THE IRKIGATION AGE. 



335 



winter. The river does not freeze and ice must be put 

 up from water run into ponds. 



The bench land on the north side of the river from 

 Emmett consists of about 20,000 acres, and is the land 

 that the Canyon Canal is designed to cover. It is gen- 

 erally conceded to be the choicest agricultural spot in 

 Idaho. The soil is a decomposed lava washed from 

 Squaw Butte and the lower hills that fringe its upper 

 edge, and varies from thirty to eighty feet in depth. It 

 will raise anything that a temperate climate can pro- 

 duce. Fruits of every description, especially peaches 

 and apples, are a certain crop, but hay is the staple of 

 the country, as it is of all far western farmers. This 

 soil has yielded from six to eleven tons of alfalfa hay 

 to the acre, with three cuttings in the season. Seven 

 tons is considered an average crop of a well ordered 

 farm, which is worth $8.00 a ton fed to your own stock. 



Six thousand acres of this tract has been entered 



canic mud, and two miles beyond, 400 feet of rock 

 tunnel brings the canal into the main river canyon 

 again, and after passing through a fairly rough country, 

 at the beginning of the sixteenth mile, enters the flat 

 country at the head of the bench and begins its work of 

 irrigation. 



This work, however, is only in process of construc- 

 tion, but sub-contractors are busy with their men upon 

 almost every mile of it and the general contractor has 

 a large force of men and teams employed, and his time 

 has been limited to April 1 next to complete the con- 

 struction. 



This is not a big country, but it is fortunately situ- 

 ated, at the very edge of the sheep and cattle range, 

 which extends back into the mountains for a hundred 

 miles, and while it is not big enough to fill the demand, 

 it will afford ideal homes for those who are fortunate 

 enough to be able to secure land. 



Diversion Dam, Canyon Canal Co., near Emmett, Idaho. 



under the Carey Act, about 7,000 has been homesteaded 

 and the balance, about 7,100 acres, belongs to various 

 State institutions and is to be sold at auction about Sep- 

 tember 1 next. Much of this bench land is still in 

 speculative hands and will be resold to actual settlers. 



The engineering portion of this work has been 

 somewhat complicated. There is no scarcity of water, 

 the river having a surplus for which there seems no 

 future use. But it was a problem to get it out to an 

 elevation of 120 feet at the back edge of the land to be 

 covered, but the tireless energy and experience of Elmer 

 E. Forshay, the company's engineer, overcame all nat- 

 ural obstacles encountered. The river has been dammed 

 at the point of diversion to a height of fourteen feet 

 and 250 fe'et in width. The headgates are in solid rock, 

 after which the canal, carrying 360 cubic feet of water 

 per second, passes into a flatter country and enters a 

 flume 3,400 feet long on the river bank, but the bents 

 are sunk through the graved to bedrock so that it is 

 considered safe from seepage. 



About four miles from the headgates eleven hun- 

 dred feet of tunnel passes through a high hill of vol- 



INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT. 



Communities on the Chicago & Northwestern Railway to be 

 Benefitted. 



An industrial Bureau has been established by the 

 Chicago & Northwestern Railway, the purpose of which 

 shall be to furnish reliable information regarding the 

 many desirable locations along the North- Western Line 

 for new manufacturing enterprises. 



The rapidly growing cities and the splendid re- 

 sources of the territory reached by the Northwestern 

 line combine many of the essentials to industrial suc- 

 cess. Fine waterpower locations that may be sup- 

 plemented by electrical energy developed therefrom, 

 vast forests of hard and soft timber for all kinds of 

 woodworking concerns, mineral wealth that provides the 

 material for foundry and machine work, coal fields 

 close at hand, and an excellent supply of a good class 

 of labor are all found here. 



This feature should prove of much benefit, not 

 on^y to the railway company, but also to the communi- 

 ties along the line. 



