216 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



May 



Monday, June 15, at the office of the 

 United States Reclamation Service, 

 1108 Braly Building, Los Angeles, 

 California. 



BISMARCK PUMPING PROJECT. 



Chief Engineer Newell has directed 

 that preliminary surveys in connection 

 with the Bismarck, North Dakota, 

 pumping project be pushed to comple- 

 tion this season, in order that the land 

 owners in that section whose property 

 will come under this project may have 

 a clear understanding of all plans of 

 the Reclamation Service, and a full 

 knowledge of the cost of the water 

 rights. 



At the present time the sentiment of 

 the people apparently is not generally 

 favorable to the project. Conditions 

 resemble those which prevailed in sec- 

 tions of Oklahoma, where land owners 

 declared that any discussion of irriga- 

 tion was certain to injure property 

 values, and that irrigation was not es- 

 sential anyway. A great light has 

 dawned on Oklahoma since that time, 

 and the people are now enthusiastic- 

 ally cooperating with the government 

 in its efforts to establish irrigation 

 works in the territory. 



The past few years in North Dakota 

 have been years of ample rainfall, and 

 the farmers are prone to forget the 

 periods of drouth, which, at intervals, 

 prevail there to the destruction of 

 crops, and certain losses to the agri- 

 culturists. It is hoped that when "the 

 completed plans are presented there 

 will come a change of sentiment, and 

 North Dagota will evince a readiness 

 to cooperate with the Reclamation 

 Service. If no such change occurs 

 the amount set aside for the construc- 

 tion will be applied to works else- 

 where, and the Bismarck project will 

 be held in abeyance for several years. 



WITHDRAWAL OF MONTANA LANDS. 



The Secretary of Interior has tem- 

 porarily withdrawn from any form of 

 disposition whatever the following 

 public lands in the State of Montana, 

 under the first form of withdrawal au- 

 thorized by the Reclamation Act of 



June I/, 1902, in connection with the 

 Ft. Buford project. Montana princi- 

 pal meridian, northwest y\. Sec. 6, T 

 19 N.. R. 58 E. 



NORTH PLATTE PROJECT. 



The Reclamation Service is pushing 

 work on the North Platte project with 

 the utmost dispatch. Secretary Hitch- 

 cock has authorized the advertis- 

 ing of bids for the construction of the 

 Pathfinder dam and auxiliary works at 

 a point about 50 miles southwest of 

 Casper, Wyoming. 



The bids will be opened at the office 

 of the Reclamation Service, Chamber 

 of Commerce Building, Denver, Colo., 

 at 2 o'clock, Thursday, June 15, 1905. 



CONTRACT LET FOR ROOSEVELT DAM. 



The Secretary of the Interior has 

 executed a contract on behalf of the 

 United States Government with John 

 M. O'Rourke and Co., Galveston, and 

 has approved the bids of the contrac- 

 tors for the construction of the Roose- 

 velt dam in the Salt River project, 

 Arizona. The contractors' bid is $i,- 

 147,000, and the contract provides that 

 a sufficient force and plant shall be at 

 w r ork within 90 days to complete the 

 dam to a level of 150 feet above datum 

 in the period of two years. 



MAIL SERVICE IN MONTANA. 



The attention of the Director of the 

 Geological Survey has been called to 

 the very poor mail service between 

 Glendive and Mondak, by the engi- 

 neers engaged upon the Fort Buford 

 project. At the present time mail 

 leaves Glendive, Montana, Mondays, 

 Wednesdays and Fridays and goes as 

 far as Ridgelawn, 65 miles, returning 

 to Glendive the following day. The 

 mail is taken from Ridgelawn the next 

 morning after it arrives from Glendive 

 and goes on to Mondak. 



With the initiation of the construc- 

 tion work on this project it will be 

 absolutely necessary that daily mail be 

 run from Glendive to Mondak and 

 return, a distance of 80 miles, and it 

 is probable that a request will be made 

 for a rural free delivery route. 





