388 



THE IKEIGATION AGE. 



is such that it takes about twelve hours to properly irri- 

 gate a field in each section, as above indicated. On 

 many so-arranged farms, irrigation is looked after twice 

 a day in the morning, before work commences, and 

 in the evening, after work is over. 



It can readily be seen that irrigation under the 

 above system is not a task, but in reality a pleasure. 



When flooding is practiced, especially on new land, 

 the water is hard to control, the cost of labor is in- 

 creased, and damage to the land from water is prob- 

 able. 



Moreover, it is dangerous to attempt flooding at 

 night. By the corrugation method, water can be ap- 

 plied by night as well as by day with perfect safety. 



Besides, under the corrugation method, there are 

 no pools formed in low spots. The land receives water 

 uniformly in the way and manner desired. 



RECLAMATION SERVICE NOTES. 



Arthur P. Davis, assistant chief engineer of the Recla- 

 mation Service, has returned to Washington from an extended 

 trip throughout the arid region, during which he has pre- 

 sided at the meetings of a number of important engineering 

 boards. The work of the Reclamation Service has now 

 reached its high water mark. Construction is going on 

 throughout the West and many problems of vital importance 

 to its future success are now coming up. These are due to 

 the changing conditions, the increase of cost of materials and 

 of labor, the complications which have ensued from floods 

 at critical times, and the questions which must be answered 

 where work on a large scale is started. One of the most 

 important matters which have been under consideration is 

 that of the control of the lower Colorado River. A board 

 meeting extending over a week was held at various points 

 along the river and in Los Angeles, and conferences with 

 the engineers representing J. G. White & Co., of New York, 

 the contractors on the Laguna dam. The extended floods of 

 the present year have rendered the situation critical, but it is 

 hoped that good results will be obtained by the efforts bejng 

 made in Mexico to return the river to its former channel. 

 Mr. Davis reports that it has been an unusually wet year 

 through the arid region, especially in the Southwest. 



F. H. Newell, chief engineer of the United States Recla- 

 mation Service, attended the National Irrigation Congress 

 held in Boise, Idaho, September 3 to 8. The fourth annual 

 conference of the engineers of the United States Reclamation 

 Service was in session in Boise at the same time. There are 

 now over 400 engineers and assistants in the service, carry- 

 ing on work through widely scattered localities in the arid 

 West. The bringing together of these engineers with promi- 

 nent citizens from all parts of the country who are interested 

 in irrigation, makes possible an interchange of views and 

 the discussion of data of great value in the furtherance of 

 the purposes of the Reclamation Act. An unusual amount 

 of interest is being manifested throughout the country in this 

 session of the National Irrigation Congress, and especially 

 is this true of the East, many governors and other prominent 

 citizens haying attended. Mr. Newell will be absent several 

 weeks, visiting many of the projects now under way, and 

 conferring with the engineers in charge of the work and with 

 prominent citizens and officials in the West who are coop- 

 erating heartily. 



O. H. Ensign, of Los Angeles, Cal., consulting engineer 

 of the Reclamation Service on electrical and mechanical mat- 

 ters, and Charles S. Slichter, of Wisconsin, supervising engi- 

 neer in cVarge of the pumping plant at Garden City, Kas., 

 were in Washington recently in consultation regarding recent 

 bids for machinery for Garden City and for pumping plants 

 at Huntley, Mont., and Williston, N. D. They have been 

 canvassing alternative propositions for machinery and pumps, 

 and have made recommendations to the Secretary of the 

 Interior for acceptance of various designs of machinery. 

 After completing the work in Washington it is expected that 

 they will return immediately to the arid regions to supervise 

 the installation of machinery already completed. 



Contracts have been awarded for Schedules A, B, C and 

 D, on the power and pumping system, Williston irrigation 



project, North Dakota. The work on Schedule A, installing 

 boiler plant at Station 1 ; Schedule B, steam operated pumps 

 at Station 1, and Schedule D, transformers and electrically 

 operated pumps at Station 2, was awarded to the D'Olier 

 Engineering Company, of Philadelphia, Pa., at $76,229.50. 

 The contract for Schedule C, furnishing electric generating 

 plant at Station 1, was awarded to the General Electric Com- 

 pany, of Schenectady, N. Y., for $41,242. Schedules F and G, 

 transmission line and building for Station 1, were not awarded 

 because in the opinion of the Secretary of the Interior the 

 bids submitted were all too high. 



