1905 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



221 



350,000 acres, to part of which Uncle 

 Sam is about to apply water, will prac- 

 tically double its irrigated area and its 

 agricultural population. 



Nevada's ancient inland sea is 

 known as Lake La Hontan ; it was one 

 of the several great pre-historic lakes 

 distributed over the Great Basin of 

 the arid region, among them Lake 

 Bonneville of which the Great Salt 

 Lake was the deepest portion. Its area 

 was nine times greater than the Great 

 Salt, or almost as large as Lake Michi- 

 gan and much deeper. 



The contracted remains of Lake La 

 Hontan, in Nevada, are found in Pyr- 

 amid Lake and a number of other 

 small enclosed lake which were the 

 deepest portions of the ancient lake. 

 Since these large pre-historic lakes 

 were land-locked and did not over- 

 flow, it follows that the rainfall which 

 fed them was much heavier than it is 

 to-day. 



Should conditions revert, many of 

 the important points situated in the 

 Great Basin would be hopelessly flood- 

 ed, such for instance as the Mormon 

 Temple, which would stand in 850 feet 

 of water, while 700 miles of railroad 

 would be submerged. 



These pre-historic lakes are said to 

 be of very recent origin that is, re- 

 cent by the geologists' count perhaps 

 30,000 or 40,000 years old. Fossils 

 have been found showing the presence 

 of primitive man along their ancient 

 shores and embankments, which in 

 many instances, are as perfect in con- 

 tour and as distinct as if the waters 

 had receded only a few years since. 

 Inese lakes included such arid and 

 fear-inspiring localities of to-day as 

 the Black Rock Desert, Skull Valley, 

 Death Valley, and a score of other 

 places where the bleached bones of 

 man and animal attest to an awful lack 

 of water. 



This first irrigation work of the na- 

 tional government, which is to be cele- 

 brated by the turning of the water into 

 the gigantic ditches next month, is the 

 largest project which has been defi- 

 nitely outlined and approved under the 



irrigation act known as the Truckee- 

 Carson project. When completed it 

 will involve the expenditure of ap- 

 proximately $9,000,000 and will re- 

 claim 350,000 acres of desert land. 

 That portion of the system now com- 

 pleted consists of a canal 31 miles long 

 to take water from the Truckee River 

 and convey it to the Carson River, 

 where a large storage reservoir is pro- 

 jected. Just below this reservoir site, 

 the waters of the two streams will be 

 led out upon the plains by two canals, 

 with a combined capacity of 1,900 cu- 

 bic feet per second. Some 50,000 

 acres are to be irrigated this spring, 

 for which 200 miles of small distri- 

 buting ditches have been dug. 



The Secretary of the Interior has 

 set aside $2,740,000 of the Reclama- 

 tion Fund for the initial work, and by 

 the time this has been expended about 

 100,000 acres will be under canals, 

 and the settlers will be returning in 

 annual payments the original invest- 

 ment. The money thus received will 

 be used as a revolving fund for the 

 completion of this project. The land 

 has been divided into farm units of 80 

 acres, and the cost of reclamation will 

 be $26 per acres. Work is being com- 

 menced this spring on regulating gates 

 at the outlet of Lake Tahoe, located 

 in California, but whose waters will be 

 used to reclaim the fertile Nevada soil. 

 Future plans involve the draining of 

 Carson Sink, 25,000 acres in extent, 

 which overflows in years of heavy 

 rainfall, and the reclamation of lands 

 in the upper Truckee and Carson val- 

 leys. As these large areas are grad- 

 ually brought under irrigation a 

 greater water supply will be required 

 and nine additional reservoirs will be 

 constructed, with a combined storage 

 capacity of over a million and a quar- 

 ter acre-feet (an acre-foot equals one 

 acre, one foot deep). 



The soil under this project is very 

 fertile, and deciduous fruits such as 

 apples, pears, peaches, grapes, all the 

 berries and vegetables produce luxu- 

 riantly. Wheat, oats, potatoes and al- 

 falfa are the staple crops. The lands 



