424 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



is reported to have declared that the grievances are slight 

 and that the company is conducting its operations in a 

 manner satisfactory to the state. 



It is reported that after an inspection and investiga- 

 tion by the state land board, the defunct Columbia South- 

 ern project will soon be turned over to a new company 

 recently organized. The old company controlled about 

 27,000 acres in the vicinity of Laidlow. Legal matters are 

 now being arranged for this transfer. 



Projects are being developed for the irrigation of be- 

 tween 25,000 and 30,000 acres of agricultural land in Lane 

 county. Farmers residing on the west side of the Willa- 

 mette river, between Eugene and Junction City, propose 

 by banding together to irrigate between 15,000 and 20,000 

 acres while owners of land surrounding Springfield on the 

 cast side of the Willamette are preparing to resort to ir- 

 rigation on an additional 10,000 acres. 



Evans, Almirall & Co., of New York, are said to have 

 surveying parties in the field making estimates on the 

 construction of a dam in the Thief valley about twenty 

 miles north of Baker City. It is also proposed to con- 

 struct a dam on the Balm creek and by these two reser- 

 voirs to reclaim about 55,000 acres. 



UTAH 



Under direction of its board of directors, the Weber 

 Reservoir Power & Irrigation Company has issued a 

 book outlining the project and calculated to instruct land 

 owners in the formation of the proposed irrigation dis- 

 trict. It is stated that money is available and that the 

 work can be begun as soon as there is proper incorpora- 

 tion. Davis and Weber county settlers are said to be 

 favorable to incorporation. 



For the purpose of financing irrigation projects, a 

 company known as the Irrigation Industrial Investment 

 Company has been formed at Salt Lake with a capital of 

 $500,000. Incorporators are H. S. Woolley, H. P. Clark, 

 Henry Sherman, W. E. Hubbard, Abraham Hanauer and 

 E. R. Woolley. 



The Provo Reservoir Company of Heber City has filed 

 an application for sixty feet of water between March and 

 December from the Jordan river. Water will be con- 

 ducted through the channel of the river to the point of 

 diversion, where a pumping plant will be constructed. It 

 is reported that 32,000 acres will be watered. Officers of 

 the company are as follows: Joseph R. Murdock, presi- 

 dent; Joseph B. Keeler, vice-president; Earl J. Glade, sec- 

 retary; James C. Jensen, treasurer, and Stephen L. Chip- 

 man, J. William Knight, Edward D. Clyde, George H. 

 Brimhall, A. J. Evans and David Broadbent, all directors. 



The North Branch of the Western Irrigation Com- 

 pany has filed articles of incorporation at Ogden and pro- 

 poses to extend the canal to the Farr West district at a 

 cost of about $10,000. E. D. Rawson, of Farr West, is 

 president. 



The Mosida Irrigation Company, a companion com- 

 pany to the Mesida Fruit Lands Company, has filed ar- 

 ticles of incorporation with a capital stock of $12,000. Ap- 

 plication is made to take 12,800 acre feet of water from 

 Utah Lake. 



Settlers in Emery county are planning to organize a 

 new irrigation district. 



Porter B. Fitzgerald and the Fitzgerald Brothers Land 

 Company of Salt Lake have instituted suit against the 

 Irrigated Lands Company and its directors, the Price River 

 Irrigation Company and directors, the Spalding Living- 

 ston Investment Company and directors and the Utah 

 Banking Company, to throw the Irrigated Lands Com- 

 pany into the hands of a receiver. Since the muddle in 

 the affairs of the company, work has been suspended on 

 the projects. The Fitzgeralds say that the company is 

 insolvent and want matters adjusted before anything fur- 

 ther is done. 



county, is organizing an irrigation company to divert 

 water from the river and irrigate several thousands of 

 acres. 



Plans for an irrigation system for San Saba have 

 been prepared and it is proposed to let contracts for work 

 in the near future. 



