THE IKKIGATION AGE. 



343 



ing for from $15 to $20 and upward per acre. He 

 stated that for some time it was difficult to convince 

 purchasers of the tremendous producing power of that 

 soil when properly watered, and he cited many in- 

 stances where men paid the full cost of their land and 

 water right, amounting to $30 or $35 per acre, by 

 the first season's crop, and we were shown very many 

 fields of alfalfa and beets, the actual value of whose 

 crop on each acre would more than pay, and, in many 

 instances, double and treble the original cost of the land 

 and water. 



To those who understand the possibilities of irri- 

 gation this is perhaps not new, but this article is writ- 

 ten more with the view of attracting those of our readers 

 who are not familiar with the possibilities of the wed- 

 ding of land in this valley with water. 



particular piece of land has shown an earning capacity 

 which raises it from $50 an acre land to $200 an acre 

 or better, and he could no doubt dispose of his farm at 

 that price at this time. There are many more wonderful 

 achievements which might be cited concerning this 

 valley. We mention only an occasional case, so that our 

 readers may have some conception of its possibilities. 



This valley is especially notable for the achieve- 

 ments of its farmers along the line of growing alfalfa, 

 which is produced here in such a profusion that the 

 farmer frequently gets from $30 to $60 per acre, the 

 latter being the rule, when the hay crop is short in 

 their section of the state. Those of our readers who 

 are desirous of learning more about this famous valley 

 may secure information by addressing Mr. C. E. 

 Brainard, president of the New Plymouth Land and 



An Irrigation System in Operation, Payette Valley, Idaho. 



Among the many marvelous features of this sec- 

 tion may be cited one instance which will attract the 

 attention of irrigators and easterners alike. Only re- 

 ently has the matter of beet culture been taken up in 

 this valley; in fact, this is the first season that it has 

 been gone into to any extent, and the citizens of the 

 valley expect soon to have a beet sugar factory either 

 in Payette or near there where this product may be 

 worked into sugar nearer at home than the present point, 

 Nampa. to which they must now ship them. The 

 feature referred to is that of a farm between Payette 

 and New Plymouth, where the owner has been par- 

 ticularly successful in his first effort at beet raising. 

 He has made such good headway in this, his first sea- 

 son, that an expert, a banker at Payette, has offered 

 him $90 per acre for his beet crop. It may readily 

 be seen that with a reasonable acreage in beets a man 

 would not be very long in paying for his farm, which 

 would cost him, water right and all, in the neighbor- 

 hood of $50 or $60 per acre. In point of fact, this 



Colonization Company, Payette, Idaho. We are show- 

 ing in this connection several illustrations of this sec- 

 tion. 



WILL PUT BLOOM ON A MILLION ACRES. 



DENVER. COLO.. August 28. Papers have been 

 filed with the state engineer for the redemption of 

 nearly 1,000,000 acres of arid land, the largest irriga- 

 tion proposition ever undertaken by private capital. 

 Frank J. McArthy, a civil engineer, is drafting plans 

 for a reservoir to cover twenty-four square miles, have 

 an average depth of thirty-five feet, and use the entire 

 surplus water of the Platte river. It has been esti- 

 mated that 38,115,000,000 cubic feet of water was 

 wasted yearly from the Platte river. This proposition 

 is being financed by a syndicate of New York and 

 London bankers. The estimated cost is about $4,000,- 

 000. Work will commence about October 1. 



