42 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



taloupes, in orchards, in table vegetables, he does not 

 need 320 acres. If he can manage it, if he has the 

 money to run it, let him take the largest tract obtain- 

 able; but for the poor man to take up 320 acres of this 

 land is folly. 



It should have been said before that, one of the 

 chief attractions of Imperial valley is its early season. 

 Fruit and vegetabes grown here ripen several weeks in 

 advance of the crops elsewhere in California. The Im- 

 perial farmer can supply the earliest market, can com- 

 mand the highest prices, and by the time other sections 

 are getting their crops in the market the Imperial crop 

 will have been consumed, and the farmer will be put- 

 ting in his second planting. In this country a crop of 

 wheat or barley can be sown in November and harvested 

 in May ; a second crop of Kaffir corn, Milo maize, millet 

 or sorghum can then be planted and mature that same 

 season. Wheat and barley, by the way, stand prominent 

 in the list of crops that give quick return. Experience 

 has demonstrated that forty-five bushels of wheat or 

 fifty-five bushels of barley can be depended upon if the 

 farmer knows how to intelligently apply the water and 

 put in his crop. Alfalfa is another good quick crop. 

 If seeded in the spring four crops can be cut the first 

 season, and after that from six to eight crops each year. 

 This record can not be equalled anywhere else in the 

 country. Sugar beets are coming into the Imperial 

 valley and negotiations are already under way for the 

 erection of a sugar factory at Imperial. In fact, almost 

 any crops can be grown, except apples and those fruits 

 which will not stand frost. 



THE SAHARA DITCH.WYOMING. 



APPROVE' SUNNYSIDE SCHEME. 



A recent telegram from Washington says: 



The superintendent of the geological survey and the 

 chief engineer of the reclamation service have approved 

 the Sunnyside irrigation project, and the matter has 

 been laid before the Secretary of the Interior for his 

 final action. 



The project contemplates the irrigation of 40,000 

 acres of land at an estimated cost of $40 an acre, and 

 this with the Tieton project, which is also before Secre- 

 tary Hitchcock for his approval, will bring about the 

 reclamation of not less than 64,000 acres in the Yakima 

 valley. The estimated cost of the Tieton project is 

 $50 an acre. 



The Sunnyside scheme, which will probably be 

 approved by the secretary, involves the purchase of the 

 entire property and rights of the Washington Irrigation 

 Company, exclusive of lands which the company owns. 

 These lands, under the terms of the contract, are to 

 be watered at a specified annual price per acre. 



The amount of the purchase prices is withheld, 

 pending Secretary Hitchcock's action, but it is re- 

 ported to be in the neighborhood of $250,000. 



The recommendation of the Sunnyside project, fol- 

 lowing closely upon the announcement of definite action 

 in regard to the Tieton scheme, will, in turn, probably 

 be followed by a definite announcement in regard to 

 other units in the great Yakima scheme within the next 

 few months. 



A Wyoming enterprise of considerable importance, 

 now nearing completion, is that of the Sahara Ditch 

 Company. 



The canal bearing that name will draw its water 

 supply from Powder River and will irrigate and reclaim 

 about 10,000 acres near Sussex, Wyo. Most of this 

 land lies in a body and is included within the great 

 bend of the river, near this point, where the stream 

 gradually changes its course from a southeasterly direc- 

 tion to due north. 



The soil is good and experts have pronounced the 

 tract an ideal one for irrigation, and situated as it 

 is just away from the southeast base of the Big Horn 

 mountains, the winters are milder and the springs 

 earlier than in other' parts of Johnson County or the 

 State in general. 



Johnson County, which formerly included all the 

 country surrounding the Big Horn mountains, was long 



Send $2.50 for The Irrigation Age 

 1 year, and The Primer of Irrigation 



View Showing Construction of Flurne over Powder River. Property 



of the Sahara Ditch Company, Buffalo, Wyo. 



ago christened by an eminent judge as the "Garden of 

 Wyoming," and the only reason for the tardy develop- 

 ment of this tract on Powder River, was the greater 

 outlay necessary for its reclamation. Lack of capital 

 at home and lack of knowledge in regard to it abroad. 



The present incorporators of the company are all 

 local business men or engaged in the stock industry, 

 and are men who have made their own way unaided 

 except as Nature generally aids the industrious and 

 thoughtful. With its great natural resources of coal 

 and oil well" explored, but yet undeveloped, the pro- 

 moters believe the Powder River valley has a great fu- 

 ture, but at the present time the reclamation of these 

 lands is of special interest and importance, as a source 

 of winter forage for those who desire to avail themselves 

 of the extensive range privileges of the surrounding 

 country, a range extending to the Platte River on the 

 south and to the Black Hills on the east. 



Most of the land under the Sahara ditch has been 



