

THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



discovered that an entirely new set of men turn up and 

 demand damages. It appears that the original settlers 

 have gone to the local land office, relinquished to some 

 friend or relative a half or more of their homesteads, and 

 that the new entryman is then in position to demand from 

 the railroad new compensation for the right of way 

 across the entry. 



The railroad company is seeking to find some way to 

 put a stop to this to them new and very profitable in- 

 dustry. 



Mr. I. W. McConnell, engineer in charge of the con- 

 struction of Gunnison Tunnel, Colorado, has been in the 

 Washington office a few days on business connected with 

 his' work. While here Mr. McConnell received appoint- 

 ment as -supervising engineer in charge of reclamation 

 work in Colorado, Kansas, the North Platte project, 

 Nebraska-Wyoming, and the Belle Fourche project, South 

 Dakota. He will visit the Garden City project, Kansas, 

 on his way home and early in November will inspect the 

 northern projects under his supervision. 



Speaking of his work on the Gunnison Tunnel, Mr. 

 McConnell said: 



"For about a year past we have been running in 

 granite rock on the east end, which is fairly uniform in 

 the difficulty of driving tunnel. We have been inter- 

 rupted at intervals by the flow of water and within the 

 year have tapped practically all the springs of that ridge, 

 so that we have reason to believe now that the available 

 water supply on the north side of the ridge has been 

 drained into the east end of the tunnel. The entire flow 

 amounts to about 350,000 gallons in twenty-four hours. 

 On the west end last December we encountered a heavy 

 flow of water and carbonic acid gas. The flow of water 

 amounted to about 5,000,000 gallons per day of twenty- 

 four hours. The flow of gas was so heavy and accom- 

 panied with such high temperature that it was necessary 

 to drive a new ventilating shaft, which was 700 feet in 

 depth. This shaft was completed in April and progress 

 resumed in heading. Since that date the heading has 

 progressed about 2,000 feet through a region of geologic 

 faults, which contains disintegrated sandstone, badly 

 broken shells, and lime. 



"About four and a half miles are now completed. 

 Within the last two weeks we have run into granites on 

 the west heading, so we anticipate now that we will com- 

 plete the tunnel in granite. There are practically 9,000 

 feet to be driven and we expect to finish that at the rate 

 of 500 feet a month. During the month of August we 

 ran through a bed of marble, not perfect enough for build- 

 ing purposes, but susceptible of high polish in small 

 pieces. 



"We expect to furnish water for irrigation in 1909. 

 Of the 150,000 acres under this project, 35,000 were public 

 lands, and so eager are the farmers to obtain homes in 

 this valley that 25,000 acres have been filed upon already 

 and the settlers are living on their claims in compliance 

 with the homestead act and waiting patiently for the time 

 when water can be turned on. Irrigated land in this sec- 

 tion is easily worth $100 per acre. Fruit lands under 

 the project will be worth from $500 to $1,000 per acre. 

 Land without water rights is selling at from $10 to $60 

 per acre." 



Mr. J. H. Quinton, consulting engineer in the United 

 States Reclamation Service in charge of work in Nevada, 

 Utah, and Colorado, with headquarters at Provo, Utah, has 

 resigned the supervisory work of his district on account 

 of ill health, but will continue in the service on a consult- 

 ing basis. 



Mr. Quinton was born in Ireland and educated at 

 Queen's College, Belfast, and Queen's College, Galway. 

 He came to this country in the early seventies and has 

 been prominently identified with important railroad and 

 canal construction and general engineering work through- 

 out the West since that time, having built more than 

 seventy tunnels, some of large size. 



It is probable that the several states which have been 

 under his supervision will be. added to adjoining districts. 



The work of the Reclamation Service is being some- 

 what embarrassed and delayed by claims for damages 

 from conditions which arise in connection with construc- 

 tion work. Some of these damages undoubtedly have a 



proper basis, and every reasonable effort is being made 

 to secure payment of a just compensation; but the proper 

 claims are to a certain extent delayed and embarrassed by 

 a great number of more or less fictitious or exaggerated 

 statements. 



A very common mistake made by claimants is to 

 attempt to swell their claims by adding items which, 

 upon examination, prove to be absurd. The claimant fre- 

 quently overlooks the fact that the men who examine such 

 claims are chosen for their ability and familiarity with 

 such matters, and when they find misstatements of facts 

 or exaggerations they naturally assume that the claim, as 

 a whole, is weak. Very often a just and proper claim for 

 a small amount is so weighted down with fictitious items 

 that it is practically impossible to separate the wheat from 

 the chaff. 



The very fact that a claim is against "a great and 

 generous Government" seems to encourage the claimants 

 to believe that they can expect payment of damages for 

 items which in ordinary business practice would not be 

 considered. Water temporarily diverted from a canal dur- 

 ing repairs is held by them to result in vast damages, 

 whereas, as a matter of fact, if the same repairs were 

 carried on by the people themselves, they would never 

 for a moment consider the matter other than as a slight 

 inconvenience, which must be endured in the same degree 

 as rain or snow storms. 



For example, in Nevada one man put in claims for 

 damages which were based on the fact that he did not 

 receive water just when he wanted it. It was shown upon 

 evidence that if it had been offered he would not have 

 received water because of the fact that the rainfall in 

 that year was sufficient and that the works of the Govern- 

 ment had no influence whatever on the amount of water 

 which came to him. Also, at the particular part of the 

 year when he might have had the water, he neglected to 

 use it, thinking that fortunate rains might occur again. 



The claimant also put in an item of loss on feeding 

 several hundred head of animals, and as a matter of fact, 

 merely hoped to be able to acquire them, and estimated 

 the profits which he might have had if the water had been 

 received in sufficient quantities to supply a certain number 

 of head of stock. 



The point which is being emphasized wtih all of 

 these claimants is that the Government will endeavor to 

 treat them as fairly as would an individual; but that the 

 fact that the Government is owning and operating ditches 

 will not enable them to secure great profits from acci- 

 dental occurrences or misfortunes in which they have been 

 contributory participants. In other words, if as part own- 

 ers of a ditch they have been accustomed to suffer certain 

 disappointments and losses, the fact that the Government 

 for the time being is operating the ditch does not give 

 them a foundation for large claims for alleged damages 

 due to rains, frosts, or other weather conditions, or to the 

 ordinary accidents to which all such enterprises are sub- 

 ject. 



That the stringency of the money market is not 

 affecting the farmers under the Truckee-Carson irrigation 

 project, Nevada, is evidenced by an official report for the 

 month of September received at the office of the Reclama- 

 tion Service in Washington. 



During September the third crop of hay was cut in 

 the valley and the price of alfalfa is quoted at $12 per 

 ton in the stack, while baled hay is being sold at $18 per 

 ton. Eggs bring 60 cents per dozen, and other products 

 are correspondingly high. Potatoes sell at $35 a ton 

 wholesale in spite of the fact that the largest crop of 

 potatoes ever grown in the valley was harvested. 



The farmers of the project have formed an organiza- 

 tion to be known as the Truckee-Carson Farmers' Club, 

 for mutual benefit in social and business matters. 



The completion of the second unit of this project dur- 

 ing the season just passed has thrown open a large addi- 

 tional acreage to settlement, and the unusually fine facili- 

 ties offered to farmers in this section are attracting a 

 large number of desirable settlers. 



The actual pumping of water from the Missouri river 

 into the canal system of the Williston irrigation project 

 in western North Dakota has begun, and until cold weather 

 prevents, tests of the apparatus and the gradual filling and 



