THE IERIGATION AGE. 



19 



Secretary of the Interior has already apportioned the fund 

 for some years in advance, and although the receipts from 

 the sales of land may be larger than anticipated by the 

 general land office, yet this increase is more than offset by the 

 recent advance in the price of labor and materials and the 

 diminished efficiency of ordinary labor. The rigid enforce- 

 ment of the eight-hour law has also contributed to the gen- 

 eral increase in costs to the contractor. A number of promi- 

 nent contractors are failing or on the verge of bankruptcy 

 and prices of construction are running up rapidly. When 

 the contractors -become unable to fulfill their contracts the 

 reclamation service is obliged to carry on the work by 

 paying higher prices than the contractors can afford to give. 

 But even under such circumstances the labor supply is 

 unequal to the demand. 



Most of the reclamation works are situated in regions 

 remote from large towns, and after eight hours of labor 

 there is little opportunity for relaxation or enjoyment. Dur- 

 ing the long, hot days the man who is exercising moderately 

 in the sun fares more comfortably than the one who has 

 nothing to distract his attention from his discomfort in the 

 hot bunk house. When life grows too monotonous the men 



use of the fund designed for the purpose by congress that the 

 work can be carried to successful completion. Other im- 

 provements in other states are needed there is no doubt, 

 but this nation is able to make them without endangering the 

 beneficent work of homebuilding in the West. 



It has been said of a Roman emperor "He found Rome 

 brick; he left it marble." So of this generation of Ameri- 

 cans let it be said, "They found the West a desert; they left 

 it a Garden of Eden." 



NEW IRRIGATION COMPANY. 



Articles of incorporation of the Felt, Petersen & 

 Slater Water & Canal Company were filed at Ogden, 

 Utah, June 12. The officers of the concern are : Presi- 

 dent, C. C. Wansgard; vice-president, James C. Wans- 

 gard; secretary-treasurer, Lars Petersen. These, to- 

 gether with E. P. Bingham, E. C. Hansen and Lars 

 Neilson, constitute the board of directors. 



sj... -'* 



Scene on Yakima River, Washington. 



throw up their jobs, secure in the knowledge that in these 

 prosperous times they can secure employment elsewhere 

 without much trouble. 



Another factor to be considered in the allotment of the 

 reclamation fund is the fact that there has already passed 

 the senate and been favorably reported to the house, a bill 

 taking $1,000,000 out of the reclamation fund for drainage 

 in North Dakota, and there are a number of other bills 

 pending which, it is asserted, have fair chance of passage if 

 the first bill gets through congress. Under these circum- 

 stances the department may not consider it advisable to enter 

 upon any further projects until the probable diminution of 

 the reclamation fund is made known. 



Several of the twenty-two projects now under way, as 

 well as numerous others which will be taken up immediately 

 funds become available, will receive a serious set back if 

 the reclamation fund is diverted for other purposes. Citi- 

 zens of the West are even now impatient that the department 

 is forced to delay in taking up the projects that would make 

 productive millions of acres of arid land and afford homes 

 for a multitude of settlers. All these projects require large 

 sums of money to complete, and it is only by the wisest 



The October number of the "Bulletin,"' which is 

 the official organ of the Portland Chamber of Com- 

 merce, Portland, Ore., is a very creditable publication, 

 and should be in the hands of every one who wishes 

 to know something about Oregon. 



In the Oregon section of a recent Climatological 

 Report issued by the United States Department of 

 Agriculture, Major Alfred F. Sears, C. E., has a very 

 instructive article entitled "Phenomena of Eainfalls 

 in the Coast Desert of Peru." 



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 IRRIGATION AGE for 1906. Send us 

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