354 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



August 



curred the engineers in charge have 

 proven themselves well qualified to 

 carry on the work by force account, 

 and there is every prospect that re- 

 sults will be highly satisfactory when 

 compared with prices originally bid 

 state Canal on the North Platte River 

 in Wyoming and Nebraska, from 

 which , by the aid of some temporary 

 structures, water has been available 

 since May 5th. 



Referring to the situation on the 

 Lower Colorado River, he states that 

 the entire river (about 20,000 second 

 feet) is now flowing into the Salton 

 Sea, instead of into the Gulf of Cali- 

 fornia, where is belongs, and adds that 

 the Southern Racific Railroad com- 

 pany, which has come to the aid of the 

 canal company, is putting forth great 

 efforts to turn the river back into the 

 channel leading to the gulf. The rail- 

 road company has completed a spur 

 track from El Rio at Pilot Knob, 

 southerly into Mexico, and is prepared 

 to push the work on the closure of the 

 present channel with the utmost vigor. 



Irrigation 

 in Shoshone 

 Reservation 



There are several 

 sources of large water 

 supply in the ceded por- 

 tion of the Shoshone Indian Reserva- 

 tion, Wyo., which was thrown open 

 for settlement on August 15. 



The ceded portion of the Shoshone 

 Indian Reservation is the area lying 

 north of Wind River and east of Popo 

 Agie and Bighorn rivers. It lies in 

 the northern central portion of Fre- 

 mont County. Wyo., and includes also 

 a small corner of Bighorn County, ad- 

 joining Bighorn Canyon south of 

 Thermopolis. The total area is about 

 2,000 square miles. The northern third 

 of this area lies in the Owl Creek and 

 Shoshone mountains and the southern 

 portion comprises a wide region of 



when such work was offered for con- 

 tract. 



Among the projects that have been 

 advanced to the point of delivering 

 water Mr. Grunsky reports the Inter- 

 rolling plains in the Wind River basin. 

 The area is bordered on the south by 

 Wind River and its eastern margin is 

 crossed by Bighorn River. These 

 streams carry a large volume of water 

 and flow in flat-bottomed valleys, 

 along which there is a moderate acre- 

 age of land that is immediately val- 

 uable for agriculture. 



With a mean average rainfall of 

 about 13 inches a year, the climate is 

 too arid for the raising of crops with- 

 out irrigation, but a large amount of 

 water in the two principal rivers is 

 available for this use. Along the bot- 

 tom lands bordering the rivers the 

 water can be taken out in small 

 ditches, though, owing to the spring 

 floods, there will be difficulty in main- 

 taining these ditches and especially 

 their headgates, and the amount of 

 land that can be irrigated by this 

 means is small. By the construction 

 of irrigation canals, however, wide 

 areas of the basin land could be 

 brought under cultivation, especially 

 if the flood waters of the mountain 

 slopes were stored for use during the 

 dry season. The greater part of the 

 region is well adapted for grazing and 

 this undoubtedly will be its principal 

 use. Fully two-thirds of the land 

 bears a fair growth of nutritious 

 grasses, and water for stock is within 

 reach, except in a few districts. 



The only settlers now in the ceded 

 area are a few Indians and white men 

 who have married squaws. The 

 ranches of these people are widely . 

 scattered along the rivers and on the 

 creeks near the foot of the mountains. 



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