THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



SERVICE WORK IN CALIFORNIA. 



Suptendous Plans of the Government Organization and 

 General Scope of Procedure. 



1C 



[Special Correspondence of Irrigation Age.] 



WASHINGTON, D. C., Jan. 12. Mr. J. B. Lippin- 

 cott, supervising engineer for the irrigation work of 

 the United States Geological Survey in California and 

 for the Colorado River has arrived in Washington. He 

 was seen at the office of the Geological Survey and 

 made the following statement : 



"The main office of the Reclamation Service in 

 California is located in the Byrne building in Los 

 Angeles. A branch office has been opened at 431 Rialto 

 building, San Francisco, at Yuma, Ariz., and at Bishop 

 in Inyo County. The organization is' entirely under 

 the civil service, and the appointment of all the men 

 has been by competitive examination. 



IN THE SACRAMENTO .VALLEY. 



"Mr. H~. E. Green, engineer, is in charge of the 

 study of the drainage basin of the Sacramento Valley 

 looking toward its development by irrigation. His 

 headquarters are at the San Francisco office. From 

 present information .it is believed that during the spring 

 and. early summer sufficient water is normally found 

 in the streams to provide for a very extensive system. 

 The Sacramento River, however, is a navigable stream 

 and it is not deemed wise to make 'extensive diversions 

 therefrom during the low stage of the river or its trib- 

 utaries in the mid and late summer months. The water 

 to be supplied for irrigation during this low stage must 

 be supplied from storage reservoirs to be located either 

 on the main stream or on its tributaries. The investi- 

 gations, therefore, in this drainage basin have been pre- 

 liminary explorations for reservoir sites and the deter- 

 mination of the available water supply. 



. "In this work particularly, and other work in gen- 

 eral, the State of California is extensively co-operating 

 with the United States Geological Survey in carrying 

 out these investigations, the State paying a material 

 portion of the field expenses, and the Geological Sur- 

 vey paying the salaries of the employes. The Governor 

 of the State is particularly active in his desire to assist 

 in the development of this section by an exhaustive 

 study of its resources, and by bringing the attention of 

 both the nation and the public to the latent opportu- 

 nities. 



"In addition to the work of the Geological Survey 

 the forest cover of the mountainous portion of the 

 basin is being studied by Mr. Gifford Pinchot, forester 

 of the Agricultural Department, and his assistants, with 

 a view to preserving the forests and thus protecting 

 the water supply. The topographic branch of the Geo- 

 logical Survey is also receiving assistance from the State 

 and is concentrating its efforts in the preparation of 

 a contour map of the irrigable lands of the Sacra- 

 mento Valley. About six topographic parties are now 

 in the field carrying out this work. They are making 

 their maps on the scale of two inches to the mile and 

 with five-foot contour intervals. 



WORK IN CACHE CREEK. 



"Cache Creek is one of the large tributaries of the 

 Sacramento, entering the valley from the coast range. 

 This tributary was extensively studied by Mr. A. E. 

 Chandler for the Geological Survey. Mr. Chandler is 

 now State Engineer of Nevada. 



Notice is hereby given that the Board of Super- 

 visors of Washington county, Nebraska, will meet 

 in the supervisors' room in the court house in Blair, 

 Washington county, Nebraska, on the 27th day of 

 January, A. D. 1904, at the hour of 12 o'clock M. 

 of said day, for the purpose of opening sealed bids 

 for the construction of a ditch or drain known as the 

 Hiland Ditch Improvement, commencing at a point 

 460 feet north of the southeast corner of the south- 

 west quarter of the northeast quarter of section 4, in 

 Township 19 North, Range n, east of the 6 P. M. in 

 said county and state; also commencing 858 feet 

 south of the northwest corner of the southeast quarter 

 of section 32, Township 20, Range n, east 6 P. M. in 

 Washington county, Nebraska, running thence in an 

 irregular southeasterly direction, intersecting above 

 line and running thence in an irregular southeasterly 

 course to a point in the Missouri river, 198 feet east 

 of the southeast corner of the northeast quarter of 

 Section 7, in Township 17, in Range 12, east in 

 Washington county, Nebraska. 



Sealed bids will be received by the clerk of thii 

 board until 12 M. on the 27th day of January, A. D. 

 1904, for the construction of said ditch in working 

 sections not less in extent than the number of lineal 

 feet apportioned to each lot or tract of land, public 

 or corporate road or railroad. Said work shall be 

 done under the supervision of the engineer appointed 

 by this board and shall be constructed according to 

 the plat, schedule, profile, estimate apportionment and 

 report of engineer now on file with the county clerk. 

 This board will meet at the time and place first above 

 mentioned and will open said bids and let the con- 

 tract or contracts to the lowest responsible bidder 

 who shall give good and sufficient security for the 

 faithful performance of such contract or contracts. 

 And the time of completion for each contract shall 

 not exceed in any case 150 days from the time of 

 entering into same. And no bids shall be entertained 

 which exceed the estimated cost of construction of 

 the working section or sections upon which bid is 

 made when a part not less than one-fourth of the 

 portion included in any contract is completed accord- 

 ing to the specifications and when said engineer 

 gives said contractor a certificate thereof, showing a 

 proportional amount which the contractor is entitled 

 to be paid according to the terms of the contract. 

 The county clerk shall, upon the presentation of 

 such certificate, draw a warrant upon the treasurer for 

 seventy-five per cent of said amount and the treas- 

 urer will pay the same out of any funds in the treas- 

 ury applicable to such purposes. Provided no pro- 

 portional amount shall be certified or paid unless the 

 whole of said contract exceed 2,000 lineal feet. 



Each bid must be accompanied by a certified 

 check for Sioo as evidence of good faith and con- 

 ditioned that the bidder will at once enter into con- 

 tract and give bond. JOHN BLACO. 



Chairman of Board of Supervisors of Washington 

 county, Nebraska. F. W. KENNY, JR. 



County Clerk of Washington county, Nebraska. 



