PULSE OF THE IRRIGATION INDUSTRY. 



215 



The supply of snow at present in the 

 mountains of Colorado seems to be less 

 than the usual amount. This does not 

 necessarily mean that the streams will be 

 low, but unless the rains of spring and of 

 May and June are more abundant than 

 usual, it will follow. With late snows 

 the high waters are usually early, as the 

 snow melts soon. The cutting off of the 

 forests, and their destruction by fire, has 

 caused the loss of the natural covering 

 which formerly preserved the snow until 

 much later in summer than it is now com- 

 monly found. 



NEBRASKA. 



IDAHO. 



Squirrel-shooting parties are necessa- 

 rily popular in the Palouse country. 



The construction of an irrigation plant 

 is in progress for the Asotin flats in the 

 Snake River valley, near Lewiston. 



The Idaho Canal Company, under the 

 presidency of Mr. Frank W. Smith, has 

 commenced work, and 100 teams are now 

 engaged in construction. 



Two colonies of Iowa Dunkards, num- 

 bering about seventy in all, have recently 

 located in Idaho. This is the beginning 

 of a considerable movement. 



The Electric Light Company of Boise 

 has doubled the capacity of its plant. It 

 now has 660-horse power, and will furnish 

 power for manufacturing purposes. 



A statement was recently made under 

 oath in court by a well-known fruit grower 

 of Lewiston that the average profit from 

 his farm in a year was $700 an acre. 



An immigration congress has recently 

 been held at Boise City, which resulted in 

 a permanent organization to promote the 

 general welfare of the State. An effort 

 will be made to raise $10,000 for that pur- 

 pose. 



KANSAS. 



Arrangements have been made to ex- 

 tend the Amity irrigation canal twenty 

 miles in the western part of the State. It 

 is one of the best ditches in the West. 



The State school fund has an accumula- 

 tion of $208,000. The officials are anxious 

 to invest this in school bonds, but none are 

 offered, and it will probably be invested 

 in United States bonds. 



There will be a great many trials of 

 windmill irrigation in the western part of 

 the State this year. 



A butter and egg station has been es- 

 tablished at Niobrara, one of several along 

 the Milwaukee line. 



The Beerline and Smith irrigation ditch, 

 near Hedberg, is completed, and they are 

 counting on full crops this season. 



The average yield from the sugar-beet 

 industry in Nebraska is fifteen tons an 

 acre. The producer is paid $5 a ton. The 

 tops, also, have a value. 



NEW MEXICO. 



A vigorous horticultural society is pro- 

 moting fruit culture at Hagerman. 



A beet- sugar factory is to be built at 

 Eddy, $185,000 having been raised for it, 

 of which $15,000 was a local subscription. 



Efforts are again being made for the ex- 

 tension of the Pecos Valley railroad from 

 Roswell to the Texas panhandle, to a con- 

 nection with the Santa Fe\ 



The Taos valley, the garden spot of 

 Northern New Mexico, is feeling the im- 

 petus from new capital introduced for both 

 mining and ditch building. 



The Maxwell Land Grant Company is 

 doing a commendable work in getting out 

 two carloads of cottonwood trees from the 

 lower Rio Grande, to distribute among the 

 settlers along the Vermejo canal. 



Three extensive dams and irrigation sys- 

 tems are projected on the Rio Grande river. 

 The International dam, just north of El 

 Paso, Texas, which is to be built in order 

 to insure water to the farmers in the Isleta 

 valley, Texas, and to the Mexicans in Mex- 

 ico on the other bank of the river, both of 

 whom complain that they have a moral if not 

 a legal claim against the United States for 

 diverting the water higher up on the river, 

 and so depriving the people around El Paso 

 of their water rights. The Mexican gov- 

 ernment shows a disposition to provide half 

 the necessary capital, and Congress will be 

 asked to appropriate $1,000,000 as the 

 share of our government. A second dam 

 is contemplated near Rincoe, the capital 

 for which is being sought in London, but 

 so far without success. A third dam is 

 projected near Fort Seldon, and is in the 

 hands of Chicago capitalists, who are mak- 

 ing the necessary preparations to raise the 



