THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



Uncle Sam, so that they may place their homesteads 

 under cultivation and make a living. The people on 

 the south side located on the lands because it was under 

 the fostering hand of the United States government and 

 part of the great Minidoka reclamation project. Just 

 as much so as on the north side, they as citizens are 

 entitled to all the word implies. They are poor people, 

 most of them, who have all their world's belongings with 

 'them. Most of these locators have wives and children. 

 They are waiting, living on the desert, many of them 

 hauling water miles to drink and for domestic purposes. 

 The locators are good citizens, law abiding, patient and 

 brave. All they need to make them the happiest of 

 people is word from headquarters that water will be 

 ready for their lands within a reasonable time. Uncle 

 Sam is not giving them anything except an opportunity 

 to work, for which opportunity they pay Uncle Sam the 

 market value. It makes no difference on which side of 

 the Snake River people are located. The plans of the 

 Minidoka reclamation project carry with them no gifts 

 or presents for the settlers. What the settlers may ex- 

 pect to receive as their reward after they pay the acre- 

 age debt for water rights and secure titles to their land 

 is the difference between the actual cost and the selling 

 price per acre, which will be between $27 and $28 per 

 acre. This is first cost. In the judgment of the writer 

 these acres will sell from $75 to $100 per acre in five 

 years. Now, homesteaders who will have water next 

 year can go ahead and make a living. But the hundreds 

 of good people that are "doing time" on the south side, 

 what about them? When can they hope for relief? 

 When do they get water ? If they are trespassers within 

 the confines of the government's great irrigation proj- 

 ect; if they are aliens and not eligible to the benefits of 

 citizenship, it is Uncle Sam's duty to cancel their home- 

 stead entries and dispossess them of their holdings. If 

 they are right, as they are, they are entitled to some 

 authentic, relia-ble information so that they may know 

 what to do and what to expect. It is not the intent of 

 this article to insinuate, to cast any slurs on the reclama- 

 tion service, or its officers, or accuse the government of 

 double dealing. There is nothing intended to offend. 

 There is, however, a determination on the part of the 

 writer to help the settlers of the south side to secure 

 information that is bread and butter to them. 



"What the homesteaders on the south side ask for 

 is to have the reclamation service set the time when 

 the relief they pray for may be theirs." 



CORRESPONDENCE 



SPOKANE, WASH., November 14, 1905. 

 Editor Irrigation Age: 



The Idaho-Washington Land Company, of Moscow, 

 Idaho, bought yesterday from Thomas M. Bruce, James T. 

 Brattain, Myron C. Munger and Henry R. Ochiltree, through 

 the Great Northern Land Company, ten sections of land on 

 Lower Crab Creek, in Douglas County, for $28,827. 



About half of the acreage is good bottom land, capable of 

 irrigation, and there is ample water to be had for this pur- 

 pose. It is understood that this is the intention of the pur- 

 chasers. 



The Idaho-Washington Land Company was recently or- 

 ganized by Moscow and Minnesota men, and this is the firsf 

 purchase made. 



The property was bought three years ago by Messrs. 

 Bruce,, Brattain, Munger and Ochiltree from the Northern 

 Pacific Railway Company for $8,000, under contract, and only 

 a small cash payment was made, and the full purchase price 

 has not yet been paid. No improvements were made, but 

 about 400 acres have been in meadow each year. The sale 

 yesterday represents a handsome profit on the money in- 

 vested. 



CODY, BIG HORN COUNTY, WYO., November 11. 

 Editor Irrigation Age: 



The big steam shovel of the Big Horn Development Com- 

 pany, which was moved on its own track from Cody to the 

 scene of operations on the south side of the Shoshone River, 

 is now working and the big canal is being excavated rapidly. 

 This canal will be thirty miles long and will divert water 

 from the Shoshone River to the Oregon Basin, a large natural 

 reservoir, covering over 5,000 acres and capable of holding 

 sufficient water to irrigate the 200,000 acres to be reclaimed 

 for a period of two years without additional water flowing 

 in. From the reservoir the canal will be constructed a dis- 

 tance of forty miles. It is hoped to have everything in readi- 

 ness to run water on the land in the spring of 1907. 



The Oregon Basin project is the one that was held up 

 by the Government for several years, the engineers of the 

 Government reporting that it would militate against the suc- 

 cess of Uncle Sam's Shoshone project. The State officers 

 showed that it would do nothing of the kind, however, and 

 after a long fight, in which the State authorities held up the 

 title to water under the Government enterprise until the de- 

 partment approved of the segregations under the Oregon 

 Basin enterprise, the matter was finally settled and work was 

 started on both projects. 



LAWTON, OKLA., November 15. 

 Editor Irrigation Age: 



The Navajo irrigation project for southwestern Okla- 

 homa is now hanging in the balance and will in a very few 

 days tip one way or the other. The Government board of 

 consulting engineers is now on the ground, and upon their 

 final decision will depend the fate of Oklahoma's $2,000,000 

 project for reclaiming a section of the semi-arid land in the 

 West. The board is composed of B. M. Hall, of Carlsbad, 

 N. M., chief engineer of the reclamation department in the 

 southwestern division ; A. P. Davis, assistant engineer, with 

 headquarters at Washington, and William Sanders, of San 

 Francisco, an engineer of the reclamation service in the west- 

 ern division. 



The board is making its headquarters at Synder and is 

 investigating this week every feature of the irrigation project. 

 They are going over the ground, examining the water supply, 

 the drainage, the flow of the streams and the plats drawn 

 by the execution of the project. The late investigations of 

 Engineer J. J. Camp, chief officer, now in charge of the 

 project in the field, to ascertain the existence of bedrock in 

 the streams and its depth from the surface, have resulted 

 successfully and most favorably to the project. This was the 

 vital point on which the irrigation matter has been resting 

 for the past few months, and at one time it appeared that the 

 project would have to be abandoned on account of the ab- 

 sence of serviceable bedrock at a reasonable depth. Such 

 items as salt, sand and sediment are yet to receive the con- 

 sideration of the board. 



It is estimated that the 22,000 acres of land to be con- 

 demned for a reservoir will cost the Government $20 per acre, 

 or a total cost of $440,000. All the land to be condemned 

 is homestead land and most of it is now being lived upon 

 and cultivated by farmers. Inasmuch as the present owners 

 must vacate and afterward the lands are to be worthless, 

 save for reservoir purposes, the homesteaders will doubtless 

 demand of the Government prices not lower than $20 per 

 acre. This means the removal of 137 farmers to other sec- 

 tions of the country. 



"I have stronger hopes than ever before that the irriga- 

 tion project will be carried out." said an engineer of the 

 Geological Survey today. For three years he has been ob- 

 serving the progress of reclamation affairs and is informed in 

 nearly all matters pertaining thereto. 



BROWNSVILLE, TEX., November 14, 1905. 

 Editor Irrigation Age: 



J. L. Allen, of Houston, representative of Iowa capital- 

 ists, who have recently purchased 8,500 acres of land about 

 twenty miles above Brownsville, says work will begin in a 



