current creek con- 

 serves water enough for irrigating 25,000 acres ad- 

 jacent to the town of Goshen. 



The boldest project now under way is that known 

 as the Mammoth reservoir on Gooseberry creek in 

 Sanpete County, eight miles east of the town of Fair- 

 view. The dam of this company will be a most 



