THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



85 



North Dakota Projects. 



"Rapid progress has been made on the several pumping 

 projects in North Dakota," said Mr. F. H. Newell, Chief En- 

 gineer of the Reclamation Service, who recently returned to 

 Washington from a visit to the Dakotas and Montana. 



"These projects contemplate taking water from the Mis- 

 souri River for use on adjacent lands. A thorough recon- 

 naissance of the State has been made in co-operation with the 

 State Engineer, Mr. A. L. Fellows, and it has been found that 

 there are very few localities where any considerable area of 

 land can be irrigated in the ordinary way by gravity ditches. 

 There are tracts of from 5,000 acres to 10,000 acres and up- 

 ward scattered along the stream in the western part of the 

 State, but in each locality it will be necessary to store the 

 water at considerable expense, more than can be considered 

 at present, owing to the distance from lines of railroad. 



"A general review of the situation in North Dakota indi- 

 cates that development through irrigation must be along lines 

 which are somewhat unique, namely, by pumping water from 

 the river instead of taking it out by gravity. It is fortunate 

 that throughout the part of the State where pumping is feasi- 

 ble there are considerable beds of lignite, thus affording a 

 cheap fuel. Taking advantage of this, the Reclamation Serv- 

 ice is endeavoring to make a demonstration of the feasibility 

 of procuring water in this way. 



"One of the chief difficulties encountered in pumping 

 from Missouri River is the fact that the stream is continually 

 cutting its banks, and thus it becomes almost impossible to 

 locate any structure like a pump on the banks unless enor- 

 mous expense is incurred in protecting it from the scour of 

 the stream. This is particularly the case where the banks are 

 somewhat low, as they are along the irrigable areas. The en- 

 gineers of the Reclamation Service have, however, attempted 

 a solution of this difficulty in a very ingenious manner. They 

 are building the power house and placing the heavy machin- 

 ery for developing power at the coal mines, and are conveying 

 the power by electric conduits to pumps which are located 

 not in substantial buildings on the banks, but upon barges 

 moored to the shore. 



"It is the intention during the winter season to draw 

 these barges out of the river and haul them to points where 

 they will be safe from ice gorges and sudden freshets. After 

 the spring floods have subsided the barges can be launched 

 and suitable connections made so that the pumps will deliver 

 the water into several basins located at sufficient distance 

 from the shore to be safe from encroachment by the shifting 

 river. 



"The work on construction of settling basins, power 

 houses, and distribution system is well advanced, and it is 

 expected that the machinery will be put to the test in the 

 spring. The difficulty, however, of securing labor and of get- 

 ting machinery is such that it is impossible to make predic- 

 tions with any degree of assurance. 



"There is a body of land of about 20,000 acres which will 

 be placed under irrigation by gravity. This tract lies in the 

 extreme western end of North Dakota between the Yellow- 

 stone and Missouri rivers. This land will be reached by 

 canals which head on the Yellowstone River about twenty 

 miles below Glendive, Montana. The land is of excellent 

 quality, and will be susceptible of a high degree of develop- 

 ment. 



"Reclamation work in Montana has advanced rapidly in 

 spite of the difficulties of securing adequate labor. Many of 

 the contractors have failed or have been on the verge of 

 bankruptcy owing to the difficulty of securing laborers and 

 the advance in price of the necessities of life. 



"On the Huntley project, which is situated on the north- 

 ern end of the Crow Indian reservation, the main canal and 

 distributing system are nearly completed. About 2,000 small 

 structures have been built for distributing the water, these 

 consisting mainly of headgates, drops, turn-outs, culverts and 

 bridges. 



"On the lower Yellowstone, in the extreme east- 

 ern end of the State, the headgates of the main canal have 

 been constructed, these being placed flush with the bank of 

 the Yellowstone River in a high bluff, in such position that 

 it is not believed that ice gorges will injure them. The dam 

 on the Lower Yellowstone has been let after much delay, 

 owing to the difficulty of securing favorable contracts. The 

 main canal is reaching completion and a considerable part of 

 the distributing system is also well along. 



"On the Sun River work is progressing favorably on the 

 subdivision of the lands and the preparations for early con- 



struction. There are a large number of legal questions and 

 matters connected with rights of way yet to be settled. 



"On the St. Mary River the canal construction is well 

 under way, both by Indian labor and by machinery. This 

 work is not only of great magnitude, but it is situated at an 

 altitude such that the long winter seriously interferes with 

 rapid progress." 



The recent unusual and unprecedented floods in the Cas- 

 cade Mountains in Washington did but little damage to the 

 works of the U. S. Reclamation Service. The principal 

 damage was to the roads which had been constructed to take 

 in the heavy machinery, and the total loss will probably not 

 exceed $10,000. The dams being constructed at the mouths 

 of several lakes were but little injured, while the large dam 

 in the Yakima River was not injured at all. 



The Government was exceedingly fortunate, as the flood 

 which came down the Yakima Valley was the largest ever 

 known in the history of the country and caused the loss of 

 property probably in excess of half a million dollars. The 

 railroads and power companies were the principal losers. A 

 great deal of farming property was flooded. 



It is not expected that the flood will cause any serious 

 loss of time in the progress of the Government's construction 

 work in the Yakima Valley. 



Completed Section of the South Side Canal, Uncompaghre Valley, Colo. 



The proper officials have executed a contract on behalf of 

 the United States and approved the bond of the Kansas Port- 

 land Cement Company, of lola, Kansas, for furnishing 5,000 

 barrels of Portland cement for the Garden City irrigation 

 project, Kansas. This cement is to be furnished for $1,60 per 

 barrel, f. o. b. cars at lola. 



The Secretary of the Interior has granted an extension 

 of time to June 1, 1907, to William D. Lovell, of Minneapolis, 

 Minnesota, for the completion of Division 2, main canal, Hunt- 

 ley irrigation project, Montana. 



The Secretary of the Interior has granted authority to 

 the Reclamation Service to construct by force account a canal 

 approximately three miles in length, to be used in connection 

 with the power plant to be constructed for the generation of 

 electricity at the mouth of Spanish Fork River, Strawberry 

 Valley irrigation project, Utah. 



* * 



X Send $2.50 for The Irrigation Age $ 



1 year, and the Primer of Irrigation 



