THE IBBIOATION AGE. 



103 



this money is paid back to the Government at the rate 

 of about $20 per acre, the fund is to be used for the 

 new reservoir project which has been surveyed on the 

 Verde Eiver and also the Gila River at San Carlos, 

 where the engineers say 200,000 acres may be reclaimed 

 at the small cost of $2.00 per acre. Mr. Curtis evidently 

 fails to note the incongruity of this proposition. Possi- 

 bly his lack of knowledge of conditions in the Territory 

 of Arizona has been the cause of his overlooking the fact 

 that if 200,000 acres of desert land can be reclaimed on 

 the Gila Eiver at a cost of $2.00 per acre, or, say, $500,- 

 000 for the project, would it not be much better for the 

 country at large to open up 200,000 acres of land for 

 settlement and permit a few thousand settlers to secure 

 cheap homes and land under this project than to invest 

 $20 per acre out of the first money obtained under the 

 Reclamation Act to irrigate 160,000 acres of land held 

 in private ownership in the Salt Eiver Valley? 



The facts as THE IRRIGATION AGE has them are 

 that 360,000 acres may be irrigated under the San Car- 

 los projeet and if it would cost five times' the $2.00 

 mentioned by Mr. Curtis, or $10,00 per acre, would it 

 not have been better to have opened up this land and 

 have permitted a lot of settlers to get in on the land 

 and develop it than to invest $3,200,000 for the benefit 

 of private land holders? These are points that will 

 come out later on as Government work progresses and 

 while it is impossible at this time for any one publica- 

 tion or group of individuals to control the action of the 

 Eeclamation Service, all mistakes of this'kind will even- 

 tually be brought to light and it is our impression, 

 place Mr. Newell and his assistants in a peculiar posi- 

 tion. This is the sort of work for which THE IRRIGA- 

 TION AGE censured Mr. Newell, Mr. Walcott and their 

 press agent, Mr. Maxwell. Mr. Curtis goes on to speak 

 of the Gunnison project "in Colorado and a perusal of 

 his article is well worth while. 



Imperial According to reports received by THE IK- 

 Project. RIGATION AGE within the past month 



strange things are happening in the Im- 

 perial country in California and it is now stated that 

 Mr. Lippincott, one of the Government engineers, has 

 recommended the purchase of this project by the 

 Government. It is a well known \f act that one expert 

 strenuously opposed taking over this Imperial enter- 

 prise by the Government, but he now recommends, so 

 we are informed, that the Government purchase it at 

 a fairly long price. Perhaps the result of the investiga- 

 tions by this expert has been such as to justify him 

 in changing his opinion and if so and his opinion 

 is now correct, he is to be congratulated on this de- 

 cided change. If on the contrary any influence has 

 been brought to bear on him to secure his recommenda- 

 tion of the purchase of this project, it would be well 



for the public and the Government officials generally 

 to understand the situation. 



THE IRRIGATION AGE was informed some time ago 

 that a certain paper devoted partially to the subject of 

 irrigation, published in Washington, had been paid 

 $2,000 by the Imperial Company, ostensibly for adver- 

 tising. We have, however, failed to note anything in 

 the line of advertising which has appeared in the col- 

 umns of this journal, except editorial comments, and 

 if the $2,000 was paid for the space devoted to this 

 subject by the paper, the Imperial people have made a 

 very bad bargain. Our informant states that the ob- 

 ject of paying this sum of money to the Washington 

 publication was to place them in a better light with 

 the Eeclamation Service, with whom they were trying to 

 negotiate the transfer of the property to the United 

 States Government. This is rather a serious accusation, 

 but it came direct to THE IRRIGATION AGE from a source 

 that is unquestioned and as soon as further investiga- 

 tions have been made in the matter, we will give our 

 readers additional information, some of which may be 

 of a startling character. 



Northwestern Wyoming is to witness a splendid 

 bit of enterprise. Two and a quarter millions of dol- 

 lars will be spent by the government in constructing 

 a large dam and extensive irrigation works on the 

 Shoshone River. The STioshone project has great pos- 

 sibilities and when completely worked out will prob- 

 ably irrigate fully 500,000 acres of waste lands, 

 parched, but holding in their dry embrace enduring 

 fertility. . 



Mr. Joseph Tweedy is probably the most expe- 

 rienced irrigation farmer in West Texas and has just 

 purchased a $1,700 irrigating plant, consisting of a 

 twenty-five horse power portable Fairbanks-Morse gaso- 

 line engine and a No. 8 centrifugal pump, having a ca- 

 pacity of 2,~000 gallons a minute. 



KANSAS IRRIGATION ASSOCIATION. 



The third annual convention of the Western Kan- 

 sas Irrigation Association met in Garden City, Kan- 

 sas, December 28-29. Almost all the western counties 

 of the State were represented and much interest was 

 taken in the various sessions. A large number of dele- 

 gates from foreign points were in attendance and the 

 convention was altogether considered a very profitable 

 one. Addresses were delivered by Prof. 0. V. P. Stout, 

 of Lincoln, Neb., representing Prof. Elwood Mead, of 

 the Department of Irrigation Investigations; Profes- 

 sor Wolf, of Manhattan; Professor Lloynd, of the 

 American Beet Sugar Company, and Judge Mason. A 

 very interesting paper by Prof. Charles S. Slichter was 

 read, the subject being "Government Investigations of 

 the Water Supply in Western Kansas." The officers 

 for the ensuing year are the same as last year, viz. : I. 

 L. Diesem, president; Alfred Pratt, vice-president; 

 Charles Loucks, secretary, and C. A. Schneider, treas- 

 urer. The executive committee is composed of: E. P. 

 Taylor, G. M. Kerr, R. A. Beckett, W. J. Carter, E. M. 

 Lawrence and A. Barlow. 



