356 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



considered feasible. There is no other tract of land from the 

 lower end of this bench north to Chance, Mont., with the 

 exception of a few small scattering areas not worth consid- 

 ering. 



Along the stream bed of Big Sand Coulee there are sev- 

 eral small areas of land from one to several hundred acres in 

 extent that lie low enough to be watered from the Fork, but 

 these could all be readily handled by private capital. One 

 tract of 3,000 acres in extent, well up on the stream and at an 

 elevation of approximately 4,400 feet above sea level, prob- 

 ably could be watered very economically by diverting water 

 from the proposed high line canal of the Shoshone project. 

 There is about 6,000 acres of good land on the Sand Coulee 

 drainage. All the remaining land in the vicinity of Big Sand 

 Coulee and to the east of the Chapman Bench is of sand 

 dunes and bad land breaks. The tract of land known as Big 

 Mesa is in the Shoshone drainage and is properly a part of 

 that project. It is too high for irrigation from Clarke Fork 

 without a dam several hundred feet in height and tunnels 

 aggregating several miles in length. 



CONTRACTS AWARDED. 



The Secretary of the Interior has today awarded con- 

 tracts for the construction of earth works of distributing 

 system, Interstate canal, North Platte irrigation project, Wyo- 

 ming and Nebraska, as follows : 



Schedule 1, consisting of earth work on about seventeen 

 miles of laterals, J. W. McNeel, of Morrill, Neb., $22,890. 



Schedule 2, earth work on about eleven miles of laterals, 

 Deadwoed Construction Company, of Deadwood, S. D., $8,175. 



Schedule 3, earth work on about fifteen miles of laterals, 

 Jerry Hurley, of Pratt, Neb., $6,830. 



Schedule 4, earth work on about ten miles of laterals, 

 Flower & Twing, Morrill, Neb., $11,711. 



Schedule 5, earth work on fourteen miles of laterals, 

 Maney Bros & Co., of Oklahoma City, Okla., $12,390. 



Schedule 6, earth work on about seven miles of laterals, 

 Hobbs, McElroy & McElroy, Morrill, Neb., $9,407. 



Schedules 7 and 8, about seventeen miles of earth work 

 on laterals, James O'Connor, Mitchell, Neb., $20,237. 



Schedule 9, earth work on twelve miles of laterals, D. R. 

 Noe, Morrill, Neb., $6,922.50. 



Schedules 10 and 11, earth work on ten miles of laterals, 

 Marcus E. Getter, of Mitchell, Neb., $5,649. 



Schedule 12, earth work on six miles of laterals, to Frank 

 Wynegar, of Mitchell, Neb., $3,300. 



Schedule 13, earth work on about eight miles of laterals, 

 Pickering & Rush, Morrill, Neb., $6,052.50. 



Schedule 14, earth work on about three miles of laterals, 

 C. E. Cheesman, of Mitchell, Neb., $2,031. 



Bids were previously received for this work and opened 

 on June 15th, when it was found that the lowest proposal 

 received was 65 per cent higher that the engineers' estimate 

 of cost. The bids were therefore rejected and the present 

 informal bids solicited. 



UNCLE SAM IN THE ROLE OF PEACEMAKER. 



Uncle Sam as a peacemaker is by no means a new role, 

 but he has recently extended his operations, not, however, 

 to foreign countries, but to internal difficulties where con- 

 ditions have been such that neither the states nor indi- 

 viduals have been able to accomplish effective results. 



The most striking recent incident is in the Yakima 

 valley, in the central part of the State of Washington. This 

 is a dry region in which irrigation is successfully practiced 

 from the waters of streams issuing from the Cascade moun- 

 tains and forming the Yakima river. The demand for water 

 has gradually exceeded the supply, and throughout the entire 

 length of this valley, or rather series of valleys, there have 

 arisen interminable controversies and law suits, and bitter 

 feelings. 



