350 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



The largest and most comprehensive system now in 

 operation in the valley is that of the Fish Lake Water 

 Company. In the year 1900 this enterprise was first 

 definitely commenced and now the company has a ditch 

 line twenty-five miles in length from the intake on the 

 head waters of Little Butte creek to the present end 

 of the ditch on the company's farm, a few miles north- 

 east of Medford. This ditch has a capacity of 5,000 

 miner's inches and is so constructed that its capacity can 

 be increased at any time, as the demand for water may 



Pilot Rock, near Ashland. Ore. 



require. The waters of Butte Creek are sufficient dur- 

 ing most years up to the latter part of July at least 

 to fill the ditch, but in order to be sure of having an 

 ample supply, the company has secured from the Gov- 

 ernment the right to make a storage reservoir at Fish 

 Lake. This lake lies at the base of Mt. McLaughlin, 

 one of the snow-capped peaks of the Cascades, and is 

 a mile and a half long by a quarter mile wide, varying 

 in depth from four to eight feet. It is fed by a number 

 of ice cold springs, gushing out of McLaughlin's sides 

 and is the source of the north fork of Little Butte. 

 At its outlet the mountains come close together forming 

 a narrow gorge through which Butte Creek rushes on 

 its way to the valley. At this point precipitous bluffs 

 of solid rock face each other and here the Fish Lako 

 Water Company purposes to erect a mighty dam, which 

 will confine the waters of the lake and raise its surface 

 at least thirty feet above its present level. This will 

 give them an immense storage reservoir two miles long 

 by half a mile wide and thirty feet in depth in the 

 shallow parts. The head of the ditch is some twenty 

 miles from the lake, but no more ditch need be built. 

 as when the water begins to run low all that will be 

 necessary is to open the gates at the lake and let the 

 water come down through its natural channel to the 

 point of diversion. 



At the present time 50,000 acres of the most pro- 



ductive lands in the valley are covered by this ditch, and 

 work is now going on making an extension of nine 

 miles, crossing Bear Creek just north of the city limits 

 of Medford, and which will cover 10,000 acres more of 

 land, much of which is now non-productive, but which 

 under the revivifying effects of water will produce boun- 

 teous yields of fruits, grains and vegetables. The Fish 

 Lake Company is the pioneer public irrigation enter- 

 prise in the valley and its work has resulted in a great 

 deal more interest being taken in irrigation than ever 

 before. 



The Sterling Mining Company, which controls ex- 

 tensive water rights in the Siskiyous, including over 

 twenty-five miles of ditch carrying water to the mines, 

 is considering the matter of using the surplus water in 

 furnishing irrigation for a portion of the valley south 

 and east of Medford. The scheme includes the boring 

 of a tunnel through the divide between the main valley 

 and Sterling, and carrying the water through pipe? 

 to the different customers. Already the acreage which 

 the company figured would be necessary in order to 

 make the scheme a feasible and paying one has been 

 subscribed, and more could easily have been secured, 

 only the company wished to be certain as to the amount 

 of water they could furnish before making additional 

 contracts. 



The High Line ditch, which starts from Rogue 

 River at Prospect, fifty miles from Medford, and fol- 

 lows the high ridges north of Rogue River to Gold Hill, 

 is another irrigation enterprise upon which work is 

 being done and from which great things are expected. 

 This canal for a canal it will be in size when com- 

 pleted is intended to carry water for irrigation and 

 mining purposes, to be used as a means of transporting 

 lumber from the big forests of the upper Rogue River, 



On th* Willamette River. 



and the Umpqua divide, and will cover all that portion 

 of the Rogue River Valley lying north of the river from 

 the head of the ditch to Grants Pass, and has the inex- 

 haustible supply of water from the river to depend upon. 

 Dry gulches, rich in gold, which have not been worked 

 for want of water, will yield up their wealth. Mountain 

 and valley farms that have been unproductive, or at 

 most giving a fair crop, will become consistent pro- 

 ducers. 



While it is true that some favored portions of the 

 country produce regularly without irrigation, it is nev- 



