THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



313 



CASPER, WYO., July 1, 1904. 

 THE IRRIGATION AGE, Chicago, 111. 



Maybe you have been poisoned by the venom of the 

 Talisman. Give an account of yourself. 



We have had considerable moisture from above this 

 spring, but there is very little snow in the mountains and 

 it looked for a while that a total abstainer would not be in 

 it. A friend tells me that they are very saving of water 

 in his locality, so much so that they wash their feet in the 

 dish water and scrape the kids with curry combs. 



Yours very truly, J. W. PRICE. 



TRINIDAD, COLO., July 15, 1904. 

 THE IRRIGATION AGE, 112 Dearborn Street, Chicago, 111. 



Dear Sirs : We have been trying to find the factory 

 making what we have heard described the "Lambert Rotary 

 Pump." Can you oblige us with any information about it? 

 The only thing we know is that it is either a rotary or 

 centrifugal pump of large capacity and of course is run by 

 power. If you can give us any information in the matter, we 

 assure you that it will be greatly appreciated and the favor 

 will be reciprocated whenever possible. Yours truly, 

 THE F. BURKHARD SADDLERY & IMPLEMENT Co. 



AUBURN, IND., July 10. 1904. 

 THE IRRIGATION AGE, Chicago, 111. 



Gentlemen : Will you kindly answer me through the 

 columns of your paper whether or not that irrigation project 

 in Crook County, Oregon, is started? And who is the proper 

 person to write to about it? 



Yours very truly, 



A. G. MOORE. 



The Deschutes Irrigation & Power Company, which ab- 

 sorbed the water rights and segregated tracts of the Pilot 

 Butte Development Company and the Oregon Irrigation Com- 

 pany in February of this year, has its headquarters at Bend, 

 Ore. Active construction on its main canals was started in 

 March, since which time about twenty-five miles of ditch 

 have been built, covering a territory of nearly 25,000 acres 

 lying immediately north of Bend. A large portion of this 

 land falling under the ditch has been sold to settlers and it is 

 expected that a considerable area will be under cultivation 

 inside of another twelve months. It is the intention of the 

 company to begin active construction work soon on another 

 of the main canal lines which, when completed, will reclaim 

 the balance of the company's segregation, amounting to 150,000 

 acres. 



Communications should be addressed to the Deschutes 

 Irrigation & Power Company, McKay building. Portland, 

 Ore., or to W. E. Guerin Jr., Bend, Ore., who is in active 

 management of the' company's business at the seat of their 

 operations. 



MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA, June 21, 1904. 

 THE IRRIGATION AGE, Chicago, 111. 



Gentlemen : I post you on a Leader newspaper ; also 

 will send you a couple of photos concerning a trial of the 

 Bennett American Tile Ditcher. I have for years tried to 

 sell one of these machines and haye at last found a customer 

 in Mr. G. O. Webb, orchardist, a tile drain maker, Somerville, 

 Victoria. At the trial I took out all the numbers of THE 

 IRRIGATION AGE we have received from you and gave thenr 

 to prominent orchardists, viz. : Mr. T. H. Grant, Pakersham, 

 Vic., who has about twenty-five miles of drain in his orchard ; 

 Mr. W. S. Williams, lemon grower, Doncaster, Victoria; Mr. 

 Charles French, Government Entomologist, Law Offices, Mel- 

 bourne, Victoria ; Mr. H. Jennes, Melgrave ; Mr. J. Herbert, 

 Diamond Creek ; Mr. J. R. Warren, Harcourt, and others. 

 If you will send me out any back numbers, I will give them 

 to good growers. 



We also want catalogues on tile making machines, also 

 drain tools. I am trying my best to make our farmers go 

 in for drainage. You have a good friend in Mr. D. M. Dow, 

 of the Leader. You might drop him a' line, or send a short 

 article on the benefit of drainage to his paper. 



I will let you know later how Mr. Webb gets on. He 

 has two contracts to proceed on at present. 



With best regards and all success to drainage, 



Yours, 



J. DAVIES. 



TUCSON, ARIZ, July 15, 1904. 

 EDITOR THE IRRIGATION AGE, Chicago, 111. 



