THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



297 



from which the irrigation project is named, and not 

 from the town of Belle Fourche which is about a mile 

 above the diversion dam. This river rises in western 

 Wyoming and is fed by the snows of the Eocky Moun- 

 tains. Its water shed above the diversion covers some 

 four thousand three hundred square miles and the flow 

 is sufficient to water much more land than is available, 

 if the flow can be stored and none allowed to run to 

 waste. 



Having then the land of excellent quality and a 

 bountiful source of water supply it remains to design 

 a system for applying this water to the land. The ob- 

 vious plan would be to find some place along the river 

 where the bed is narrow and the bank high, and by 

 building an impounding dam, construct a reservoir, in 



wide on the bottom and carries about 1,600 cubic feet 

 of water per second. The water is taken from the 

 reservoir through two openings controlled by steel gates, 

 called the North and South conduits, which lead into 

 the North Canal and South Canal respectively. The 

 former has an initial capacity of about 800 cubic feet 

 of water per second and will irrigate some 65,000 acres 

 of land, about the three-fourths of which is public land. 

 Near the center of this area is located the Government 

 townsite, which will be laid out and improved according 

 to best modern practice before settlement is invited. 

 Tinder the north canal there is being and will be con- 

 structed in the neighborhood of 150 miles of laterals 

 and sublaterals. 



The main settled portion of the Belle Fourche 



No. 1. Scotts Bluff County, Nebraska, exhibit at Nebraska State Fair, 1907. 



which the water can be stored and drawn upon as 

 needed. Unfortunately no such place can be found 

 where there is sufficient valley above, and a suitable 

 foundation for a masonry dam which can be used as 

 a reservoir, a full examination of river having been 

 made between Belle Fourche and Moorcraft, Wyo., 

 -which is at the head waters of this stream. However, 

 the engineer in charge found that there is an ideal site 

 for a reservoir on Owl Creek, about thirteen miles 

 northeast of the town of Belle Fourche. 



At this point are found considerable deposits of 

 very compact clay from which is being constructed the 

 largest earthen dam without a core wall in the world. 

 Across the river about a mile below Belle Fourche has 

 been built a diverting dam of concrete and steel, which 

 is used to divert the water from the river into the above 

 mentioned reservoir through the inlet canal. This canal 

 is approximately six and one-half miles long, forty feet 



Valley is on the south side of the river, in the center 

 of which portion is the town of Vale, in fact, this is 

 the only town at present under the project, the Govern- 

 ment townsite being not yet opened for settlement. 

 Though there has been a postoffice at the site of Vale 

 for a number of years, it began to grow with the as- 

 surance of the irrigation project and now has four large 

 stores, hotels, two livery stables, a bank, newspaper, 

 real estate and United States commissioner's office. 



The south side comprises about 23,000 irrigable 

 acres, to reach which the south canal crosses the Belle 

 Fourche River in a steel-reinforced concrete pressure 

 pipe, five feet inside diameter and some 3,800 feet long. 

 About nine miles below this pressure pipe the canal 

 crosses Whitewood Creek in a shorter, similar pipe, but 

 of larger diameter. Under the south side distributing 

 system are about sixty miles of laterals and sublaterals. 

 The south canal also waters about 12,000 acres before 

 it cropscs the river. 



