THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



IRRIGATION IN BRITISH COLUMBIA. 



CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY WILL RECLAIM THREE MIL- 

 LIONS OF ACRES IN THE BOW RIVER COUNTRY. 



CALGARY, ALBERTA, Jan. 14. Editor Irrigation 

 Age: In your issue of December I have noted with 

 much interest your article on the large irrigation project 

 which is being undertaken in Idaho, and I have thought 

 that with reference to the statement therein contained 

 as to the size of the proposed project you might be in- 

 terested in having some details of the irrigation project 

 which is now being dealt with by the Canadian Pacific 

 Railway Company in this district, particularly as you 

 will note that it is a much larger undertaking, in so far 

 as area of irrigated land is concerned, than the project 

 referred to in your issue of the above date. 



The project is, I think, one, if not the largest irri- 

 gation undertaking on this continent. It embraces an 

 area lying east of this point 150 miles east and west 

 and sixty miles north and south, through the center 

 of which the main line of the Canadian Pacific Rail- 

 way runs. The soil in this large district is first-class, 

 and during most seasons it affords a good summer range 

 for cattle. The rainfall, however, during the majority 

 of years (about eleven inches) is insufficient to secure 

 crops, and although the climate is good, being milder 

 than the wheat belts further east in Assiniboia and 

 Manitoba, the district is at present practically unset- 

 tled and undeveloped, while other portions of our Ter- 

 ritories are settling up very fast. 



Along this portion of the railway line the company 

 was originally allotted the alternate or odd numbered 

 sections in each township as part of its land grant sub- 

 sidy, but refused to take them on the ground that they 

 were unfit for settlement without irrigation. Ulti- 

 mately, in satisfaction of the balance diie it on its land 

 subsidy, the company agreed to take these sections if 

 they were granted also the even sections and sections 

 set apart for school endowment, so that it might have a 

 solid block of three million acres, and that is the area 

 that the company is now going to attempt to recltiuu 

 by the construction of extensive irrigation canals. 



The water for irrigation is to be obtained from the 

 Bow River, which bounds the block on the west and 

 partly on the south side, and which is a stream heading 

 in the Rocky Mountains to the west, and carrying about 

 3,000 second feet at extreme low water, with a high 

 water or flood discharge of 30,000 to 40,000 second 

 feet. 



The greater part of three years, has been devoted to 

 reconnoisance and preliminary surveys of the proposed 

 canal scheme and the land to be served therefrom, .md 

 the result of these surveys as now assembled indicates 

 that about one-half or 1,500,000 acres of the block can 

 be irrigated, at an ultimate cost of between four and 

 five million dollars. 



The actual construction of the first section of the 

 undertaking is now about to be proceeded with, in- 

 volving the construction of a main canal twenty mile.", 

 in length, with a bed width of sixty feet, and carrying 

 water to a depth of ten feet, this canal being so located 

 that its bed width and discharge capacity can be doubled. 



Some eighty-five miles of secondary or distributing 

 canals have also been located, and the completion of this 

 section of the scheme, at an estimated cost of about 

 $1,300,000, will irrigate an area of 300,000 acres, and 

 render available a continuous area of about 400,000 

 acres for grazing and dairying. 



This portion of the scheme is to be first completed 

 and proved a success before any further extension is 

 undertaken, but if success is obtained, then the necessary 

 extensions will be undertaken to finally irrigate the full 

 amount of 1,500,000 acres, and develop the remaining 

 1,500,000 acres for grazing and dairying. This ex- 

 tension will involve the enlargement of the main canal 

 to double its present capacity, the development of sev- 

 eral large natural basins as storage reservoirs, and the 

 construction of a second canal for diversion of water 

 from Bow River at a point about eighty miles down the 

 stream from the intake of the main canal now being con- 

 structed. 



Irrigation is not in any sense an experiment in 

 Alberta, there already being 160 canals and ditches, com- 

 prising a total length of 400 miles, which are delivering 

 water for irrigation. The country, however, presents 

 certain features which render the irrigation problem a 

 somewhat different one to that of the irrigation States 

 to the south. 



Southern Alberta is only a semi-arid country in 

 the sense that its annual precipitation shows marked 

 fluctuations, not only from year to year, but for cycles 

 of years, and during the wet cycles, such as have been 

 experienced for the past .three years, irrigation is un- 

 necessary. This condition, of course, has a marked 

 effect upon the return from expenditures on irrigation 

 undertakings, and limits the possible capital charge per 

 acre for water for irrigation in a very marked way. 

 However, irrigation has proved the most profitable kind 

 of crop insurance even under existing conditions, and 

 the hope is that the large project we are now under- 

 taking will result in rendering a large area, now almost 

 entirely devoted to wandering bands of cattle, highly 

 productive, and the home of a large and prosperous 

 agricultural population. 



You will probably have noted from late issues of 

 the Engineering News and Engineering Record that 

 tenders for the construction of the main canal are being 

 asked for, and a full set of our plans, profiles, specifica- 

 tions, etc., are in the hands of our general passenger 

 agent, Mr. A. C. Shaw, 228 South Clark street, Chicago. 

 Yours truly, J. S. DENNIS, 



Superintendent of Irrigation. 



CAN YOU ANSWER? 



GENOA, NEB. Dec. 27, 1903. 

 THE IRRIGATION AGE AND DRAINAGE JOURNAL: 



Dear Sirs I should like one or two copies of the IRRI- 

 GATION AGE for the purpose of getting the names of adver- 

 tisers of drain tile. If you have any price lists of tile from 

 your advertisers would be glad to have you enclose them. 



Yours sincerely, 



L. D. CREEL, 

 Teacher of Agriculture, Genoa Indian School, Genoa, Neb. 



ELDORA, IOWA, Dec. 23, 1903. 

 THE IRRIGATION AGE AND DRAINAGE JOURNAL : 



Dear Sirs Can you give me any light on pile driving 

 machinery? The Iowa Homestead referred me to your com- 

 pany. What I would want is a mall about 1,200 pounds, with 

 clutches and pulleys all complete except the derrick. Now, 

 if you should make such machinery, will you please let me 

 licai from you and oblige. Truly yours, 



F. E. SPRAIN. 