Dear Sir: On my way home from the East I laid off in 

 El Paso three days and naturally made inquiries into the 

 doings of Maxwell, Boothe & Co., referred to in your last 

 two or three issues. I was at first afraid that your open ref- 

 erences to these parties and their little games were too 

 pointed and nothing more than a personal "tiff" between 

 two editors publishing papers on similar subjects, but my 

 mind on this has been thoroughly disabused, and I have no 

 hesitation in giving you a few concentrated facts that I can 

 vouch for. 



In the first place, why did G. H. Maxwell, unsolicited, 

 come forward with cash or railroad passes for the whole of 

 the El Paso delegation to the Ogden congress, after they won 

 the day at Ogden? The acceptance of this much more or less 

 put El Paso under an obligation to this pair of "lobbyists" 

 and "land grabbers." From what I can learn, early in the 

 year the chief aide of G. H. Maxwell, one C. B. Boothe, ap- 

 peared in El Paso as the "great I am" on all matters apper- 

 taining to the coming Irrigation Congress to be held there in 

 November next. He called meetings and demanded offices 

 for this and that party, an assistant secretary, etc., and went 

 so far as to make many of the El Paso people believe that 

 neither Senator Clarke nor the Hon. H. B. Maxson (presi- 

 dent and secretary, respectively, of the coming congress) 

 were anything more than second fiddles to the "I am" and 

 so matters are going on. Everything has to be referred to 

 Mr. Boothe. According to a local paper, the El Paso Irriga- 

 tion Committee could not close tenders for the building of the 

 proposed Congress Hall unless Mr. Boothe was consulted. 

 He further led people to believe while there that he held 

 the position of secretary to the National Irrigation Congress, 

 but this one of the local newspapers corrected. 



I was introduced to the new local secretary, who, although 

 a mining man, is known to be pushing affairs to make this 

 the most notable event in the annals of the National Irriga- 

 tion Congress, and every visitor will be received with open 

 arms and will be guaranteed a rare, good time while in the 

 city of El 'Paso. I do not think that as a body the local 

 people see through the two-faced intentions of Maxwell & 

 Co., but I met one or two who seem to be fully informed 

 on all that is going on, and appear to know Maxwell and 

 Boothe as one and the same. Boothe appears to be the best 

 diplomat and talker and appears to have the most "gall" 

 and probably this is why he is sent forth to make arrange- 

 ments and also do the "lobbying" in New York. It is to be 

 hoped that should this combine make a renewed attempt to 

 get control of affairs, they will be sat upon from the 'start, 

 for should any private individuals, the acknowledged agents 

 of land grabbers, get into national affairs on so important a 

 matter as "irrigation," which has become a national question, 

 such supporters of the National Irrigation Annual Congress 

 as Senator Clarke, Governor Warren, Elwood Mead and all 

 those 'who at great expense and time, have by their presence 

 and good common sense, made each one and all of the past 

 meetings an unqualified success and advanced the good cause 

 for the benefit of the whole nation, shun with disgust the 

 idea of ever being connected with the National Irrigation 

 Congress in the future. It is the opinion of those well in- 

 formed that this combination is using every influence to 

 secure a vote at the coming congress favoring a resolution 

 for the repeal of the commutation Clause of the Homestead 

 Act, the Desert Land Law and the Timber and Stone Act 

 and they, Maxwell and Boothe, state that they have El Paso 

 "cinched" on this proposition. They claim the vote of the 

 full El Paso delegation on the subject. How could they 

 vote otherwise when Maxwell, Boothe & Co., perfect strangers 

 to all hands, before the Ogden congress handed them free 

 passes for their whole trip. On the strength of his appoint- 

 ment, Mr. C. B. Boothe has placed his "boss" Maxwell in 

 the position of chairman of the "Land and Water Section." 

 So far things have been going well for them, but how people 

 like them, who in their monthly paper called the "Talisman" 

 claim to be the true friends of the homesteader and bona- 

 fide settler, can reconcile the evidence given by Maxwell 

 in his examination before the House Committee on Irriga- 

 tion of Arid Lands on April 1st, last, viz. : that he had spent 

 over $60,000 in the interest of land-grabbers during the year, 

 is more than I, or many others, can see through, except in 

 one light. 



The combine may be clever in a way, but it would be a 

 very grave error to allow such parties to get control of 

 national affairs, much less one of so much importance to the 



