296 



THE IKRIGATION AGE. 



incident are in a measure due to the paralyzing effect of 

 the reclamation service as now administered upon pri- 

 vate interests then at work. 



RAPID WORK AT SHOSHONE. 



IF these incidents (this is only a prototype) are 

 due to imperfect statute, let the next Congress at Boise 

 point out the defects and suggest the remedy. 



IMMEDIATELY after the last meeting, at Portland, 

 specialized instruments of the press were induced to say 

 "that in all probability it was the last of any impor- 

 tance." This and kindred statements by erratic para- 

 sites of more or less consequence were circulated as 

 bulletins by the "National Irrigation Association," an 

 organization that has pirated upon the congress so long 

 that the congress itself found it necessary to condemn 

 its processes by the stamp of its disapproval. 



FRIENDS of the congress and of irrigators have in 

 the new champion, the American Irrigation Federa- 

 tion, both voice and opportunity. This institution 

 hopes not to stand as an antagonist of any particular 

 branch of irrigation, but as a friend to all considerate 

 effort for Western development. Its anticipations in- 

 clude an amalgamation of all Western endeavor. It 

 hopes by wise counsel that it may prove an intelligent 

 and fair adjudicator of opinion. 



THEREFORE the IRRIGATION AGE urges a full at- 

 tendance at meetings at Boise, from September 1 to 8, 

 which will include formation of a permanent basis for 

 the federation and the deliberations of the congress. 



The date of opening bids for power machinery in con- 

 nection with the Williston irrigation project, North Dakota, 

 has been charged from July 9 to August 14, in order to give 

 the manufacturers an opportunity to fully examine detailed 

 plans and specifications. 



A contract has been executed with the Elephant Butte 

 Water Users' Association and the El Paso Valley Water 

 Users, Association to secure to the United States the cost 

 of constructing the Leasburg diversion dam and canal, Rio 

 Grande irrigation project, New Mexico. 



The order withdrawing the following described lands 

 in the State of Wyoming in connection with the Shoshone 

 irrigation project has been vacated, and the same has been 

 temporarily reserved for forest planting: Sixth Principal 

 Meridian, "Wyoming. T. 55 N., R. 98 W., NE 54 NWK lot 

 52, and N V* SW % and SE Y 4 SW Y*, lot 55. The usual 

 requirement of publication is waived in this instance. 



$2.50 will secure for you one year's subscription to THE 

 IRRIGATION AQB and a finely bound volume of the Primer 

 of Irrigation which will be sent postpaid in a few months, 

 when volume Is completed. The Primer of Irrigation will be 

 finely Illustrated and will contain about 300 pages. Send post 

 office or express money order for $1.50 and secure copy of first 

 edition. 



While on a flying visit to Washington to present some 

 important matters to the department, Mr. H. N. Savage, 

 supervising engineer, gave the following interesting details 

 regarding the great Shoshone Reclamation project: 



"Work on the two principal structures in connection with 

 this project has now assumed an interesting stage. The tem- 

 porary works for the great Shoshone dam, which is to be 

 the highest in the world, have been completed so far as pos- 

 sible and are now handling the annual flood. A tunnel 

 500 feet long has been driven through the rock ledge along 

 the dam site, and a temporary dam has been completed across 

 the stream 1,000 feet above the tunnel. A flume takes the 

 water from this temporary dam and conducts it to the tunnel. 

 The contractors are also damming the permanent spillway 

 tunnel. This is located 240 feet above the bed of the stream 

 and has a cross section of 20 feet square, and will have 

 a discharge capacity of 20,000 cubic feet of water per sec.ond, 

 ample provision being thus made for handling the greatest 

 flood the river can produce. 



"The big plant for crushing the rock and sand, all sand 

 for the masonry work being brushed from the granite, and for 

 mixing the concrete and also for excavating and handling the 

 material from the dam site, is being erected. Two Lidger- 

 wood cables, each having a span of over 1,000 feet, are being 

 assembled and will be erected as soon as the flood will permit. 

 Cement is being hauled from Cody Station, eight miles away 

 and stored at the dam site, every provision being made to com- 

 mence excavating and construction work on the main struc- 

 ture at the earliest possible date when the flood shall have 

 subsided sufficiently to permit. 



"The water impounded behind the Shoshone dam will be 

 first conducted sixteen miles down the main channel of the 

 river and then diverted by means of a tunnel three and a half 

 miles long out upon the land to be irrigated. This tunnel is 

 ten feet square in cross sections and will have a capacity of 

 2,000 acre-feet of water every twenty-four hours. Construc- 

 tion work is being rapidly pushed. About 400 men are now at 

 work, the nature of the material encountered being exception- 

 ally favorable for rapid excavating. The soft sandstone can 

 easily be drilled by the use of coal boring augurs. These 

 are driven by compressed air. Frequently a hole six feet in 

 depth is driven in six minutes. The tunnel was located 

 with special reference to rapid construction. Ten headings 

 have been opened up and work is being conducted in three 

 continuous shifts. Two concrete mixing plants have been 

 erected and the tunnel is being lined as rapidly as it is driven. 

 While active construction work was not begun until December, 

 1905, the contractor expects to complete the three miles and a 

 half of tunnel by February 1, 1907, and present progress indi- 

 cates his ability to do so." 



Garland Canal Bids for the Garland canal, which is an 

 extension of the Corbett tunnel, were opened last month 

 and advertisement will be made at once for the structures 

 along this canal. The engineers are now making final loca- 

 tion for the lateral distribution system to cover the first 30,000 

 acres, the line being situated in the vicinity of Garland. In 

 locating the mam canal an opportunity for providing domestic 

 water supply for the towns likely to spring up along the line 

 of railroad has been found. Provisions will be made whereby 

 an abundant supply of domestic water can be had at a 

 nominal expense whenever the requirements exist. 



By a premaure explosion in Heading No. 1 of the Gunni- 

 son tunnel, Uncompahgre irrigation project, Colorado, one 

 laborer was killed, two severely and four slightly injured. 

 The explosion occurred while loading the holes. The cause 

 is unknown, but possibly was due to carelessness in putting 

 the dynamite into the drill holes prepared for the purpose. 

 This heading started beneath the level of the Gunnison River 

 and is being dug with slightly descending grade into the 

 Uncompahgre Valley. It is in granite and has progressed 

 for about three-quarters of a mile at a rate of from ten to 

 twelve feet a day. The total length of the proposed tunnel 

 is about five miles. 



Among the more recent orders taken for its levels 

 by the Bostrom-Brady Manufacturing Company, 53% 

 West Alabama street, Atlanta, Ga., is one from the 

 Isthmian Canal Commission to be used in connection 

 with its work on the Panama Canal. 



