

538 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



December 



December 25 to January 6, promises to 

 be of more than ordinary interest. 

 Considerable attention is to be de- 

 voted to the forest exhibits, including 

 displays illustrative of tree culture; 

 forest botany, seeds, insects injurious 

 to the forest, native woods, forest in- 

 dustries, forest instruments, etc. Part 

 of the government forestry exhibit 

 formerly shown at the Lewis and Clark 

 Exposition has been loaned for the 

 occasion ; and in addition the Canadian 

 government, and Provincial govern- 

 ments are to be well represented by 

 generous exhibits, not only of forest 

 resources, but also of specimens of 

 food and game fish and animals, birds, 

 insects, trade exhibits, and a large 

 number of transparencies, photo- 

 graphs, drawings, paintings, etc., of 

 out-of-door subjects. 



Lessening With the approach of 

 Engineering w i nter a l arRe number 

 Force , . , 



of engineers and assist- 

 ants in the Reclamation Service are 

 being laid off or given furloughs. 

 There is a considerable demand, how- 

 ever, for these men, especially the ac- 

 tive and experienced, and they find 

 employment elsewhere, particularly on 

 the new railroads now under construc- 

 tion or in the development of power 

 and irrigation enterprises by private 

 capital in the West. 



The reason for dispensing with the 

 services of these men is because the 

 preliminary or reconnaissance stage of 

 the work has been passed. Most of 

 the important irrigation projects in the 

 West have been examined, and the 

 Secretary of the Interior has made a 

 selection of the most meritorious. The 

 ngiiieering plans for these are practi- 

 cally completed or have reached a 

 stage where construction has been be- 

 gun or will soon be initiated. 



As the construction work is usually 

 done by contract, fewer government 

 engineers arc required under each pro- 

 ject in the later stages of the work. 



There are also a number of projects 

 which the Secretary is holding under 

 consideration, and which may not be 

 .-authorized in the near future. In- 



structions have been given to close 

 down the work under these projects, 

 with the exception of perfecting the 

 details in hand, in order that no time 

 will be lost in taking up the work 

 again whenever it has been approved. 



North 

 Platte 

 Project 



The work of construc- 

 tion on the North Platte 



I project is progressing 



satisfactorily, notwithstanding some 

 difficulty has been experienced by the 

 contractors in securing laborers. On 

 Division No. i a total excavation of 

 59,000 yards has been made, leaving 

 281,000 yards to be moved during the 

 next five months. This will require 

 a force of about sixty teams constant- 

 ly on the work. 



On Division No. 2 about 50 per cent 

 of the yardage, or 151,000 yards, have 

 been moved, and by employing the 

 present force of laborers with seventy- 

 six teams, this division of the work 

 will be completed in two or three 

 months. 



On Division No. 3, which was sub- 

 let to Orman & Crook, the excavation 

 to date amounts to 46,000 yards, leav- 

 ing 230,000 yards of class one and 

 60,000 yards of class two and four 

 material. 



On Division No. 4, in charge of the 

 Deadwood Construction Company, a 

 total yardage of 65,650 has been 

 moved, leaving a balance of 126,000 

 yards which will be completed by 

 April i. 



On Division No. 5, under Orman & 

 Crook, a total yardage of 143,000 has 

 been moved, leaving a balance of 200,- 

 ooo yards which can be completed by 

 April i with forty teams. On this di- 

 vision all of the work is heavy cutting 

 and filling, and in order to complete 

 within the period of the contract the 

 present force will have to be increased. 

 No work has been done on Divisions 

 6 and 7. 



James O'Connor, contractor on Di- 

 vision 8, has moved 62,000 yards out 

 of a total of 292,000, and expects to 

 complete the contract in time for the 

 irrigation season of 1906. 



