184 



THE IERIGATION AGE. 



have been made for the reclamation of over a million acres 

 of land in the Payette and Snake River Valleys. 



A large portion of this vast acreage is contiguous to 

 the Oregon Short Line Railway and the highly developed 

 farms and orchards of southwestern Idaho and Eastern 

 Oregon. 



Already the suburban telephone system has spread its 

 net of wires throughout the fertile valleys and the rural 

 mail routes extend from the cities and villages of recent 

 development to the interior settlements which have sprung 

 up during the past few years under the magic wand of the 

 irrigator. 



All the canals of the Payette Valley are owned and ope- 

 rated by the farmers ; these are the most successful canals 

 in the State, with an ample and never failing supply of 

 water and efficient and economical management. The largest 

 of these canals, known as the Farmer's Co-operative Irri- 

 gation Company, is thirty-five miles in length and will irri- 

 gate 20.000 acres of land. The Noble Ditch and the Lower 

 Payette Ditch are about twenty miles long and will each 

 water about 10,000 acres of land. 



The seven or eight tons of alfalfa hay per acre raised 

 on these farms each year is fed to the sheep and cattle 

 which find pasture during the summer months in the sur- 

 rounding mountains. The large orchards of apples, prunes, 

 peaches, pears and cherries furnish employment for an army 

 of fruit pickers and packers, and the luscious and tempting 

 fruit is marketed to the far East as well as in the inter- 

 mountain States, being handled through the large packing 

 house at Payette owned by the fruit growers' association. 



Adjoining this prosperous valley the Government now 

 proposes through its Boise-Payette project, to reclaim some 

 250,000 acres of sage brush desert, using the Payette lakes 

 as a great reservoir and diverting fr6m the Payette River 

 with a dam over seventy feet high. 



Directly across the Snake River in Oregon it is proposed 

 to irrigate 100,000 acres from a reservoir to be constructed by 

 the Government on the Malheur River, a short distance above 

 Vale. 



The Water Users' Associations are just now trying to 

 cope with the many complex difficulties which must be re- 

 moved before Government aid can be secured. 



The Boise-Payette project has the merit of having suffi- 

 cient land which can not be watered by other canals to 

 warrant the proposed expenditure of some three million dol- 

 lars, and contracts will probably be let before the end of 

 the year for this great work. 



The Malheur proposition is more difficult to handle and 

 it is doubtful if the benefit to be derived will warrant the 

 incurring of the estimated cost of three million dollars for 

 the reclamation of less than 50,000 acres of land not suscep- 

 tible of irrigation from other canal systems. 



Much indignation has been felt in this section against 

 Mr. Newell on account of his attempted interference with 

 the completion of the canal and reservoir system of the 

 Malheur Irrigation Company, which has been in course of 

 construction for more than a year past, and will reclaim 

 over 50,000 acres of choice land when completed. 



On account of the heavy cost of the Malheur reservoir 

 and the limited amount of acreage which could be reached, 

 aside from the land already reclaimed, it was thought neces- 

 sary to secure about 30,000 acres from the lands under the 

 partly constructed canals of the Malheur Irrigation Company 

 and notwithstanding the fact that the officers of the com- 

 pany were well known capitalists, who had already made a 

 success of the largest canals in southwestern Idaho, and 

 had done more in the way of home building by colonizing 

 the lands in that section, during the past four or five years 

 than had been accomplished by all other sources combined 

 during the preceding decade, Mr. Newell kept some of his 

 Government employes engaged for several days in making 

 a personal canvas and misrepresentations to the farmers until 

 he secured the required amount of acreage from the lands 

 under the partly constructed canals of this company. Many 

 of the stockholders of the company were those having home- 

 steads and desert entries and their ability to make final proof 

 and hold their claims depend upon the prompt completion 

 of the canals and reservoirs of this company, as the Govern- 

 ment does not contemplate building its reservoir and canal 

 system in time to be of any service to these entrymen in 

 their immediate need. 



As yet no official protest has been made to the Interior 

 Department, but a vigorous one is being formulated which 

 will not reflect any credit on Mr. Newell as the chief engi- 

 neer of the National Reclamation Bureau. (EXERIE.) 



