THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



269 



these questions. The States of the great Northwest are 

 almost as much interested in the matter of forest re- 

 serves as in irrigation, and some lively discussions will 

 be participated in by delegates who will attend the 

 congress for this purpose. 



Several hundred delegates from North Idaho, Mon- 

 tana, Wyoming, Utah, Oregon and Washington have 

 advised the executive committee of the National Irri- 



High School. Boise. 



gation Congress that they will attend for the purpose 

 of discussing the forest reserve question. Arrange- 

 ments have been made for giving the advocates and 

 opponents of the policy every opportunity for present- 

 ing their views on this important matter, and much is 

 expected to be accomplished. The question is said to 

 be second in importance to that of irrigation. 



The .citizens of Boise, Idaho, are making great 

 preparations for entertaining the delegates. Riverside 



Irrigated Farm Near Boise. 



Park, located but two blocks from the railroad depot, 

 has been secured for the congress. The sessions will be 

 held in the theater, which has a seating capacity of 

 2,200, while the pavilion adjoining will be used for 

 committee rooms. The buildings are surrounded by 

 large shade trees, and every convenience will be pro- 

 vided for the comfort of the delegates. The exhibits 

 of grains, grasses, fruits and sugar beets promises to 

 be the largest ever held in the Northwest. After the 

 work of the congress has been completed excursion 

 trains will take the delegates to the various irrigated 



districts of the state to show what has been accom- 

 plished by irrigation and the new projects under con- 

 struction. 



Irrigation projects costing more than $30,000,000 

 are under construction in Idaho. Of these the national 

 reclamation service enterprises will involve an expendi- 

 ture of $13,000,000, while the others are being carried 

 on through private enterprise. The meeting will be 



Columbia Theater, Boise. 



held in the midst of the largest reclamation projects 

 in the Northwest. 



The delegates to the Boise meeting of the National 

 Irrigation Congress will be entertained with a plunge 

 party and reception at the Natatorium on the night 

 of their arrival. This is the largest inland bathing 



Federal Building. 



resort in the United States. The water comes from 

 wells of natural hot water, flowing a million gallons a 

 day, at a temperature of 170 degrees. It is highly 

 mineralized and the baths are very invigorating. 



Bids were opened on April 28, 1906, at Garden City, 

 Kansas, for the erection of fifteen steel highway bridges in 

 Comanche county, Oklahoma. After a careful examination of 

 these bids, the Secretary of the Interior has rejected all of 

 them and returned the certified checks to the bidders. The 

 reason for the rejection is that in the opinion of the Secretary 

 they are all unreasonably high. According to a careful com- 

 parison, it was found that they range from 36 to 76 per cent 

 higher than the contract prices of similar structures hereto- 

 fore built in the same county under contract with the Interior 

 Department. 



The Secretary does not regard the need for these addi- 

 tional bridges sufficiently urgent to warrant paying excessive 

 prices for the same. This year being a year of remarkable 

 industrial prosperity, materials and labor are high, and as 

 plenty of work can be obtained on comparatively loose speci- 

 fications, and often on no specifications, the bridge companies 

 apparently are not particular whether or not they do any 

 work for the Government. 



