THE IEEIGATION AGE. 



515 



HAPPY FARMERS IN FOUNTAIN VALLEY 



IX a beautiful valley 13 miles south of Colorado Springs. 

 * Colo., lies the Fountain Valley Project, under the owner- 

 ship of the Fountain Valley Land and Irrigation Company 

 which is attracting more attention perhaps than any other 

 project of similar size in the west. 



The soil in this valley is deep, rich and needs only 

 water to make it productive of great wealth. During the 

 past three years ranchmen on this fine tract of land have 

 thoroughly demonstrated the fact that large crops of 

 grain, alfalfa, beans, potatoes and in fact everything that 

 will grow on good land can be produced here. 



The water supply is much more than the land will re- 

 quire and the system is capable of covering a far greater 

 area than is now supplied. A correspondent of THE IRRI- 

 GATION AGE who has just returned from a trip over those 

 lands, writing under date of August 3, says: "Rainfall to 

 the depth of more than three inches covered this section 

 of the country last week and it will not be necessary to 

 use water from the reservoirs for some time to come. 

 Crops of beans, beets and garden truck of all kinds are 

 in fine condition and the yield promises to be large. All 

 farmer? who are paying close attention to their crops 

 are sure to get good returns this year. The irrigation 



Members of the Board of Engineers. Officers of the Army Who are 

 Examining the Reclamation Service Projects of the West. Major 

 Harry Burgess, Maior Win. \V. Harts, Major Chas. W. Kutz, Lieut. - 

 Col. John Biddle, Lieut. -Col. Wm. C. Langfitt. 



system on this tract is proving all and more than has 

 been claimed for it and has demonstrated the fact that 

 the storage system is the one that must eventually be 

 adopted by the irrigation companies in the west. While 

 many of the oldest direct systems in Colorado have 

 suffered somewhat from shortage of water this year, it 

 being the dryest year known for a decade, the Fountain 

 Valley lands have all the water, and more than can be 

 used for its crops." 



Mr. George F. Washburn, County Judge, at Aurora, 

 Xeb., a man well and favorably known throughout the 

 west, has great faith in the Fountain Valley system and 

 writes the following letter in regard to it: 



"After careful investigation of the various fertile 

 valleys of Colorado, I very carefully looked over the lands 

 owned by the Fountain Valley Land and Irrigation Com- 

 pany, and on July 18 last, purchased from the company 80 

 acres near Fountain River. Since this purchase I have 

 traveled more than 1,000 miles in the state of Colorado 

 and during that journey there has been presented to me 

 many opportunities for investment, but in my judgment 

 the proposition offered by this company is by far the best 

 of all and is most certain to bring large returns. My 

 reasons are that the soil is rich and productive, the com- 

 pany owns and operates an excellent irrigation system 

 with sufficient storage reservoirs and plenty of water to 

 take care of all their lands. This land is located on four 



main lines of railroad in the best civilization in the state, 

 with a regular and constant market close at hand for 

 everything produced at practically Chicago prices. From 

 the appearance of the crops now growing on the com- 

 pany's lands I am satisfied that with proper cultivation 

 one can purchase a tract of this land and make it pay for 

 itself in crops of wheat, oats, alfalfa, potatoes, beets, beans 

 and other vegetables and small fruits and at the same 

 time enjoy a residence in one of the most delightful 

 climates in the United States and in sight of the grandest 

 and most marvelous scenic wonders of the world." 



Settlers can buy land in this tract today at prices rang- 

 ing at $115 per acre upward. This price, of course, includes 

 full water rights, the only extra charge being the small main- 

 tenance fee each year which is incident to all irrigation 

 development. 



Farmers and others who contemplate the purchase 

 of land in the west will be interested in the large number 

 of letters from actual settlers who have made their home 

 in Fountain Valley and we suggest that they will receive 

 not only copies of these letters, but other most valuable 

 information by writing to the Fountain Valley Land and 

 Irrigation Company at Colorado Springs, Colo. 



TO PROTECT THE IMPERIAL VALLEY. 



A T the last session of Congress $1,000,000 was appro- 

 * priated for the work of restraining the Colorado river 

 and protecting the Imperial Valley and every effort will 

 be made to use this money for this purpose before the 

 fall rains set in. The ranchers in the Imperial country 

 recently appointed a commission of engineers to investi- 

 gate the situation and they have reported that conditions 

 are at work in the river below the international boundary 

 and gradually working upward, and will, it is believed, 

 in a short time lower the bed of the stream at least twenty 

 feet. This would certainly destroy the Government dam 

 at Lake Laguna and prevent an irrigation system on 

 either side of the river. 



The Colorado river has cut a new and shorter channel 

 into the gulf, the new route to the ocean taking it via 

 the channel of the Abejos river in Mexico. By this shorter 

 course the river has a more abrupt fall to the level of the 

 sea and the swift current thereby created is cutting back 

 or scouring the bed of the stream, thus rapidly lower- 

 ing the river bed. If it continues it will lower the river 

 some twenty feet at the intake of the Imperial Irriga- 

 tion System and thus make it impossible to divert the 

 water into the canal. Whether the , same system of 

 cutting back would in time lower the river bed a long 

 distance up stream to the extent of reaching the Laguna 

 dam and undermining it is a question for engineers. As 

 the dam is some fifteen miles above Yuma, the engineers 

 report that according to their best belief the dam is in 

 no immediate danger and may not be for a long time. 



Meanwhile a menacing situation undoubtedly con- 

 fronts the Imperial Valley. How long it may take the 

 river to scour out its channel of silt and drop below the 

 head of the Imperial Canal is a problem, and the engineer.- 

 are not prepared to make an official prediction as to this 

 point, but privately they expressed the opinion that this 

 will probably occur some time next winter if tlTe erratic 

 conduct of the river continues. Two protective courses 

 are open. One is to close the break into the Abejos 

 river by a dam with a levee many miles in length to 

 confine the river to its old channel. A levee five or six 

 miles in length would be required at once in connection 

 with the channel that leads into the Abejos river and ulti- 

 mately there would 'have to be a levee probably twenty- 

 five miles long to hold the river to its former channel. 

 This would cost an immense sum of money and the 

 Southern Pacific Road and the Government will have to 

 join hands in order to provide it. 



Since part of the threatened territory lies in Mexico 

 an international commission to deal with the matter has 

 been suggested. President Taft recently bad a confer- 

 ence with W. H. Holibird. receiver for the California De- 

 velopment Company, and has also talked with army 

 engineers as to the best means of controlling the river 

 and protecting the great Imperial 'Valley. It is expected 

 that President Taft will appoint a commission very soon 

 and invite Mexico to join in the work. 