The following interesting letter was recently received by 

 the Morris Machine Works, Baldwinsville, N. Y., from their 

 New York office, with reference to a pump that was sold to 

 a machinery man in the Philippine Islands: 



Near Manila is an immense rice field of something like 

 half a mile square, owned by the widow of a Spaniard, who 

 was a leading judge here and was deported to Spain shortly 

 before the American occupancy, and dying there. The widow 

 is upward of seventy years, a native Filipino and very wealthy. 

 She takes an active interest in the farm and is a hustler from 

 early morning until night, knowing every detail of her large 

 estate. 



Her oldest daughter is married to an American, a friend 

 of mine, who suggested the irrigating plant in question, the 

 losses in the previous year being upward of $50,000 on ac- 

 count of the drought killing the rice. While the plant was 

 being erected the old lady expressed much doubt as to its 

 success, and was on the keen lookout for a failure, in order 

 to bring her American son-in-law to a realizing sense of the 

 unworthiness of himself and his countrymen. 



A neighbor of the old lady had shortly before put in a re- 

 frigerating plant, a composite affair, having obtained the 

 pump from San Francisco, and an old local boiler, and in 

 addition to paying more at the outset than I had charged the 

 old lady, he had spent over $1,000 gold in having it tinkered 

 up, and it had proved a flat failure. Between this neighbor, 

 old Captain Jose, and the old lady was a friendly rivalry as 

 to their respective rice plantations, and the new fangled 

 method of irrigation, both having used carabos in times past. 

 The heart of the old lady was palpitating between a failure 

 of her pump and the consequent loss of money paid for it, 

 and a hope of glorying over the old captain in the event of 

 success. 



I made a private trial of the pump and assured myself 

 that all was in good order, and allowed the old lady to see 

 enough of its working to satisfy her that it was not a failure. 

 She then planned a great fiesta, invited all the neighbors for 

 the coming Sunday, and prepared to properly dedicate the 

 plant, and incidentally show the old captain that she, a woman, 

 could succeed where he had failed. 



The fiesta was a grand success. The old lady had her 

 servants prepare a dinner for 150 guests, the tables being 

 spread near the plant out in the rice fields. Two whole 

 hogs were roasted over slow fires by having a bamboo thrust 

 lengthwise in them, and other food was in abundance. An 

 excellent Filipino band was in attendance, all the leading men 

 and women of the village were there in their best, old oeople 

 and babies without end and pretty Filipino girls and their 

 swains. 



I had on a full head of steam, started the pump, and, as 

 the solid stream of water five inches in diameter swept down 

 the ditch toward the rice fields, there was a comical look of 

 wonder on each face. Smoothly and almost noiselessly the 

 machinery worked, and the old lady's face wore a look of 

 serene ioy as the minutes went bv and the pump kept tip 

 its steady whirl, and the heavy rush of water went tumbling 

 down the long ditch. It was a success. A look of infinite 

 superiority came over the old lady's face as she looked at the 

 crestfallen captain, who stood silent by the swift flowing 

 stream. He had spent over $2,000 gold on his pump and it 

 could not be used. She, a mere woman, had had sufficient 

 "Savey" to buy a good Morris pump from Senor Strong, and 

 Senor Strong was an Americano who saveyed mucho. 



And now came the ceremony. The good priest was pres- 

 ent in his full robes, his two attendants stood on either side, 

 the candles were lighted, and the incense burned, and with his 

 holy book before him he impressively read the dedication 

 service. Closing, he stepped up to the boiler and solemnly 

 blessed it, sprinkling it with holy water. Next he repeated the 

 ceremony with the engine and pump, the reverent silence being 

 broken only by the whirl of the pump and the rushing water. 



Now came the fiesta, the lunch, the jollification of the 

 young people, and the music and dancing. Commencing at 

 ten o'clock in the forenoon, it lasted through the whole day. 



You might say to the Morris Machine Works, who sup- 

 plied the pump and engine, and the James Beggs Company, 

 who furnished the boiler, that I have little doubt but in times 

 past much, if not all, of their machinery has been cussed by 

 the nurchasers, but they have here, in the far-off Philippines, 

 an instance where their machinery has been blessed. And 

 the blessing has availed, for there has never been a stop or 

 break since the first, and the poor old Captain Jose is still 

 bemoaning his luck that he has not purchased a Morris 

 pump from Senor Strong. 



