1906 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



395 



The flume will be thirty miles long, 

 the reservoir covering 200 acres. 



The Spring Valley Irrigation and 

 Canal Company has been organized 

 to irrigate a tract of 6,400 acres in 

 the Yakima district, south of Spokane. 

 W. G. Chaney, of Spokane, is presi- 

 dent. 



Twenty thousand acres of land in 

 eastern Oregon, south of Spokane, 

 will be irrigated next year by the 

 Umatilla Water Users' Association. 

 The reservoir will hold 50,000 acre 

 feet of water. 



At the recent session of 

 Piedge C Aid S the International League 

 of Press Clubs at Den- 

 ver much interest was shown in the 

 subjects of forestry and irrigation, and 

 the league puts itself on record in the 

 following resolutions : 



"Whereas, The subject of irrigation 

 in the arid West is a question of vital 

 and paramount importance in the 

 economy of this country; and, 



"Whereas, It is only by the preser- 

 vation of the forests that the water- 

 sheds and streams may be perpetuated 

 and the water conserved for public 

 use ; therefore be it 



"Resolved, That this sixteenth ses- 

 sion of the International League of 

 Press Clubs in Denver assembled, does 

 hereby send greetings to the four- 

 teenth National Irrigation congress at 

 Boise, Idaho, to express our deep ap- 

 preciation of the importance of the 

 work upon which the congress is en- 

 gaged. 



"We pledge ourselves that by our 

 pens and our influence we will assist 

 the forester of the United States in 

 his laudible policy of preserving the 

 forests of the country for present and 

 future use. 



"We also will use our influence to- 

 ward establishing the Appalachian 

 forest reserve." 



Michigan 



Planting 



Experiment 



A correspondent writing 

 to the Southern Lumber- 

 man tells of an interest- 

 ing forest planting scheme in Michi- 

 gan. Carl E. Schmidt, the millionaire 

 leather man of Detroit, is endeavoring 



to demonstrate the practicability of re- 

 storing the pine lands of Michigan. In 

 Iosco County Mr. Schmidt took up a 

 tract of about 2,000 acres of waste 

 pine land that had been swept by fire 

 and then bid in by the State for de- 

 linquent taxes. The soil is light sand, 

 not suitable for farming; in fact, 

 worthless, unless it could be reforested. 

 Two years ago he bought in Wiscon- 

 sin, in about the same latitude as Iosco, 

 10,000 white pine seedlings, 5,000 red 

 cedar and 2,000 Carolina poplar and 

 planted them on the 2,000 acres. 

 Ninety-five per cent of the white pine 

 lived and are now growing vigorously, 

 9 per cent of the cedar took root and 

 are thriving, and 100 per cent of the 

 poplar are doing finely. Mr. Schmidt 

 feels satisfied now that the venture 

 has passed the experimental stage. Ac- 

 cording to Mr. Schmidt, an average 

 of one factory dependent upon lumber 

 for its stock is leaving the State every 

 week the year around. 



A significant change has 

 Sent taken place in the atti- 



tude of the people of the 

 West toward, the Reclamation Ser- 

 vice. When the work began four 

 years ago there was heard on all sides 

 the statement that the Government 

 should not interfere with private de- 

 velopment, and fears were expressed 

 that in the great works to be built the 

 Government would in some way inter- 

 fere with money making by indi- 

 viduals. 



In one sense it has been impossible 

 not to interfere with private enter- 

 prise, since on nearly all projects some 

 individual or another has made filings 

 on lands or waters and was endeavor- 

 ing to sell these filings to eastern in- 

 vestors. The construction by the Gov- 

 ernment of a single large project, de- 

 veloping the country to its utmost, has 

 frequently, in the minds of promotors 

 at least, interfered with tbeir smaller 

 schemes. This condition has, how- 

 ever, now passed. All of the projects 

 to be considered during the next few 

 vears have been determined upon by 

 the Secretary, and all questions of 