Instead of cultivating the fields the farmers were watch- 

 ing their headgates or using dynamite to destroy their 

 neighbors' controlling works, and the earnings from the fields 

 were going into the hands of the lawyers rather than into 

 the purchase of new machinery or household goods. Each 

 irrigator was possessed with the idea that someone was 

 stealing his water and the first impulse was to fight per- 

 sonally or in the courts for possession. 



Appalled at the outlook the majority of the farmers 

 finally concluded to importune the Secretary of the Interior 

 to help them out through the facilities offered by the reclama- 

 tion act. After careful investigation this was done, and the 

 principal canal, the key to the whole situation, was purchased 

 for a quarter of a million dollars. This enabled the govern- 

 ment, as an owner and appropriator of water, to step in and 

 bring together the conflicting interests. The controversies 

 have suddenly ceased and the farmers, even though they 

 may not obtain all that they wish, have settled down in the 

 belief that the government officials are trying to treat them 

 fairly and are distributing the water with justice. As a 

 result the crops of the present year are unusually good, not- 

 withstanding the low water stage in the stream. Incidentally 

 the profits to the government will be large and will tend to 

 extinguish in part the investment already made. 



The success attained in the Yakima valley is leading other 

 communities long vexed with litigation to ask the Secretary 

 of the Interior to step in and impartially administer the 

 equitable distribution of the water. The engineers of the 

 reclamation service have won a reputation for being fair 

 with the irrigators, without local bias or prejudice, and their 

 measurements have been accepted without question. 



The estimated cost of the project without storage is 

 $254,000. On a basis of 16,800 acres, this gives a cost per 

 acre of $15.12; adding $5 per acre for maintenance and opera- 

 tion for ten years, gives a cost of practically $20 per acre 

 without storage. Sufficient data is not at hand to warrant 

 an estimate on the cost of storage, which must be known 

 before it is possible to decide upon the feasibility of the 

 project. 



The Secretary of the Interior has approved an agree- 

 ment executed on behalf of the United States by J. T. 

 Whistler with the Wilson Irrigation Company, of Umatilla 

 county, Oregon, whereby the latter agrees to permit the 

 Reclamation Service to cross their right of way and canal 

 with feed canal, ditches, roads, telephone and electric trans- 

 mission lines, and other irrigation works under the Uma- 

 tilla irrigation project, Oregon. 



According to the terms of the agreement the Wilson 

 Irrigation Company grants this right of way in considera- 

 tion of the payment of one dollar and upon condition that 

 the works made necessary by said crossing be perpetually 

 maintained by the United States. 



"Newspapers Worth Counting" is the name of a 

 unique book to be issued shortly by the Printers' Ink 

 Publishing Company of New York. The forthcom- 

 ing publication is edited by George P. Rowell, who, 

 thirty-eight years ago, established the American News- 

 paper Directory, and under whose auspices and control 

 it has ever since made its annual appearance. It is 

 the national authority on newspaper statistics, and a 

 study of its pages reveals the interesting facts that 

 only one newspaper in three succeeds in gaining a sale 

 of so many as a thousand copies ; and of those that do, 

 only one in five will allow the advertising public to 

 know how many copies they issue. It is a circumstance 

 that affords some satisfaction to this paper that "News- 

 papers Worth Counting" will record it not only among 

 the one of three, but also among the one of five as well. 

 The forthcoming book (500 pages octavo) is one that 

 will greatly interest every man who has to do with 

 advertising. It will be sold for $1.00 a copy. Sub- 

 scriptions will be received at this office. 



FOR SALE 



Write 



160 acre water right on irrigation 

 project near Denver, Colorado. 



HENRY MEISSNER, LEIGHTON, IOWA. 



NO MORE BLIND HORSES For S P e 



cifiic Opthamalia, Moon Blindness, and other sore 

 eyes, BARRY CO., Iowa City, la., have a sure cure. 



