266 



THE IBRIGATION AGE. 



only, and 5,000 acres is state land, which will be sold to 

 settlers under a law passed by the state legislature re- 

 quiring the sale of the land whenever water is ready. 



The deeded land is owned mainly in large tracts, 

 and from the fact that the law does not allow over one 

 hundred and sixty acres to be held by an individual, a 

 great deal of it will have to be sold, and can be pur- 

 chased at from eight dollars per acre upwards, the price 

 depending upon improvements and location. The gov- 

 ernment land can be taken up in tracts of one hundred 

 and sixty acres or under, according to the amount of 

 irrigable land in each farm unit, eighty acres being the 

 standard unit. 



Only water for irrigable land has to be paid for. 

 To illustrate more clearly I will say that if a man has 

 sixty-seven acres of irrigable land he will be assessed 

 sixty-seven one hun- 

 dred thousandths of 

 the total cost of con- 

 struction or one one- 

 hundred thousandth 

 for each irrigable 

 acre, this being based 

 on the fact that there 

 are one hundred 

 thousand acres of ir- 

 rigable land in the 

 tract, and on that 

 base a pro-rata charge 

 is made for each irri- 

 gable acre whether 

 deeded, government 

 or state land. 



The total cost of 

 the project will be 

 about $3,000,000. 

 Therefore each irri- 

 gable acre will be as- 

 sessed about $30, di- 

 vided into equal an- 

 nual payments of 

 $3.00 per acre, per 

 year, for a period of 

 ten years, without in- 

 terest. 



The interest fea- 

 ture may not possibly 

 be clear to some of 

 our readers and I 

 will explain that un- 

 der the Eeclamation Law the bugbear of interest bear- 

 ing debt is entirely done away with. The farmer who 

 secures land in a tract developed under this law is called 

 upon to pay only the annual pro rata cost per acre for the 

 establishment of the plant and development of the entire 

 project, to which amount will be added a small tax for 

 maintenance and operation of the project during the 

 ten years the government will retain control and opera- 

 tion. This tax is estimated at forty cents per acre for 

 the first year, and will possibly run above or below that 

 figure according to the measure of economy practiced in 

 handling the project. The cost is, after all, in the con- 

 trol of the water user, the farmer himself, and will de- 

 pend largely upon the manner in which he handles his 

 interests. 



The sum of $3,000,000 includes water from ditches, 

 also reservoir water. The estimated cost of $3,000,000 



No. 2. 

 No. 3. 



No. 4. 



is based on contracts already let or completed, and may 

 vary slightly in either direction. 



The laterals are constructed to each man's land, 

 and it is not necessary, as is the case in many private 

 projects, for the farmer to invest money to bring the 

 water long distances from a main canal to his own farm 

 laterals. This is a helpful move on the part of the 

 Reclamation Service as it relieves the farmer from what 

 would otherwise prove a hardship, as some of them 

 would be ready to build the laterals long before others, 

 therefore would have to build them themselves. 



When this money is expended it will represent the 

 construction of the following property : 



A concrete diverting dam across the Belle Fourche 

 River already completed at a cost of $100,000. 



The inlet canal for delivering water from the Belle 



Fourche River to the 

 reservoir. This canal 

 is six and one-half 

 miles long, forty feet 

 wide on the bottom, 

 seventy feet wide at 

 the water line, carry- 

 ing water ten feet in 

 depth, with a capa- 

 city of 1,635 cubic 

 feet of water per sec- 

 ond. This ditch and 

 dam are completed 

 and in use. 



The Belle Fourche 

 Reservoir which will, 

 when full, have an 

 area of over 8,000 

 acres, and a maxi- 

 mum depth of one 

 hundred feet, will 

 hold over 200,000 

 acre feet of water, or 

 enough water to 

 cover 100,000 acres 

 two feet deep. With 

 the present rainfall 

 in that district, one 

 acre foot is ample to 

 insure a crop. The 

 water stored in the 

 reservoir could be di- 

 vided into four irri- 

 gations of six inches ; 

 six irrigations of four inches or eight irrigations of three 

 inches. When it is considered that a rainfall of two 

 inches is torrential one may readily determine the quan- 

 tity that may be supplied under this project, and it is 

 well to remember that this water is stored in a reservoir 

 and can be taken out as the farmer needs it. 



In biiilding the Belle Fourche reservoir, an illus- 

 tration of which is herewith shown, it required a dam 

 which is the largest earth structure in the TJnited States. 

 It is 6,200 feet long on top, 115 feet high, in the highest 

 place, is built of gumbo or heavy clay which is wet and 

 rolled in six inch layers by huge steam rollers. The 

 dam is over 500 feet in width at the bottom. The inside 

 surface or that next to the water will be protected by 

 two feet of screened gravel rolled or rammed into the 

 surface, on which will be laid an eight inch concrete 

 facing. The outside of the dam will be protected from 



1. View of Intake Across Back Water at North End of Diverting Dam at 



Low Water. 



Regulator at Head of Main Supply Canal Through Which the Belle Fourche 

 River is Diverted to the Reservoir and the Lands Under the Project. 

 Diverting Dam in Belle Fourche River near the City of Belle Fourche, 



So. Dak. ; 400 Feet Long and Controls Whole Flow of River. 

 Irrigated Apple Orchard and Bee Hives on the Stearns Ranch, 7J^ Miles 

 Southeast of Belle Fourche. 



