THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



79 



i s $ 35,071,563 and in 1896, $48,670,218. 

 The English newspapers are predicting 

 serious inroads into British trade by the 

 Americans. 



The annual production of manganese 

 iron ore is about 170.000 tons. The ore 

 of Wisconsin and Michigan assays an av- 

 erage of ten per cent. ; New Jersey about 

 twelve per cent, and Colorado about twen- 

 ty-seven per cent. 



Gold to the amount of over $44,000,000 

 has been imported into the United States 

 thus far this year, as against some $79,- 

 000,000 expoited in 1896 This is merely 

 a straw which indicates the direction of 

 the prevailing business ciirrents. 



The Michael Davitt claim, covering an 

 area of five acres (400x900 feet) was re- 

 cently sold for $601,000. It was at a sher- 

 iff's sale and was purchased by Frank 

 Klepetko, general manager for the Boston 

 and Montana Company of Butte, Mont. 



The Kisdon Iron Works, of San Fran- 

 bisco, have a patented gold dredge at work 

 in the old hydraulic washings in the Yuba 

 river. The dredge has a -working capacity 

 of 2000 cubic yai'ds per day and the cost 

 of operating is less than three cents a yard . 



agricultural land. A preliminary survey 

 for the new canal has already been made. 



STATE NEWS. 



ARIZONA. 



Phoenix, Arizona, will soon have a new 

 theatre building. 



The cattle business in Arizona is on the 

 boom. 



Experiments with the growing of cot- 

 ton are being made in Arizona and prom- 

 ise to be successful. 



MONTANA. 



W. B. Jordan, President of the First 

 National Bank, of Miles City, who re- 

 cently purchased a large tract of agricul- 

 tural land in the Shields River Valley, is 

 arranging to construct an irrigation canal 

 with a capacity of 2,000 inches of water. 

 The ditch will extend down the valley five 

 miles and will reclaim a valuable tract of 



WYOMING. 



Work on the construction of three large 

 canals to irrigate the lands of the Indians 

 taken in severally on the Shoshone re?er- 

 vation has commenced. The most impor- 

 tant canal is taken from Big Wind river, 

 near St. Stephen s mission. It will be 

 five miles long, six feet wide and eighteen 

 inches deep, and will irrigate several 

 thousand acres of fine land. All of the 

 work upon the canals, excepting the sur- 

 veying, is being done by the Indians. 



NEW MEXICO. 



The outlook for sheep and the wool 

 clip in New Mexico was never so bright as 

 at present. The ranges are in excellent 

 condition. Purchasers of sheep have 

 been very heavy. 



The office of the United States paymas- 

 ter for the Southwestern district has been 

 moved from Albuquerque to Denver, Col. 



The Pecos Valley people are still look- 

 ing forward to the time when the new rail- 

 road will be opened betWeen Roswell and 

 Amarilla, Texas. 



SOUTH DAKOTA 



A great many inquiries are coming in 

 from the east to the real estate ineli in re- 

 gard to Black Hills property of var- 

 ious kinds. There is considerable inquiry 

 for farm land, especially that which can be 

 irrigated. The problem of farming suc- 

 cessfully in the Hills has be^n solved. 

 There is a system of mountain stream 

 flowing down the valleys which can be 

 easily tapped and made to moisten vast 

 areas of the richest kind of land. 



Marcus P. Beebe, President of the Bank 

 of Ipswich, states that there is a good de- 

 mand for property in the northern part of 

 South Dakota, and that the cattle business 

 is better than it has been for a long time. 



The Fort Randall Military Reservation, 

 containing about 100,000 acres of land was 

 recently thrown open to settlement under 



