1906 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



425 



2,400 to 3,000 feet. It is traveled 

 throughout its entire length by the 

 Southern Pacific Railway, which af- 

 fords excellent transportation facili- 

 ties to the markets of San Francisco 

 and Portland. The climate is mild, 

 the temperature ranging from no de- 

 grees above to 5 degrees below zero. 

 The springs are rather late and frosty. 

 For the last ten years there has been 

 an average rainfall of 17.6 inches, but 

 as not more than half an inch of this 

 comes during July, August, and Sep- 

 tember, irrigation is necessary for suc- 

 cessful farming. 



There are approximately 100,000 

 acres of agricultural land in Shasta 

 Valley, held for the most part in pri- 

 vate ownership. Of this amount about 

 58,100 acres are irrigable from Kla- 

 math River from gravity flow, and it 

 is believed possible to irrigate 10,- 

 000 acres more by pumping. A lift of 

 200 feet would be required, and power 

 could' be developed for this purpose, 

 although the cost would probably be 

 excessive. From Little River and va- 

 rious springs there are now perhaps 

 10.000 acres under an imperfect sys- 

 tem of irrigation. 



About sixteen miles below Keno, 

 Ore., the waters of Klamath River 

 can be diverted by an eight-foot weir 

 and carried along the east bank of the 

 river into Shasta Valley, and there 

 applied for irrigation upon 58,100 

 acres of land. Because of the precipi- 

 tous canyons the water must be car- 

 ried for a distance of twenty miles 

 either by a series of long tunnels, or 

 by short tunnels and cement lined ca- 

 nals. The former could be maintained 

 with much less expense when once 

 constructed, but the first cost would 

 be so great that a line contemplating 

 three short tunnels, two siphons, and 

 cement lined canals was surveyed. 



The total estimated cost of the sys- 

 tem as outlined is approximately $3,- 

 784,238, or at the rate of $65.13 per 

 acre for the construction of works to 

 irrigate 58,100 acres. There are about 

 5,000 people in this valley, depending 

 upon lumbering, mining, stock-rais- 

 ing and farming for a livelihood. 



Wheat, oats, barley, vegetables, wild 

 hay, alfalfa and fruits are grown. 



With the enthusiasm and enterprise 

 so characteristic of the farmers of 

 California, the land owners have ex- 

 pressed a desire to organize a water 

 users' association and to cooperate in 

 every way possible with the Govern- 

 ment if the project is undertaken. In 

 view of the large acreage cost and the 

 present state of the reclamation fund, 

 however, the engineers of the Recla- 

 mation Service do not deem it wise 

 to recommend consideration of the 

 project until the Klamath project is 

 beginning to return revenue at least. 

 There are many opportunities for re- 

 clamation work in the Sacramento 

 Valley, and in case a small economical 

 project develops it would be manifest- 

 ly unfair to the State to begin work 

 which for lack of funds might not be 

 completed for many years when other 

 work could be taken up and completed 

 quickly. 



Lower The Secretary of the In- 



Yeiiowstone terior has awarded con- 

 tract for the construc- 

 tion of the Lower Yellowstone dam, 

 Lower Yellowstone irrigation project, 

 North Dakota-Montana, to the Pacific 

 Coast Construction Company, of Port- 

 land, Ore., for the sum of: $142,825. 



This dam is to be a rock-filled, tim- 

 ber cribbed structure across the Yel- 

 lowstone River at the headworks of 

 the canal, about eighteen miles north- 

 east of Glendive, Mont., and accord- 

 ing to the terms of the contract will 

 be completed February 1, 1909. 



The river at this point has been con- 

 sidered navigable, although boats have 

 not been up the Yellowstone River 

 since the time of the Custer massacre. 

 At that time the daring steamboat men 

 succeeded in forcing light draft boats 

 up the Yellowstone and up the Big 

 Horn to a point where they could re- 

 ceive the wounded soldiers and bring 

 relief to the troops. 



The building of this dam marks the 

 close of navigation on the Yellowstone 

 River and the practical dedication of 

 its waters to irrigation and the crea- 



