254 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



and five-year-old steers from Bennett Bros., of De- 

 Witt county. 



A great show was given by the Southwest Texas 

 Fair Association at Victoria. The officers of the 

 association are D. Heaton, president; W. C. 

 Barnes, vice-president; D. H. Keagan, treasurer, 

 and L. N. Hofer, secretary. 



The Wool Growers' Association of Bosque county 

 held a big meeting at Meridian. Efforts are be- 

 ing made to reorganize the State Association. 



The city of Gainesville has sunk a well for water 

 supply. 



New Birmingham is to be revived, and so are the 

 blast furnaces at Llano. 



The Water Development Company has engaged 

 a St. Louis engineer to make plans for a water- 

 works system at Corsicana. 



The iron ore beds of east Texas are rapidly com- 

 ing into prominence. 



At the State Irrigation convention at Waco there 

 were present from different sections of the State 

 about 100 representative men. They made ar- 

 rangements to try to have the next legislature 

 submit a proposition to the people to have the State 

 constitution changed so as to people the State 

 more rapidly from abroad. Under the present 

 constitution the State is prohibited from expend- 

 ing any money for any immigration purposes 

 whatever. 



Burnet and Llano counties are shipping huge 

 walnut logs to Houston, from which point they go 

 to Europe and are there converted into furniture, 

 much of which finds its way into this country. 



The Bear Kiver Irrigation Canal Company will 

 have 75,000 heads of marketable celery this season, 

 which will be sent to the Chicago market. This 

 company also has carloads of navy beans, cabbage 

 and cauliflower. 



Coal of an excellent quality has been discovered 

 near Mt. Pleasant, in a vein eight feet thick. 



George H. Eldredge, of the Geological Survey of 

 the United States, is making a reconnoisance of the 

 Uintah and Uncompaghre reservations, investi- 

 gating their mineral deposits. 



WASHINGTON. 



One of the latest incorporated irrigation enter- 

 prises is the Washington & Idaho Irrigation Com- 

 pany. Capital stock, $250,000. The incorporators 

 are B. E. Clark, C. W. Clark, H. M. Mosely, G. S. 

 Palmer. 



As to the wages paid working people in the State 

 of Washington, the Colfax Gazette says : " Skilled 

 labor is well remunerated, mechanics wages aver- 

 aging $3 a day; the wages of clerks and bookkeep- 

 ers range from $65 to $100 a month. Unskilled 

 labor receives $1.75 to $2 a day. Farm hands re- 

 ceive $'25 a month and upwards. Loggers $2.50 a 

 day and upwards. Horses of a good grade are 

 very cheap." 



The price of land in Washington varies accord- 

 ing to location. The Northern Pacific railroad has 

 much unimproved land which they sell at from 

 $2.50 to $4 an acre. Improved land can be bought 

 for from $8 to $25 an acre, according to location. 

 Easy terms of payment can be obtained. As good 

 land as there is in the county about Colfax, land 

 which will produce forty bushels of wheat to the 

 acre under scientific farming, can be obtained in 

 fairly well improved state for $15 and $18 an acre. 



C. J. Struible, of the Kennewick Valley, has just 

 completed the task of setting out 50,000 strawberry 

 plants. 



Okanogan ranchers have just cut the third crop 

 of alfalfa, which averaged two tons to the acre. 



A quarter of an acre of C. K. Smith's sugar cane 

 at Kennewick yielded him thirty-five gallons of 

 sorghum. This is a most remarkable yield, and 

 would be equivalent to $70 per acre. 



Whitman county, driven by the low price of 

 wheat, is getting to be a great hog section, and it 

 is estimated that at least 75,000 hogs and pigs are 

 owned in the county. 



At the Spokane fruit fair Whitman county took 

 the first grand prize and Milton got the second. 



Speaking of the Snake Eiver valley, the Colfax 

 G&zette says: "As an instance of what can be 

 done on these lands, it is stated that there are 

 numerous well authenticated cases of returns of 

 from $1,000 to $1,500 from patches of strawberries 

 not exceeding half an acre in extent." 



Much good is looked for as a result of the meet- 

 ing of the Northwest Fruit Growers' Association at 

 Walla Walla this month, attended by the leading 

 growers of Washington and Oregon. The action 

 of Eastern consignees in taking the fruit ship- 

 ments of the Northwest and disposing of them at 

 auction to themselves at figures ruinous to the 

 grower, and then jobbing them out at high rates, 

 has called for remedial action. It is understood that 

 an effort will be made to form a close alliance 

 among growers and place capable and honest 

 men in the principal markets to handle the prod- 

 ucts of the Northwest so as to give the best 

 returns to the producer. The packing of fruit, and 

 other subjects of interest to the grower will be 

 taken up. The State Horticultural Society will 

 meet there at the same time and discuss the sub- 

 ject of pomology in its various bearings. 



WYOMING. 



The Wyoming Irrigation and Land Company has 

 filed articles of incorporation. Capital, $1,000,000, 

 to operate in Sweetwater county. Trustees are 

 William G. Melville, Louis Kurz, Thos. Knight, 

 Redmond Hughes, Charles E. Cook, Henry D. 

 Barto, of Kansas City, and E. K. Boman, of Leav- 

 enworth. C. P. Hill, attorney. Principal place 

 of business, Cheyenne ; branch offices located at 

 Kansas City, Denver and Green River. 



A new enterprise, contemplating the reclamation 

 of a vast tract of land north of Granger and north- 

 west of Green river, is headed by ex-Governor 

 Marshall of Kansas, now of Denver. Irrigation 

 will be by water from the Green and Sandy rivers. 



The Black Fork irrigation project is now being 

 pushed by ex-Congressman John A. McShane, of 

 Nebraska, and Mr. Condon. This tract of land 

 embraces 50,000 acres and lies southwest of 

 Granger, in Uintah and Sweetwater counties. 



Converse county has a population of something 

 over 4,000 souls. In 1886 the county contained 

 only a few scattering ranches, and was utilized 

 simply as a stock range. To-day its centers of 

 population are Douglas, Glenrock, Lusk, Man- 

 ville and Inez, ranking in the order named, all 

 thriving and prosperous towns. Douglas is the 

 county seat. 



The Platte Valley Company of Douglas, Wyo- 

 ming, has 6,000 head of sheep on the trail from 

 Oregon. The company has purchased some fine 

 bucks to put with its flock, including two regis- 

 tered Lincoln rams from Canada, two Hampshires 



