582 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



December 



her on them that the government has 

 now reserved for its own use. Al- 

 ready under the Morris act of 1902 

 they are receiving for their timber 

 alone more than both the timber and 

 the land would have brought them un- 



der the law of 1889. This is true not 

 only of the 225,000 acres in the re- 

 serve, but of the 'whole forested part 

 of their 3,000,000 acres of ceded land. 

 In addition, their forests are protected 

 from damage by fire as never before. 



THE SACRAMENTO VALLEY 



Board of Trade Calls Attention to Immense 

 Agricultural Developments Possible, and Irri- 

 gation Projects that are. Being Forwarded 



IN the Sacramento Valley, Califor- 

 nia, great irrigation systems are 

 being built which will add within the 

 next few months half a million acres 

 to the irrigated area of this country. 

 During the past two or three y^ars 

 this great valley has been the scene 

 of elaborate irrigation surveys by the 

 United States Agricultural and Inte- 

 rior Departments, and the abundance 

 of water supply and comparative 

 cheapness of application have been 

 commented on at length in exhaustive 

 official reports, which have spoken in 

 high terms of praise of the productive 

 capabilities of Sacramento Valley soil 

 and climate and the immense wealth 

 certain to be created by the develop- 

 ment of irrigation systems. It is said 

 that the National Government has now 

 in contemplation an immense irriga- 

 tion project for the Sacramento Val- 

 ley, but the people of California are 

 not waiting on National enterprise. 



At the present time three great sys- 

 tems are under construction in this 

 valley. One of these, the Central Ir- 

 rigation Canal, was started as a district 

 enterprise several years ago, but like 

 many other district irrigation projects, 

 started under California's irrigation 

 laws, it has been the subject of con- 

 tinuous litigation, and work was dis- 

 continued for years. At the present 

 time work is being prosecuted, and it 

 is expected that water will soon be 

 running. This canal is 60 feet wide, and 

 will irrigate 200,000 acres of land, 



while it may be extended to water mil- 

 lions of acres. Its source of supply 

 is the Sacramento River. 



Another great system just nearing 

 completion is the Yolo County Consol- 

 idated Canal, which diverts the waters 

 of Cache Creek and will irrigate 100,- 

 ooo acres of land lying in Yolo and 

 Solano Counties. This canal is con- 

 structed by a private corporation. It 

 is forty feet wide and carries water 

 to a depth of six feet. A notable fea- 

 ture of this system is the fact that the 

 source of Cache Creek is Clear Lake, 

 a mountain reservoir covering eighty 

 square miles and having vast storage 

 possibilities. This project was serious- 

 ly considered by government experts 

 as the initial undertaking of the gov- 

 ernment under the National Irrigation 

 Law. Water was turned into this 

 canal October 8, and the event was 

 marked by a great celebration at the 

 town of Winters, near the course of 

 the artificial stream. 



Another irrigation celebration of 

 equal importance was held a week 

 earlier at Gridley in Butte County, and 

 marked the breaking ground for the 

 Butte County Canal, which will divert 

 the waters of Feather River and cover 

 at present an area of 215,000 acres. This 

 system is capable of vast development, 

 as the Feather drains an area of ap- 

 proximately 4,000 square miles with 

 an annual rainfall ranging from 30 to 

 60 inches. This canal may be made 

 to irrigate all the lands lying between 