The board of consulting engineers of the United States 

 Reclamation Service which recently convened at Billings, 

 Mont., to open proposals for the construction of the struc- 

 tures, Division 1, Garland canal, Shoshone irrigation project, 

 Wyoming, reports that but one bid was received. This bid 

 was signed by the Billings Hardware Company, of Billings, 

 Mont., for Schedules 1 to 5 inclusive, in the sum of $56,396. 

 The work consists of headgates, culverts, creek crossing, 

 controlling works at Ralston Reservoir, and highway bridge 

 abutment. 



A contract has been executed with James O'Connor, of 

 Mitchell, Neb., for the construction and completion of Sched- 

 ules 7 and 8 of earthwork of distributing system, Interstate 

 Canal, North Platte irrigation project, Nebraska and Wyo- 

 ming. Schedules 7 and 8 consist of about seventeen miles of 

 laterals. The amount of Mr. O'Connor's bid was $20,237. 



A contract has been awarded for the construction of the 

 Lower Yellowstone dam, Lower Yellowstone irrigation pro- 

 ject, North Dakota-Montana, to the Pacific Coast Construc- 

 tion Company, of Portland, Ore., for the sum of $142,825. 

 This dam is to be a rock-filled, timber cribbed structure across 

 the Yellowstone River at the headworks of the canal, about 

 eighteen miles northeast of Glendive, Mont., and according 

 to the terms of the contract will be completed February 1, 

 1909. The river at this point has been considered navigable, 

 although boats have not been up the Yellowstone River since 

 the time of the Custer massacre. At that time the daring 

 steamboat men succeeded in forcing light draft boats up 

 the Yellowstone and up the Big Horn to a point where they 

 could receive the wounded soldiers and bring relief to the 

 troops. The building of this dam marks the close of naviga- 

 tion on the Yellowstone River and the practical dedication of 

 its water to irrigation and the creation of homes for thou- 

 sands of settlers in place of allowing the stream to flow idly 

 to join the Missouri without benefit to the community. 



A board of consulting engineers of the United States 

 Reclamation Service, consisting of O. H. Ensign, electrical 

 expert for the Pacific Coast, Charles S. Slichter, supervising 

 engineer, Garden City irrigation project, Kansas, and A. E. 

 Chandler, engineer, recently met in the Washington office 

 to reconsider the proposals for pumping apparatus, Garden 

 City project, Kansas. This meeting was called because Con- 

 tractors Henion & Hubbell, of Chicago, 111., to whom the 

 Secretary of the Interior had awarded contract, declined to 

 enter into the agreement in accordance with departmental re- 

 quirements, the company having submitted a proposal in ac- 

 cordance with their own specifications. The board recom- 

 mended that contract be awarded to the next lowest bidder, 

 and the Secretary of the Interior has therefore revoked his 

 former action and awarded contract to the Camden Iron 

 Works, of Camden, N. J. The contract calls for ten com- 

 plete units with bronze impellers and General Electric Com- 

 pany apparatus, for the total sum of $14,440, and the con- 

 tract may provide that thirteen additional units may be pur- 

 chased for a total cost of $32,800 for the twenty-three bronze 

 impeller pumps and General Electric Company apparatus. 



On August 7 bids were opened for the construction of a 

 pumping plant in connection with the Huntley irrigation pro- 

 ject, Montana. No bid was received for the work of Sched- 

 ule 1, but four were received for Schedule 2, the lowest of 

 which was that of the Camden Iron Works, of Camden, N. 

 J., for $12,675, and the Secretary of the Interior, today 

 awarded contract to that company. The work called for by 

 the contract consists of installing a water power pumping 

 plant of two vertical shaft pumping units and accessories, 

 each unit having a capacity of twenty-eight cubic feet of water 

 per second, lifted fifty feet. The plant will be located near 

 Ballantine station on the C, B. & Q. Railway, twenty-three 

 miles east of Billings, Mont. 



A contract has been awarded to James Munn, of Dead- 

 wood, S. D., for the construction and completion of structures 

 on the main canal, Divisions 5 to 9, inclusive, and Laterals 

 A to P, inclusive, Lower Yellowstone irrigation project, Mon- 



