210 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



the land within said reservation and contains approxi- 

 mately 1,150,000 acres. 



When instructions relative to said opening have 

 been issued to the local offices at Lander, Wyo., due 

 notice thereof will be given to the public through the 

 press. 



The date set for the opening is fixed by law as 

 June 15, 1906, but owing to the fact that the Big Horn 

 and Wind rivers at this season of the year, on account 

 of the melting snow in the mountains, are at flood, and 

 would make it difficult, if not impossible, for entrymen 

 to reach the land thrown open, it has been decided to 

 change the date. 



Selections of the land will be by lottery; that is, 

 the name, etc., of entryman will be placed in a sealed 

 box and drawn, and they receive preference in the order 

 in which the names are drawn. 



UNCLE SAM AS A CEMENT MANUFACTURER. 



Uncle Sam wants Portland cement and wants it 

 badly. With twenty-four big irrigation projects under 

 construction requiring hundreds of thousands of bar- 

 rels of cement, the engineers are finding it next to im- 

 possible to obtain anything like the quantity needed. 

 The unprecedented demand for this commodity all over 

 the West has already overtaxed the capacity of the mills, 

 and almost without exception the government's requests 

 for bids are turned down. Apparently no manufactur- 

 ers west of the Mississippi are able to supply new orders. 

 In reply to inquiries from the government they state 

 that, owing to the unusual demand new orders can not 

 be accepted for several months to come. Recently pro- 

 posals were requested from eight manufacturers and 

 dealers in cement for 2,000 barrels required on an Idaho 

 project. Only one proposal was received and that was 

 at a rate 50 per cent higher than the firm would have 

 sold for a few months ago. Still later invitations for bids 

 for several thousand barrels were sent to twenty-three 

 dealers. Again but one firm submitted a bid, and this 

 was nearly 60 per cent higher than the normal profit- 

 able rate of sale by this firm. Other attempts to pur- 

 chase cement have been similarly unsuccessful. 



The Reclamation Service is gravely concerned. It 

 has let contracts for structures involving millions of 

 dollars, and a failure to secure cement as needed, enter- 

 ing as it does so largely in the work, will be disastrous. 

 Owing to the inaccessibility of many of the government 

 works, the transportation of cement is difficult and 

 costly. This was particularly the case in Salt River 

 Valley in Arizona, where the great distance from exist- 

 ing mills and the expensive wagon haul, made the cost 

 prohibitive. After making thorough investigation of the 

 cost of bringing in cement for the Roosevelt Dam and 

 other structures, the government erected its own mill 

 and for several months past has been turning out daily 

 hundreds of barrels of first-class cement at a price far 

 below the cost of cement shipped in. It is known that 

 materials required for manufacturing cement of good 

 quality exist near several of the other projects, and 

 private parties should embrace the opportunity to go 

 into the business. From the present outlook, however, 

 the government seems to have a choice of shipping from 

 the far Eastern seaboard or from Europe, or of man- 

 ufacturing its own cement. 



IRRIGATION IN WYOMING. 



The Omaha Bee, in a recent issue says: 

 Numerous irrigation projects are being brought to 

 the front in Wyoming under the Carey act, which grants 

 water rights to people who will develop land and ditches. 

 W. H. Knepper, of Buffalo, Wyo., was in the city Tues- 

 day booming his new project by which he proposes to 



U. S. Senator Newlands and Congressman Mondell Inspecting Irrigation Wor 



water 10,000 acres in Johnson county near Kaycee. It 

 is called the Sahara ditch, and is situated 100 miles 

 from a railroad midway between the Burlington and 

 Northwestern railroads. 



"The State sells this land for 50 cents an acre and 

 regulates the price to be charged for the water rights. 

 Many of these enterprises are coming to the front in 

 Wyoming which bid fair soon to transform this State 

 into one vast irrigated farm," said Mr. Knepper. 