The Rio Grande Reservoir & Irrigation Company is 

 planning construction of a reservoir near Hidalgo to store 

 water for the reclamation of about 15,000 acres. 



George E. Barstow, promoter of the Barstow Irri- 

 gation Company, has instituted suit against the company 

 to recover $50,000 in bonds. The head office of the com- 

 pany is at Barstow and it is interested in about 13,000 

 acres of land in Ward and Reeves counties. Mr. Barstow 

 asks damages of $5,000, the amount the bonds were bid in 

 for by the plaintiff. 



The properties of the Gravity Irrigation Company and 

 of the Gravity Canal Company have been sold, the first for 

 $22,605.23, subject to a mortgage of about $45,000; the 

 second for $35,921.60, making a total of $58,526.83 for both 

 properties. Both canals are fed by the same pumping 

 plant and are commonly referred to as the Gravity CanaU 

 These canals have 6,000 acres of land under a contract 

 water rent of $6 an acre. T. J. Poole was the lone bidder 

 and is supposed to represent a syndicate for taking over 

 the property. 



DRY FARMS OF MONTANA. 



-TEXAS 



A certificate of dissolution has been filed by the Al- 

 godon Land & Irrigation Company of Kingsville. 



Pelvo, a town located on the Rio Grande in Presidio 



miles from Billings on high bench land, T. J. 

 Bouton of that city, has demonstrated the profitable re- 

 sults of applying dry farming principles in raising grain, 

 says the Dry Farming Congress Bulletin. Mr. Bouton 

 has a number of fields of grain in which the harvesters 

 are at work, one of which is representative of the entire 

 ranch. 



This particular field was planted April 20 to durum 

 wheat. The sod was broken only four inches deep, horses 

 being used for plowing and that being the limit of depth 

 to which the plow could be forced without a traction out- 

 fit. Mr. Bouton employed a Missourian to take care of 

 this field, a man who had been accustomed to old fash- 

 ioned methods of farming in the east and middle west. 

 The grain came up with an unusually thrifty appearance. 

 Mr. Bouton instructed the Missourian to keep right on 

 harrowing and the easterner in astonishment told his em- 

 ployer that he would ruin the finest field of grain in Yel- 

 lowstone county if he attempted to run a harrow over it, 

 but Mr. Bouton, having faith in dry farming methods, or- 

 dered the harrowing to continue. The field was harrowed 

 three times after the grain came up, once being after it 

 had headed out. To the astonishment of the Missourian, 

 instead of ruining the field the grain grew more prosper- 

 ously and promisingly than anything he had ever seen. 

 An ordinary spike harrow was used. 



"I endeavored to follow out the suggestions made at 

 the Dry Farming Congress at Cheyenne." said Mr. Bou- 

 ton, "and I am fully convinced that the so-called dry 

 farmers are right. I believe if I had been able to plow 

 deeper I would have gotten even better results. The sam- 

 ples of this wheat which I am exhibiting were picked at 

 random from the field of 92 acres. The heads are 3^ to 

 7 inches long, well filled and the kernels are plump and 

 solid. I believe the result will be at least 25 bushels an 

 acre. My other fields of grain show an equally thrifty 

 condition and are proof to me that the only way to suc- 

 cessfully raise grain on these bench lands is by conscien- 

 tiously following dry farming methods." 



Secretary Burns of the Dry Farming Congress visited 

 the field described and said that judging from the appear- 

 ance of the grain it was his impression that Mr. Bouton 

 was very conservative in his estimate of the yield. A 

 sample of this grain has been sent to Prof. B. C. Buffum 

 of the Wyoming Plant & Seed Breeding Company, Wor- 

 land, Wyoming, for analysis. Samples of Mr. Bouton's 

 crops, including some of the above described wheat will be 

 displayed at the International Dry Farm Exposition at 

 Billings during the Fourth Dry Farming Congress, Octo- 

 ber 26-28, 1909. 



