118 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



Reclamation Service News 



At the request of Chairman Reeder of the House 

 Committee on Irrigation, Director F. H. Newell, Supervis- 

 ing Engineer H. N. Savage of the northern division, E. G. 

 Hopson of the Pacific coast division, Project Engineer 

 Christian Andersen, Washington, and C. J. Blanchard, 

 statistician of the Reclamation Service, appeared before the 

 committee recently. The hearing was of unusual interest, 

 and was unique in that it was illustrated with beautifully 

 colored stereopticon views showing the progress of the 

 work of the Reclamation Service. It is proposed to con- 

 tinue these hearings 'in order to permit other supervising 

 engineers now en route to Washington to present to the 

 committee the more important features of the reclama- 

 tion work. 



The northern division consists of Montana, North 

 Dakota and northern Wyoming. Of the fourteen projects 

 in this territory five have already been placed in operation 

 in part, water being available for a total of about 83,000 

 acres. Sixty thousand acres additional will be opened this 

 spring. 



Some novel engineering features are involved in the 

 construction of these projects, including the building of a 

 dam in the canyon of the Shoshone river in northern 

 Wyoming, which will be the highest structure of its kind 

 in the world. It will be 328.4 feet in height from bed 

 rock to top of parapet walls. Placed side by side with 

 the national capital it would extend 21 feet above the top 

 of the Statue of Liberty. It will hold back waters to 

 irrigate about 150,000 acres of fine land in the heart of 

 Buffalo Bill's old stamping ground. 



In western North Dakota where the low grade of 

 the Missouri river makes it impracticable to build gravity 

 canals, and where on account of the shifting banks of the 

 stream it is difficult to build permanent headworks, pumps 

 have been placed on barges and connected with the shore 

 by pipes with flexible joints. The water is pumped into 

 settling basins, from whence it is taken by distributing 

 canals. Power for pumping is generated by utilizing the 

 lignite coal, vast deposits of which are found in the 

 vicinity. This power is transmitted electrically to the 

 various pumping stations, some of which are 25 miles 

 distant. 



The state of Montana comprises the larger part 

 of the division. In area this state is more than twice as 

 large as all New England with the state of Maryland 

 thrown in. Within its boundaries three projects are 

 already open and are being extended. Work is being com- 

 menced on several Indian reservations and the Milk River 

 project is well under way. This_ latter system is attract- 

 ing considerable attention at this time by reason of the 

 international treaty between the United States and Canada 

 which is now being considered by the Senate. 



The second of the illustrated hearings before the 

 House committee on irrigation was given recently at 

 Washington to permit Supervising Engineer E. G. Hop- 

 son, in charge of the Pacific coast division, and Christian 

 Anderson, project engineer in charge of the Qkanogan 

 project, Washington, to explain to the committee the 

 progress of the engineering work in those parts of the 

 West. 



Mr. Hopson took up in detail the construction work 

 on the several Yakima Valley projects in Washington, 

 and devoted some little time to an exposition of the won- 

 derful development which has taken place in that sec- 

 tion since the government initiated its work. The stere- 

 opticon views of crop scenes, especially the apple orchards, 

 were beautifully colored and interesting. Considerable at- 

 tention was given to other projects in his division, notably 

 the Umatilla in northern Oregon, the Klamath, California- 

 Oregon, and the Orland in California. 



Mr. Andersen's discussion related chiefly to the con- 

 struction of a dam by a unique process known as the 

 hydraulic fill. The dam will be 1,000 feet long, 300 feet 

 wide on the bottom, and 60 feet high. The water for 



hydraulicking is brought in a wooden flume along steep 

 and rocky slopes a distance of five miles to the dam site, 

 where it is used in hydraulic giants to tear the material 

 loose. The water, earth and gravel are then carried by 

 gravity through other flumes directly over the dam site, 

 separated by a clever device, and dropped in place, the 

 finer material in the center and the coarse rocks on the 

 outside 



A report recently received in Washington on the re- 

 sults of flood water irrigation under the Okanogan project, 

 Washington, is most interesting in view of the recent 

 opening of the first unit of this project. No stored water 

 was available in 1908, but the distribution system was com- 

 pleted to a point where it was practical to deliver water 

 during flood or high water stage of the river. A price of 

 $1.50 per acre was fixed and forty-three ranchmen availed 

 themselves of the privilege. Irrigation was carried on 

 from May 15 to July 6. Very little of the lands to which 

 water was applied had been previously cultivated, but it 

 was broken up and planted to fruit, vegetables, wheat, 

 corn, and other cereals. Fruit predominated, with 600 

 acres, or 60 percent of the lands thus irrigated being plant- 

 ed to fruit. All the lands except those planted to wheat 

 and oats were watered by furrows, and received from one 

 to three irrigations. The results obtained were remark- 

 able when it is considered that no water was used after 

 July 6, or during July and August, the hottest and dryest 

 months of the summer when water is considered most es- 

 sential. 



Fruit trees of all kinds made vigorous and hardy 

 growths. While some losses occurred, it is believed that 

 they were from other causes than drought. The results 

 demonstrate that the lands under the project are especially 

 adapted to fruit culture and that it is possible to grow 

 young orchards successfully without irrigation during 

 July and August. Wheat, oats and corn did fairly well, 

 about half a crop being harvested. Vegetables and garden 

 truck were almost a complete failure. The plants grew 

 strong and vigorous as long as water was available, but 

 perished later from drought, demonstrating that the lands 

 will grow vegetables in abundance, but that these plants 

 must have water during July and August to mature them. 



The Orland Unit Water Users' Association of Orjand, 

 Cal., have petitioned the government to construct a distri- 

 bution system on the south side of Stony Creek in time 

 for use during the irrigation season of 1909. The petition 

 states that the land owners have only a short time in 

 which to dispose of their excess holdings prior to the 

 delivery of water by the government system and that the 

 construction of the distribution system, as requested, 

 would facilitate the sales of land in the district. The 

 petition will be laid before the Secretary of the Interior 

 for consideration. 



Mr. D. C. Henny, supervising engineer in the Recla- 

 mation Service, has resigned his position to take up private 

 work. He will act, however, from time to time in the 

 capacity of consulting engineer in the service. 



The northwestern district, consisting of the states ok 

 Washington, Oregon, Nevada, and practically all of Cali- 

 fornia, has been in the joint charge of Supervising En- 

 gineers Henny and E. G. Hopson, with headquarters at 

 Portland, Ore. This district has been divided and after 

 February 1, Mr. C. H. Swigart, now in charge of the 

 Tieton project, Washington, will have supervision of the 

 entire state, Mr. Hopson retaining supervision of Oregon, 

 Nevada and California. 



Mr. Swigart was educated in Heidelberg College, 

 Tiffin, Ohio, and has been engaged in engineering work 

 since 1887, having been engaged principally in railroad 

 construction, dredging, bridge and dock building. He is 

 most enthusiastic over the future of -the Yakima Valley, 

 and stated that although he had resided in many parts of 

 the United States, in his opinion the Yakima Valley offered 

 the most ideal conditions for a home of any section of 

 the country. He related a little incident which goes to 

 prove that he is not alone in his estimate of the valley. 



Under the Sunnyside project a small tract of land 

 was opened to settlement a short time, ago, consisting of 

 about 14,000 acres, of which 3,000 acres were government 



