494 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



November 



proposed system is sufficient for the re- 

 quirements of the project and for the 

 only canal taking water from the river, 

 but in order to satisfy existing rights 

 below the mouth of the Tieton River 

 it will be necessary to provide storage 

 for about 50,000 acre-feet of water, 

 and suitable reservoir sites have been 

 located in Bumping Lake, on the head- 

 waters of Natches River, and in either 

 Lake Keechelus, Kachess or CleElum, 

 on the headwaters of Yakima River. 



The land to be irrigated is of ex- 

 cellent quality and well adapted to the 

 production of such high priced crops 

 as fruit and hops, which are now being 

 produced in large quantities on adjoin- 

 ing land. On account of the possibili- 

 ties for high development it is probable 

 that the farm unit will be small and 

 that the land would easily bear a con- 

 siderably higher cost than the estimat- 

 ed price of water right, which is $55 

 per acre. 



The Yakima Commer- 

 cial Club, of North Ya- 

 kima, Washington, has 

 transmitted to the Secretary of the In- 

 terior a set of resolutions which em- 

 phatically set at rest some false and 

 misleading reports which have been 

 circulated regarding the feasibility of 

 the Tieton project in that valley and 

 its ability to repay the government the 

 sum of $55 per acre, the amount esti- 

 mated by the board of irrigation as 

 the pro rata cost for the construction 

 of a national irrigation work. 



In the resolutions it is stated that 

 the area to be reclaimed under the pro- 

 posed canal is comprised almost en- 

 tirely of rich uplands, the soil being 

 the fertile volcanic ash ; that these 

 lands, owing to the nature of the soil 

 and their location, are essentially high 

 class fruit lands, to which purpose the 

 major portion would undoubtedly be 

 put after being reclaimed. 



The transportation facilities are 

 good and the markets are excellent. 

 The lands now under irrigation in the 

 vicinity readily command prices rang- 

 ing from $150 to $500 per acre, based 



Tieton 

 Project 

 Feasible 



upon the productions of the soil in this 

 district. The resolutions recite that 

 the early reclamation of these lands is 

 a public necessity from the standpoint 

 of this community. The irrigated 

 lands in this portion of the great Ya- 

 kima Valley are or soon will be culti- 

 vated up to their full capacity. As a 

 result of excellent market and a steady 

 influx of new settlers from other sec- 

 tions, the cultivated lands are gradual- 

 ly but surely getting beyond the reach 

 of the home-seeker with limited 

 means. 



It is positively denied that the lands 

 under this project are held almost in 

 their entirety by speculators. A large 

 percentage of the total is held by 

 claimants under the homestead and 

 desert land acts; the balance is owned 

 by individuals, all local men. Both 

 the claimants and individual owners 

 are willing to enter an agreement to 

 subdivide their holdings into the reg- 

 ulation farm units and sell the surplus 

 at reasonable prices to settlers. 



Since the failure of the 

 original contractors on 

 the Gunnison tunnel to 

 comply with the requirements of the 

 government, and the rejection of sec- 

 ond bids for the work, the excavation 

 has been in charge of the engineers of 

 the Reclamation Service and the work 

 is being done under force account. 



Advices received from Supervising 

 Engineer J. H. Quinton, at Montrose, 

 indicate that rapid progress is being 

 made on the work. On November ist 

 the tunnel heading from the Gunnison 

 River was in 2,000 feet, and the Cedar 

 Creek heading 2,700 feet, making a 

 total of 4,700 feet. 



The Gunnison tunnel, which is to be 

 completed in 1908, will be 30,000 feet 

 in length, the longest tunnel in the 

 United States. It will be io l / 2 by 1 1 1 / 2 

 and will carry a very large volume of 

 water from the Gunnison River 

 through a mountain divide 2,000 feet 

 in height into the Uncompahgre Val- 

 ley, where it will be utilized for the 

 irrigation of about 50,000 acres of ex- 

 ceedingly fertile land. 



The 



Gunnison 



Tunnel 





