48 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



a game and fish preserve. It is noted as a 

 rendezvous for ducks and every encour- 

 agement will be offered to induce the 

 ducks to make their homes there. The 

 lake is also to be stocked with black bass, 

 although it is well supplied already with 

 fine trout. A club-house is to be erected 

 and every convenience will be provided 

 where true sportsmen may enjoy the pleas- 

 ure of trying their skill as a marksman with- 

 out killing game at wholesale. 



Up to the present time all local reports 

 go to show that the grain crop prospects 

 are the best in the history of Eastern Wash- 

 ington. There has been, thus far this sea- 

 son, much more rain than usual. The 

 latter part of April, the month of May 

 and the forepart of June, gentle showers 

 have taken place nearly every other day 

 contributing largely to the above condition 

 of the crop prospects. 



The stockmen have about completed 

 their roundups, and they report that the 

 ranges are the best and the stock looking 

 the finest for this season of the year in the 

 history of the business. Buyers are now on 

 hand and prime fat beeves are being shipp- 

 ed to market at very fair prices. 



Fruit prospects now are that the apple 

 crop will be the largest and most valuable 

 ever known. The season for berries andsm all 

 fruits is from ten days to two weeks behind 

 the average on account of the lateness ofthe 

 spring, and will be somewhat under the 

 average in quantity on account of the late 

 frost in the majority of the fruit growing 

 localities; yet quite a large amount of 

 small fruit of very fine quality is being 

 shipped to market. Pear and prunes will 

 be below an average crop. This favorable 

 weather continued will insure a harvest 

 of a very fine quality. 



While the Western and South-western 

 States along the Mississippi valley from 

 Minnesota to Texas are being swept with 

 terrible destructive freshets and cyclones, 

 destroying hundreds of lives and millions 

 of dollars of property, Eastern Washing- 

 ton which has never experienced anything 

 of this kind, is enjoying an ideal climate 

 favorable for health and comfort, and a 

 most luxurious vegetable growth insuring 

 ample return to the cultivator of the soil. 



There has been more ditch building in 

 the Big Horn country this year than in 

 any previous year. 



The ranchmen of Kanchester are about 

 constructing an immense reservoir for irri- 

 gation purposes. 



In a case carried to the United States 

 Supreme Court from this State, it has 

 been decided that the Indians must submit 

 to the State laws as to hunting on the 

 public lands, except within the designated 

 hunting districts. 



Secretary Smith has directed the Com- 

 missioner of the General Land Office to 

 make contracts for the survey of thirty- 

 nine townships in this State, in order that 

 the State may make selections of school 

 land, as provided by the act of admission. 



State Engineer Meade assures the 

 managers of the Trans-Mississippi Expo- 

 sition, to be held in Omaha in 1898, that 

 Wyoming will improve the splendid oppor- 

 tunity it will offer, to make a comprehensive 

 exhibit of the resources of the State. 



A pipe line twenty-one miles long is to 

 be constructed for mining purposes on the 

 Sweetwater, application having been filed 

 with the State engineer. It is proposed 

 to mine a tract embracing nearly 6,000 

 acres. The pipe is to be three feet in 

 diameter, and the cost of the work is esti- 

 mated at $225,000. 



A section of land ten miles square, in 

 one corner of the Shoshone and Arapahoe 

 Indian reservation, has been purchased by 

 the government, and will be converted into 

 a reserve and held as a National Park. 

 It includes the famous Hot Springs, at 

 the head of the Big Horn river. These 

 springs are noted for the cure of rheuma- 

 tism. Although the mountains were still 

 full of snow, Inspector McLaughlin, who 

 negotiated the purchase, found twenty-five 

 white men there, all invalids, who had 

 been carried through the mountains on 

 cots, but were all walking about when 

 he was there. 



AMONG THE PAPERS. 



WYOMING. 



The Fetterman canal, near Douglas, has 

 been completed, and is in operation. 



In these days the genius and per- 

 ceptive faculty of man is making such 

 marvelous use of the powers and resources 

 of nature that everybody is interested in 

 following the developments. A monthly 

 publication, ''New Ideas," keeps close 



