THE IRRIGATION AGE. 261 



of the traveling public; lumber is on the ground for a church building 

 and the services of a minister have been engaged. 



W. F. Holt is building a telephone line which will be completed . 

 from Iris, telegraph station, via Plowingwell to Imperial in a few days. 



Imperial has been formed into a school district, and it is the inten- 

 tion to erect, the present season, a school house to cost 5000, as it is 

 estimated that the school next winter will require two teachers. This 

 large school district, which is about fifty miles square, will have to be 

 cut into several smaller districts next year. 



In the hills to the west of this great valley, .the out-cropping and 

 seepages of oil are said to be the very best to be found in the State, 

 and during the past few months over 500,000 acres of this oil territory 

 have been filed upon for oil purposes, and already several rigs are at 

 work going down deep for oil. In one well, at a depth of 400 feet, a 

 supply of artesian water was struck. This was at the junction of the 

 Carriso and San Felipe creeks, on the western edge of the desert. 



As regards climate, in summer it is hob, in winter, lall and spring 

 it is delightful. The summers are about the same as those of the Salt 

 River valley in Arizona. The nights as a rule are not too warm for 

 comfort in the summer months. The atmosphere is so very dry that 

 the heat which at mid-day runs above a hundred in the shade for 

 weeks at a time, is not oppressive. 



As to crops, this will be a general farming country, with alfalfa a 

 staple, and the fattening of cattle will be a leading industry. This 

 will be the greatest cattle fattening country in- the United States. 

 More cattle can be fattened here on a given area and at less expense 

 than in any other known section. 



Eventually it will be an early fruit country. This industry will 

 develop gradually. It is probably too cold for citrus fruits in most 

 localities, but deciduous fruits and raisin grapes will develop here to 

 perfection. 



So much for the country, the soil, the climate, the productions and 

 the work already done to make this counlry habitable, bub nothing 

 will succeed without water. 



The California Development Company commenced work last Aug- 

 ust on the main canal at Hanlon Heading on the Colorado river. 



A large dredge was purchased, having a capacity to handle 3,000 

 cubic yards of dirt every twenty-four hours. This dredge, which is 

 forty-five feet in width, has worked its way down towards the Salton 

 River channel, digging the canal as it went, for a distance of nearly 

 ten miles, so that now the water is running down from the Colorado 

 river through the canal into the Salton river channel to a point where 

 it is being diverted into the canal again near Cameron Lake, about 

 fifty miles from Hanlon Heading. 



