THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



171 



AN IRRIGATION EXAMPLE. 



BY J. W. PRICE, CASPER, WYOMING. 



It seems to be a prevalent notion, even among peo- 

 ple who are interested in irrigation, that a satisfactory 

 irrigation system cannot be constructed without a larger 

 outlay of capital than is possible to the ordinary ranch- 

 man or association of ranchmen. 



In various parts of this firreat arid region, there are 

 comparatively large areas of land where it seems im- 

 practicable to get the water on the land on account of 

 what seems to be difficult feats of engineering and great 

 expense. 



That it is possible to have an eminently satisfac- 

 tory system on quite an extensive scale with no great 

 outlay of actual money is shown by operations in this 

 locality. 



I would refer the readers of IRRIGATION AGE 

 to the Goose Egg Ditch Company as one such example. 

 This company was formed in 1897, and was composed 

 of five ranchmen of comparatively limited means, 

 whose capital was their energy and appreciation of 

 the value of irrigation. 



These men were located in the Bessemer Bend on 

 the Platte River in central Wyoming. The fall of the 

 Platte is not sufficient to divert water for irrigation 



of which only about $600 was actual cash, the balance 

 being team, work and day labor done during the winter 

 time, the ranchman's leisure season. 



Where there was once arid lands and ranchmen 

 making a bare subsistence, there are now bright and 

 happy homes and men independently well off. 



While there are no two localities where the condi- 

 tions are identical, still this goes to show what can 

 be done with very little capital when men see their op- 

 portunities and have the energy to take advantage of 

 them, by using man's greatest resource his own toil. 



Lives of other men remind us 



We may toil and sweat and sigh, 



And, departing, leave behind us 

 Just what room we occupy. 



A correspondent at Salt Lake, Utah, states that L. 

 M. Taylor, government engineer in the arid reclama- 

 tion service, passed through Ogden on his way to Ne- 

 vada to begin the work of land reclamation. He says 

 that work will begin within two weeks damming the 

 lower Carson river. Two hundred thousand acres south- 

 east of Wadsworth will be reclaimed by this dam, fur- 

 nishing homes for 1,250 families. 



FLUME OF GOOSE EGG DITCH COMPANY ACROSS PLATTE RIVER, CENTRAL WYOMING. 



purposes without enormous expense, but there is a 

 spring on the north side of the river, commonly known 

 as the Delaware Springs, which have a flow of water of 

 twenty-seven cu. feet per second. Various propositions 

 were discussed by the ranchmen for getting the water 

 across the river, but they were all discarded on account 

 of the expense, until the idea occurred to them of build- 

 ing a wooden flume across the stream for which the cash 

 outlay necessary would be that of surveying, lumber and 

 salary of the overseer, who was the writer. 



A company was therefore incorporated, composed 

 of the following named ranchmen: Alex. Mills, D. N. 

 Speas, Edward Kerns, John McClure and W. D. 

 Rhoades, and work was at once begun. Logs were 

 hauled from the mountains and cribs built in the river ; 

 upon these as a foundation a superstructure of logs was 

 erected in the form of "bents" to support the flume 

 proper, which was constructed of native lumber, 40,000 

 feet of two-inch plank being required. The flume when 

 completed was 1,100 feet in length, four feet wide, four- 

 teen inches deep and thirty-five high from low water 

 mark of the river. 



The system, when completed, consisting of the 

 flume and three and one-half miles of ten-foot ditches, 

 successfully irrigating 800 acres of bottom lands, and 

 making six productive ranches, cost the sum of $2,500, 



LET HIM KNOCK AGAIN. 



Luck tapped upon a cottage door, 



A gentle, quiet tap, 

 And Laziness, who lounged'within, 



The cat upon his lap, 

 Stretched out his slippers to the fire, 



And gave a sleepy yawn ; 

 "Oh, bother ! let him knock again !" 



He said, but Luck was gone. 



Luck tapped again, more faintly still, 



Upon another door, 

 Where Industry was hard at work 



Mending his cottage floor. 

 The door was opened wide at once; 



"Come in!" the worker cried, 

 And Luck was taken by the hand 



And fairly pulled inside. 



He is still there a wondrous guest 



From out whose magic hand 

 Fortune flows fast but Laziness 



Can never understand 

 Hbw Industry found such a friend. 



"Luck never came my way," 

 He sighs and quite forgets the knock 



Upon his door that day. 



THE IRRIGATION AGE 1 year and The Primer of 

 Irrigation for $1.50. 



