464 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



casing was put in to the top of the rock and the waters of 

 the lake were directed into the well. For the past month the 

 water has been drained into the well at a rate varying from 

 one to three second-feet, or an average flow of more than 

 a million gallons per day. Should other wells prove equally 

 effective it is believed the problem of drainage on this project 

 can be solved without the necessity of constructing long 

 and expensive drain ditches to carry the surplus water to the 



Water for irrigation was delivered throughout the Mini- 

 doka project, Idaho, during May. Excavations on the North 

 Side Waste Water system were continued and preparations 

 are being made for the erection of a second excavating ma- 

 chine. Two crews are working in wet material not included 

 in contract work. Structures for the South Side Pumping 

 Unit are being erected and machinery is being installed at 

 the power station. 



During the month 'of April the farmers under this pro- 

 ject paid water right charges to the amount of $56,318.73. 



The secretary of the interior has issued the following 

 public notice for the Minidoka irrigation project, Idaho: 



"Certain sublaterals are not being maintained in proper 

 condition by the district organization with the result that 

 some of the lands entitled to water cannot be properly irri- 

 gated. 



"In order to maintain the efficiency of the sublaterals 

 so that all lands entitled to water may receive an adequate 

 supply, notice is hereby given that in any case where such 

 ditches are not maintained in a proper condition or state of 

 repair by the water users, the necessary work will be done and 

 materials and supplies purchased by the United States to put 

 the said ditches in proper condition. 



"The cost of all such work, materials and supplies will 

 be charged equitably against the land benefited thereby, as 

 part of the installment of the charges under the Reclamation 

 act. The charges therefor shall become due on December 

 1st of the year in which the work is done and no water shall 

 be furnished in any subsequent year for any tract until all 

 such charges against the same shall have been paid." 



NEW MEXICO. 



Work on the Orchard Irrigation Company's project 

 near Farmington in San Juan county will be commenced 

 in the near future. The district includes all of the terri- 

 tory between Aztec and the La Plata north of the Inde- 

 pendent or other ditches, and under the proposed Illinois 

 ditch. The project embraces 14,000 acres of land. The 

 work is to be completed February 1st, 1911. The Standard 

 Construction Company have been given a contract to build 

 a canal forty miles long. 



A petition for the irrigation of the Canadian Valley 

 irrigation district around Logan is being circulated and is 

 being well received by the farmers in that vicinity. 



Plans for the Portales pumping irrigation plant in 

 Roosevelt county have been filed with Territorial Engineer 

 Vernon L. Sullivan. The project appears to be a very 

 feasible one. The headquarters of the company are at 

 Portales. 



MONTANA. 



Articles of incorporation have been filed by the Home- 

 stead Land and Irrigation Company with headquarters at 

 Virginia City. It is the purpose of this company to reclaim 

 a tract of land between the Beaverhead and Ruby rivers, 

 southwest of Virginia City. The dam will be 150 feet in 

 height. The canal will follow the west side of the Ruby 

 canal under the base of the Ruby Mountains and reach the 

 bench land point almost directly opposite the city of Sheri- 

 dan. The land will be reclaimed under the provision of 

 the Carey act and it will perhaps be a couple of years before 

 the land is thrown open for settlement. 



Engineers of the Reclamation department of the govern- 

 ment are making surveys for the necessary extensions of the 

 main canal of the Huntley project for a distance of ten 

 miles towards Pompey's Pillar, and for a distributing system, 

 also for an extension and distributing system at the High 

 line canal which is operated by a pumping plant in the Fly 

 creek country east of Ballantine. A reservoir will be con- 

 structed and a large area brought under irrigation. In a 

 recent interview H. N. Savage, chief engineer of the Re- 

 clamation department, stated that the new tract will be 

 open to settlement under the same regulations as was the 

 main part of the Huntley project, but that the units will_ be 

 80 acres in size with many of them a full quarter section, 

 and 40 acres and upwards of each will be irrigated. 



The government's large project in the Milk river country 

 is being handled in sections and work on the first part of 9,000 

 acres is practically completed. This tract extends between 

 Dodson and Malta, on the south side of Milk river. 



Pittsburg capitalists have purchased 4,000 acres of land 

 near Hamilton, in the Bitter Root Valley. According to 

 present plans this land will be cut up into 10 acre orchards. 



OREGON. 



Plans are under way to develop an irrigation project 

 in the Little Klickitat River Valley near Goldendale. The 

 project involves the construction of a large dam across 

 the river at a point some distance above Goldendale. 



The United States has brought action against Fred A. 

 Yates, Florence C. Yates, Elmer P. Dodd and Leroy W. 

 Furnas, to compel them to permit government engineers 

 to proceed with the work on the Umatilla irrigation proj- 

 ect. Yates and his wife own a farm near Hermiston, and 

 they are resisting the cutting of government irrigation 

 canals through their land. This canal is to supply 10,000 

 acres with water. Yates and others obtained temporary 

 injunctions against the government's proceeding in the 

 state court and now the government has been granted an 

 injunction restraining the Yates family and others from 

 interfering with their work. The Umatilla project is in- 

 tended to supply 25,000 acres of land with water, and is 

 about 87 per cent completed. More than $1,000,000 has 

 already been expended upon it. The Umatilla river is 

 ranidly falling and the reclamation engineers state that 

 unless they are permitted to complete the dam immediately 

 thousands of dollars worth of work will be ruined and 

 the project injured irreparably. 



By boring wells to a great depth on the east side of 

 the Paulina mountains, now a part of the Deschutes Na- 

 tional Forest, and excavating surface wells on the west 

 slope, it is intended to make 260,000 acres of land in the 

 Paulina mountains available for settlement. The district 

 to be irrigated is known as the lava beds and lies from 40 

 to 50 miles west of Prineville. Owing to the porous char- 

 acter of the soil and rock, water is not long retained in 

 the surface depressions and while there is a rank growth of 

 vegetation and forest growth, it Kps been impossible for 

 stockmen to make use of the territory. It is stated to be 

 capable of supporting 65,000 head of sheep. 



Three hundred men are employed on the Oregon Land 

 Company's irrigation canals in Drew's creek canyon, near 

 Lakeview. Work is to be started on the big flume in the 

 near future. Work has reached such a stage that part of 

 the crew is to be transferred to the south canal, which 

 will be 12 miles in length, with an average width of 15 

 feet on the bottom. 



J. H. Gray & Son, who have a large ranch near 

 Prineville are constructing an irrigation system that will 

 reclaim 500 acres of land. 



W. F. King, J. O. Powell and Herman Poch are build- 

 ing a canal to irrigate 1,000 acres of land in the vicinity of 

 Prineville. This land will be planted to orchards. 



Some 15,000 acres of land in Gilliam county on Rock 

 creek, are to be irrigated by constructing a dam and stor- 

 ing water. 



(Continued on page 467.) 





