224: 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



Idaho, "The Gem of the Mountains." 



By QBORQE 



The Twin Falls Country, embracing the several 

 large tracts on both sides of the Snake river in Twin 



Palls and Lincoln Counties, 



Idaho, is one of the most 

 conspicuous successes under 

 the Carey Irrigation Act; 

 several millions of dollars 

 having been expended on 

 the most elaborate system of 

 irrigating canals to be seen 

 in any country. 



A main canal, some six- 

 ty-five miles in length, has 

 been built for the tract 

 which lies north of the river, 

 and a system embracing 

 1,000 miles of main lateral 

 ditches has been constructed. 

 Twenty-five miles of rail- 

 road have been built and 

 put in operation connecting 

 the towns of Wendell and 

 Jerome with the main line 

 of the Oregon Short Line at 

 Gooding. The people who 

 have made filings are com- 

 ing from all parts of the 

 country, even from the Phil- 

 ippines and the Canal Zone 

 at Panama, to occupy and 

 develop the lands. 



Such is the interest in irrigation and the eagerness 

 of people to buy that the lands are bought and the first 



SIMPSON. 



Falls Salmon tract was opened for entry, June 1, 1908, 

 announcement was made that there would be no water 



Lower Discharge Safety Gates of 



Twin Falls, Idaho. 



payments made, in some cases, two years in advance 

 of the delivery of water. For example, when the Twin 



for irrigation until 1910. Five hundred quarter-sections 

 were placed on the market by the State, yet there was 

 4,020 applications ; the first pay- 

 ment of $3.25 an acre being de- 

 posited with each application. 

 The price of this land was 

 $40.50 per acre, payable in 

 twelve yearly installments; the 

 second payment falling due a 

 year after year the delivery of 

 water. 



The Twin Falls North Side 

 tract, which will be brought un- 

 der the plow in 1909, embraces 

 180,000 acres. A small part of 

 it was irrigated in 1908, but the 

 great achievement of sending 

 water through 1,000 miles of 

 main laterals will be the crown- 

 ing event of the Pacific North- 

 west in the spring of 1909. 

 Each farm of 40 to 160 acres 

 must have its farm equipment 

 the coming season, and each 

 holding must be supplied with 

 its own small system of irriga- 

 tion as perfect as the larger sys- 

 tem which waters the country as a whole. 



As reference is made to the larger things, the 



