396 



FORESTRY -AND IRRIGATION 



September 



preliminary surveys be pushed to com- 

 pletion as soon as practicable in order 

 that land owners whose properties 

 would come under the works might 

 have a clear understanding of the 

 plans of the Reclamation Service and 

 a full knowledge of the cost of the wa- 

 ter rights. 



The banks of the Missouri River be- 

 tween Fort Buford and Bismarck, a 

 distance of 300 miles, have been care- 

 fully investigated, and it is believed 

 to be feasible to lift the water of the 

 river to low flats by pumping. Ex- 

 tremely favorable features are found 

 in the abundance of water and in the 

 cheap and plentiful supply of fuel. 



The Buford-Trenton project as 

 planned will cover approximately 18,- 

 700 acres; the Williston project, 39,- 

 ooo, and the Nesson project 28,600 

 acres. A board of consulting engi- 

 neers will convene at Williston, North 

 Dakota, on September i8th to consider 

 designs for these systems. 



Reclamation Proposals for the con- 

 Contracts struction of the Path- 



finder dam, North Platte 

 project, advertisements for which have 

 twice been issued, have been opened 

 at Denver, Colorado, and the lowest 

 bidder was found to be N. S. Sher- 

 man, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The 

 amount of Mr. Sherman's bid was 

 $459,260. 



The Secretary of the Interior has 

 executed the contract and approved 

 the bond of E. A. Hess, of Lyons, 

 Iowa, for the construction of a tele- 

 phone system in connection with the 

 Fort Buford reclamation project, 

 Montana and North Dakota. This 

 system consists of four telephone sta- 

 tions and about seventy miles of pole 

 line, beginning opposite Glendive, 

 Montana, on the west side of Yellow- 

 stone River, extending northward 

 down Yellowstone Valley, generally 

 folowing the country road, and ending 

 near the junction of the Yellowstone 

 and Missouri Rivers at a point nearly 

 opposite Buford, North Dakota, on the 

 Great Northern Railroad. Five bids 



were received, of which that of Mr. 

 Hess $15,93945 was the lowest. 



The Secretary of the Interior has 

 also executed a contract with the 

 Widell-Finley Company, of Mankato, 

 Minn., for the construction of seven 

 and a half miles of main canal, Fort 

 Buford project. Seven bids were re- 

 received of which that of the Widell- 

 Finley Company $163,367.50 was 

 the lowest. 



The Secretary of the Interior has 

 executed the contract and approved 

 the bond of Monarch & Porter, of 

 Des Moines, Iowa, for the construc- 

 tion of schedules 3 and 4, Minidoka 

 project, Idaho, which consist of 63.5 

 miles of laterals and branches. The 

 bid of the successful contractors was 

 for $194,826.75. 



A contract for the construction and 

 completion of the Pathfinder dam and 

 auxiliary works, North Platte project, 

 Wyoming, has been awarded by the 

 Secretary of the Interior to the Geddis 

 & Seerie Stone Company, of Denver, 

 Colorado. The amount of the com- 

 pany's bid was $482,000. 



According to the terms under which 

 the bid was made work must begin 

 within thirty days after the signing 

 of the contract, and the entire work 

 shall be completed on or before Nov. 

 i, 1908. 



The Secretary of the Interior has 

 awarded the contract for the construc- 

 tion of Yuma dyke, Yuma project, 

 Arizona-California, to Miller & Peas- 

 ley, of Los Angeles, California. Four 

 bids were received, that of Miller & 

 Peasley $66,325 being the lowest. 



The Secretary of the In- 

 terior has approved the 

 preliminary plans of the 

 engineers of the Reclamation Service 

 for an irrigation project in northeast- 

 ern Utah, known as the Strawberry 

 Valley project, and as soon as the wa- 

 ter users, through the Water Users' 

 Association formed for the purpose, 

 make proper adjustment of water 

 rights and guarantee the return of the 

 reclamation fund, construction will be 

 promptly undertaken. 



