THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



303 



desert State was originally without value, because it 

 produced nothing. At a cost of $30 to $30 per acre, 

 advanced by the Government for water, the land yields 

 a certain crop the first year of cultivation worth $50 

 an acre, and finds ready sale at $100 an acre. With 

 the security thus offered there can be no good reason 

 advanced why the Government should not loan the ad- 

 ditional $100,000,000 required to hurry to completion 

 the great works now under construction. 



Statesmen, capitalists, manufacturers, business 

 men, engineers and irrigationists, immigration and col- 

 onization societies, home-makers and home-seekers, all 

 to the number of 2,000 or more, will j'oin in the great 

 movement at the Boise session of the national irrigation 

 congress. 



A special train will be made up at Chicago for the 

 delegates from the Eastern States to the national irri- 

 gation congress to convene at Boise, Idaho, September 

 3 to 8. Vice-President Fairbanks and his party will 

 occupy one of the cars. The special will be known as 

 "the vice-president's train." 



A State irrigation congress was organized at Okla- 

 homa City, Okla., a few days ago, the members of which 

 passed a resolution to attend the national irrigation 

 congress, at Boise, Idaho, September 3 to 8, in a body. 

 The new State of Oklahoma has a fund of nearly 

 $1,000,000 for the irrigation of the lands in the West- 

 ern portion of the State, where the rainfall is insuffi- 

 cient. The Oklahoma delegation will occupy two spe- 

 cial cars. 



Idaho has 20,000,000 acres of merchantable timber 

 and 25,000,000 acres of mineral lands. These indus- 

 tries will be fully exploited at the Fourteenth National 

 Irrigation Congress, to meet at Boise September 3 to 8, 

 to demonstrate the unlimited market for farm products. 



The fruit and sugar beet raisers of Colorado and 

 Utah have served notice on those in Idaho that they are 

 coming to the exposition to be held in Boise during the 

 National Irrigation Congress, September 3 to 8, with 

 the intention of carrying away the big prizes. Oregon 

 and Washington have served a similar notice as regards 

 fruit. The Idaho producers are getting busy, and the 

 indications are that if any one of the prizes leave the 

 Gem State the winners will have broken all records as 

 to size, quality, flavor and appearance of the exhibits 

 made. The exposition will be attended by the represent- 

 atives of thirty-eight fruit commission houses of the 

 eastern cities, from which the judges will be selected to 

 make the awards. 



A contract was closed a few days ago for $75,000 

 worth of Idaho prunes, to be shipped to London and 

 Glasgow. The first carload will be packed and loaded 

 into a refrigerator car during the session of the Na- 

 tional Irrigation Congress, to be held at Boise, Septem- 

 ber 3 to 8, and the fruit will be" inspected by the dele- 

 gates of the congress. 



The subject of colonization is one which will re- 

 ceive marked attention at the coming session of the 

 National Irrigation Congress, which meets at Boiso, 

 Idaho, September 3 to 8. Until recently the importance 

 of this feature of the works of reclamation has not been 

 appreciated by those who attend the congress. Through 

 the projects of the government reclamation service and 

 the vast number of irrigation enterprises being carried 

 out by private capital, opportunities for home-making 

 have increased faster than the natural flow of immigra- 

 tion. The immigration agents connected with the 



various railroad systems of the west and representatives 

 of colonization societies are coming to the congress, and 

 will devote much attention to this subject. An effort 

 is to be made to secure state legislation creating immi- 

 gration bureaus in the different States of the arid 

 regions. It is considered to be the duty of the State 

 governments to provide ways for settling lands as fast 

 as they have been reclaimed. 



Among the prominent delegates coming to the Na- 

 tional Irrigation Congress, which meets at Boise Sep- 

 tember 3, is Mr. F. H. Buhl, a multi-millionaire of 

 Sharon, Pa. Mr. Buhl has made larger investments in 

 irrigation projects than any other capitalist in the 

 world. He contributed considerably more than $1,000,- 

 000 of his own capital to the Twin Falls project, which 

 resulted in immense profits to him. Though no longer 

 inetrested in Idaho enterprises, his presence at the con- 

 gress is an indication that he is ready to contribute to 

 its success with his advice and experience, and it is not 

 unlikely that while in the Gem State he will make other 

 investments on a large scale. 



First Building Erected in Twin Falls, Idaho. 



Among the States of the East to send delegations 

 to the National Irrigation Congess, which meets at 

 Boise September 3, Pennsylvania will be the most 

 numerously represented. This is accounted for by the 

 fact that irrigation is being practiced to a considerable 

 extent in the Keystone State. A recent report of 

 the Department of Agriculture states that "in the 

 State of Pennsylvania there is a great deal of irri- 

 gated meadow land, and the testimony of the 

 farmers is given to show that by means of irrigation 

 the crop is in every instance doubled and in frequent 

 case trebled. In Lancaster, Berks and Lehigh counties 

 the experience of twenty-two farmers with irrigation is 

 given by the department, and each of them says irriga- 

 tion brought the yield of hay from his land up from 

 one-half a ton or a ton per acre to two tons per acre. 



President Bumstead, of the Colorado State Beet 

 Growers' Association, has notified the board of control 

 that his organization will endeavor to make a winning 

 contest for the $500 solid silver loving cup that has been 

 donated by President Havemeyer for the best exhibit of 



