1903 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



4 2 5 



before. The old Central Canal, the 

 largest venture now on foot in Califor- 

 nia, has been the scene of a large part 

 of this irrigation renaissance, after the 

 part of the work which had been com- 

 pleted had been lying idle for nine years, 

 owing to litigation. A company has 

 recently been incorporated to carry the 

 work to completion, and the canal when 

 finished will irrigate some 400,000 acres, 

 lying not alone in Glenn and Colusa 

 counties, but also, under plans which 

 have just been formulated, in Yolo and 

 Solano counties. Under this canal is 

 the great Glenn ranch of 40,000 acres, 

 most of which is now being subdivided 

 and sold in lots of from 40 to 160 acres. 

 The Modesto Canal, in the San Joa- 

 quin Valley, is now practically com- 

 pleted, and will make diversified farming 

 possible in a region where great wheat 

 farms depended on natural precipitation. 

 Now the large tracts will become small 

 holdings, and the way will be opened 

 for a larger agricultural population in 

 the great central valley of the state. 

 This canal, with the Woodbridge and 

 Stanislaus canals, will do a great deal 

 toward the development of the interior 

 of California. 



Articles of incorporation have been 

 filed at Chico, California, for the Butte 

 County Canal Company, which will irri- 

 gate about 20,000 acres of land in Butte 

 and Sutter counties with water taken 

 from the Feather River, near Oroville. 

 The incorporators are J. P. Clark, of 

 Fresno ; A. K. Whitton, of San Jose ; 

 D. C. McCallum, of Oroville, and Wil- 

 lard Sheldon, E. A. Bridgeford, C. M. 

 Wooster, and M. S. Sheldon, of San 

 Francisco. Application has already 

 been made and contracts signed for the 

 first water rights under the canal. 



Among other irrigation matters of 

 importance to the state at the present 

 time are the changes indicated in the 

 following : The bonded indebtedness of 

 the city of Tulare and about 35,000 

 acres adjacent to it on account of irri- 

 gation water will be settled by a com- 

 promise on payment of $270,000 by 

 September i . As most of this money 

 has already been secured and deposited 

 for the purpose, the liquidation is as- 

 sured, and there are already signs of 



a reawakening in the district. The 

 Spreckels Company contemplates the 

 installation of a pumping plant and 

 canal system in the Salinas Valley sugar 

 beet district, which will bring under 

 irrigation 5,613 acres of the most fertile 

 land in the valley. This venture is to 

 extend the area in sugar beets, and will 

 depend on the wishes of the land- owners 

 as to whether it will be carried out or 

 not. But as it will provide for a sure 

 crop and for a certain home market for 

 the same, there is no doubt but what it 

 will be put in operation. The water in 

 the Hemet Lake reservoir, which comes 

 from perennial streams in the San Ja- 

 cinto Mountains, is higher than ever 

 before, and during July was 105 feet 

 deep before serious drains were made 

 on it for irrigation. It is supposed that 

 there will be a large reserve supply left 

 after the irrigation season is over, so 

 that even with an unusually dry year 

 following this, the lands under its canals 

 will not suffer. Heretofore the Hemet 

 Water Company has not had a partic- 

 ularly profitable existence, and it is 

 stated that its receipts were, last year, 

 $8,000 less than the cost of maintenance. 

 That it is beginning to prove profitable 

 is shown by the fact that the tax assess- 

 ment on the property has been mate- 

 rially increased. 



L,akeview, a Riverside county colony, 

 has developed a fine supply of water 

 from wells which will supply all the 

 needs of the area under the colony's 

 tract, 8,600 acres of which are irrigable. 

 In drilling one of the wells here a cot- 

 tonwood log was struck at a depth of 

 144 feet, and shortly before this a num- 

 ber of pine cones were brought to the 

 surface. The rehabilitation of the Bear 

 Valley scheme has already been noted, 

 and the work of organizing the water 

 users' association, which will bring this 

 venture to a successful issue after many 

 years of failure, is progressing smoothly 

 and rapidly. The San Jose Water Com- 

 pany will construct a big reservoir near 

 Wrights, in the Santa Cruz Mountains, 

 to supply water for domestic and irriga- 

 tion uses. A large tract of land at Rio 

 Vista, near Suisun, has been bonded by 

 a syndicate which announces its inten- 

 tion of spending $1,000,000, if neces- 



