330 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



July 



The Secretary of the In- 

 coherence terior has called a con- 

 ference to be held at 

 Portland, Ore., or Seattle, Wash., this 

 month between the engineers of the 

 Reclamation Service and Chief En- 

 gineer Code, of the Indian Irrigation 

 Service, and Mr. J. Lynch, superin- 

 tendent of the Yakima Indian agency, 

 to consider matters with reference to 

 the reclamation of the lands in the 

 Yakima Indian reservation in connec- 

 tion with the Yakima project. 



Rio Grande 

 Project 



The Secretary of the In- 

 terior has executed a 

 contract with the Ele- 

 phant Butte Water Users' Association 

 and the El Paso Valley Water Users' 

 Association to secure to the United 

 States the cost of constructing the 

 Leasburg diversion dam and canal, Rio 

 Grande irrigation project, New 

 Mexico. 



Gunnison The Reclamation Ser- 



Tunnel v j ce en gi neers are justly 



proud of the progress 

 being made on the Gunnison Tunnel 

 in Colorado, which is being con- 

 structed by force account. The first 

 mile, or one-sixth of the tunnel was 

 completed on November 17, 1906. The 

 first of the present month 13,767 feet 

 had been excavated, 1,321 feet having 

 been completed during the month of 

 June. Night and day unceasingly the 

 drills are breaking their way through 

 the granite wall and the world's re- 

 cord in tunnel excavation has been 

 established on the work. 



Lippincott 

 Resigns 



Mr. J. B. Lippincott, 

 consulting and supervis- 

 ing engineer in charge 

 of work in California, has resigned his 

 position with the United States Re- 

 clamation Service. 



Mr. Lippincott, who is a graduate 

 of Dickinson College, Pennsylvania, 

 and the University of Kansas, has 

 been engaged in civil engineering 

 since 1886. For several years he was 

 prominently connected with irrigation 

 work in California in private capacity, 

 and since 1895 has had charge of the 

 hydrographic investigations for the 

 Lmited States Geological Survey in 

 that state. He is one of the oldest 

 engineers in point of service in the 

 Reclamation Bureau, and the resigna- 

 tion of so able and energetic an assist- 

 ant is greatly regretted by the officials 

 of the department. 



There is an increasing demand 

 throughout the country for the ser- 

 vices of first-class engineers, and 

 owing to the limited salaries offered 

 by the Reclamation Service the Gov- 

 ernment is losing many men of ex- 

 perience and ability. 



Force work The Secretary of the In- 



Prc^ect 1111 teri r haS g ranted au " 



thority to the Reclama- 

 tion Service to prosecute the work 

 incident to the construction of nine- 

 teen miles of canal and twenty-seven 

 miles of laterals, with appurtenances, 

 in connection with the Klamath pro- 

 ject, California-Oregon, by force ac- 

 count, and to employ the force re- 

 quired to carry the work vigorously to 

 completion in order that this distri- 

 buting system may be ready for use 

 when the main canal, now under con- 

 struction, is completed. 



The board of consulting engineers 

 recently convened at Klamath Falls to 

 open bids for this work reported that 

 no bids were received. The time re- 

 quired to readvertise this work, it is 

 believed, would so delay construction 

 that it is improbable water could be 

 provided for irrigation by next sea- 

 son. 



