THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



51 



The Garden City forest was established as a separate 

 unit, with the result that it now has a superintendent and 

 several assistants, with offices here. A nursery also was 

 established, as the transportation of young trees from the 

 Halsey, Neb., nursery was found inadvisable. At this 

 nursery, just west of here, great progress fias been made 

 this season. Locusts have attained a height of three feet 

 since May 15. There are eight seed beds, where the 

 young pine, from the seed, have grown four inches. They 

 are very delicate, but will be ready for transplanting next 

 spring. 



The sandhills country in the Garden City forest con- 

 tain a few trees, either stray seedlings here and there, or 

 the remnants of old tree claims. There is a good quality 

 of bunch grass growing on the reserve, and about 6,500 

 head of cattle have been pastured there this season. This 

 is productive of revenue to the government, of which the 

 state gets 10 per cent for school purposes. The year is 

 divided into two seasons for pasturing, and the price per 

 head charged by the government in the summer season is 

 thirty-five cents. 



THE NORTH PLATTE PROJECT. 

 BY G. L. SHUMWAY. 



The North Platte Project, initiated by the Fed- 

 eral government in 1903, has reached the stage of actu- 

 ally supplying water to forty thousand acres of the finest 

 soil in the United States, and in 1909 the works will 

 probably supply forty thousand more acres. The prog- 

 ress of the work since Secretary Garfield's recent visit 

 to the valley seems stimulated; under the able manage- 

 ment of Engineers I. W. McConnell and Andrew Weiss, 

 we expect the best results. 



We confess that while Mr. John E. Field was 

 project engineer, many details of management merited 

 criticism, because Mr. Field was more of a politician 

 than an engineer; but even during his regime, the un- 

 impeachable character and sterling worth of Mr. Weiss 

 radiated up out of the fog. Mr. McConnell's experi- 

 ence, while not altogether dissimilar, possessed less of a 

 handicap than that of Mr. Weiss. They have had a dif- 

 ficult task, but are working manfully, and since the en- 

 couragement of the visit of the Secretary of the In- 

 terior, the work is being more vigorously prosecuted. 



While mentioning the personnel of the service here, 

 it is quite proper that a special mention and commenda- 

 tion be also given Mr. E. D. Newman, the courteous 

 chief clerk at the government headquarters. Mr. New- 

 man exemplifies the more modest type of officials now 

 in charge. He and the engineers are far more anxious 

 to do their duty well and merit approval than to 

 figure in grand stand plays. This quality is as whole- 

 some as it is rare, and we predict, if ever there is an 

 investigation of the North Platte Project ordered, any 

 important irregularities will antedate the time when the 

 present officers came into control. 



We anticipate that the script plan, which has been 

 adopted, will work wonders towards finishing uncom- 

 pleted portions of. this and other uncompleted projects. 

 This script probably found its original inception about 

 simultaneously in several of the projects, and was born 

 of conditions. It was first brought to our attention by 

 the wish of one settler to work out his water right. The 

 Scottsbluff Commercial Club discussed it, and sent three 

 representatives to Denver to confer with Secretary Gar- 

 field, in June of last year. Mr. Garfield instructed Mr. 

 Newell to come up and see if he "could not work up 

 something" along that line. Mr. George H. Holdredge, 



general manager of the Burlington, was then in Den- 

 ver, and as it meant development of territory along 

 Burlington lines, he volunteered a special train for the 

 party. 



Into the late hours of that night, script plans were 

 discussed, which discussion was participated in by 

 Messrs. Newell and Davis of the service, Senator Thomas 

 H. Carter, Congressman Frank Mondell, and others. 

 Senator Carter, with his usual versatility, outlined prac- 

 tically the plan which was subsequently adopted. 



This plan is to have the Federal engineers work out 

 certain portions of the main canal or distributing sys- 

 tems, and permit water users to do the construction 

 work at prevailing pricer. For this they are to receive 



On Bishop Creek, near Bishop, Cal. 



time slips and certificates which, duly certified by the 

 engineers and Water Users' Associations, are applicable 

 in payment of water rights. The advantage of this sys- 

 tem is that actual necessary work may be done a year, 

 or even several years, before actual cash would be avail- 

 able under the original plan. Script passes in the form 

 of vouchers through the United States treasury as fast 

 as paid in, but some of it may not be used for two, 

 three, or four years after issuance. 



