THE IBRIGATION AGE. 



265 



per year, can readily be made to earn more than that by 

 careful cultivation, and if one would figure on a six 

 per cent basis for the earning capacity of the land and 

 it is making fifty dollars per acre, per year, he could 

 readily put a price on the land so high that it would 

 be entirely beyond the reach of the contemplating pur- 

 chaser. It has often been said that there will be a time 

 when irrigated land lying adjacent to large cities will 

 and can easily pay twenty-five dollars per acre, per an- 

 num, for water; and it is my impression that at no dis- 

 tant day this will be done and still leave a profit for the 

 one who cultivates it. 



Land which a few years ago in the Belle Fourche 

 district was worth one dollar and one dollar and a half 

 per acre, may today, under water, be made to earn 

 twenty dollars, net, from, small grains and alfalfa. 

 When land is earning 

 fifty dollars per acre 

 there is no doubt but 

 that the water could 

 easily be estimated as 

 worth ten dollars per 

 acre per year. Hence, 

 we say, there is some- 

 thing almost inex- 

 plainable in the man- 

 ner in which land 

 may be developed un- 

 der irrigation when 

 no unfavorable con- 

 ditions, such as the 

 presence of alkali, 

 shortage of water or 

 similar difficulty is 

 encountered. 



There is hardly 

 any way to estimate 

 what may ultimately 

 be produced on each 

 acre where the farmer 

 goes in for the best 

 paying crops and in- 

 telligently cultivates 

 them. That part of 

 the Belle Fourche 

 district, of which we 

 are now writing, will 

 be materially i in- 

 proved each year by 

 working it. The soil 

 is fine, and being aerated by the roots of strong growing 

 crops will be more easily cultivated from year to year 

 and take on more readily atmospheric benefits which 

 would not be likely to reach it in its uncultivated form. 

 It has been said that alfalfa roots are the breathing 

 pipes of the soil, and this is true of any other heavy 

 rooted, hardy crop. 



These thoughts come to me following a recent visit 

 to the Belle Pourche Irrigation Project, which is being 

 constructed under government supervision, in South 

 Dakota, on the line of the Chicago and Northwestern 

 Eailway. 



This particular tract, which will comprise about 

 100,000 acres when completed, possibly slightly in ex- 

 cess of that, may easily be described by that well known 

 phrase, "A Wonderland in the Northwest." 



To one who is unacquainted with the agricultural 



No. 1. 



No. 3. 

 No. 4. 



possibilities and growth of South Dakota and other states 

 where irrigation is practiced, this district will be full of 

 interest, and our intention is to describe as clearly as 

 possible this particular area with a view to assisting 

 homeseekers who contemplate moving west. 



There is nothing more fascinating than the opening 

 up and developing of a new country, especially when 

 that country is fertile, has productive soil and is rich 

 in other natural resources. Those of us who have had 

 some part in the transformation of such a country from 

 its original state of wilderness to the modern dwelling 

 place for man are indeed most fortunate. 



Many reclamation projects are now being worked 

 out by the Government and through private or state 

 enterprise in various parts of the country ; but it is safe 

 to say that the Belle Fourche project now being devel- 

 oped by the Reclama- 

 tion Service, under 

 the direct supervision 

 of Mr. Raymond F. 

 Walter, engineer, is 

 one of the cleanest 

 and best planned pro- 

 jects in the entire 

 western country. 



Immediately fol- 

 lowing the passage of 

 the Reclamation Law, 

 Mr. Newell, Chief 

 Engineer of the Rec- 

 lamation Bureau, 

 sent engineers of 

 known ability into 

 various sections of 

 the country with in- 

 structions to secure 

 data which would be 

 available in the se- 

 lection of desirable 

 locations for irriga- 

 tion development. 



Mr. Walter was 

 sent into South Da- 

 kota. He was in- 

 structed to examine 

 carefully all feasible 

 localities and report 

 to headquarters. Af- 

 ter careful study of 

 the situation he ad- 

 vised his superiors that the Belle Fourche project pre- 

 sented the best available features in the state, taking 

 in some 100,000 acres of irrigable land. 



This project lies in a territory east and northeast 

 of Belle Pourche, extending altogether about thirty 

 miles eastwardly from that town, and what is known as 

 the North Canal extends about twelve miles north and 

 thirty miles eastwardly in its different windings from 

 that center. The land lies from fourteen to thirty miles 

 north from the Black Hills. 



There are 152,000 acres of land included in the 

 Belle Fourche project, 100,000 acres of which is irriga- 

 ble, the balance is rough land, river bottoms and creeks 

 and other stretches, which are overflowed by the river 

 in flood time. 



Of the irrigable land 50,000 acres is deeded, 45,- 

 000 acres government land, subject to homestead entry 



Raymond F. Walter, Engineer in Charge, Belle Fourche Project, Belle 



Fourche, So. Dak. 

 Walter W. Patch, Resident Engineer on the Belle Fourche Dam, Orman, 



So. Dak. 

 O. T. Reedy, in Charge of Construction of the South Canal and Whitewood 



Syphon, Vale, So. Dak. 



W. W. Schlecht, Snoma, So. Dak., Resident Engineer Constructing the 

 Belle Fourche Syphon and Tunnel. 



