308 



THE IRBIGATION AGE. 



water for these lands. The principal engineering feature of 

 the Minidoka project is a darn of gravity type, 625 feet long, 

 80 feet high, 130 feet wide on the bottom and 25 feet wide on 

 top. The purposes of the dam are mainly control, diversion 

 and power development. The capacity of the reservoir is 

 approximately 900,000 acre-feet, and the water is distributed 

 through 130 miles of main canal and 110 miles of laterals. 

 The amount of power that can be developed is estimated from 

 11,000 to 30,000 horse power. 



The Payette-Boise project provides of the reclamation of 

 372,000 acres of land in southwestern Idaho. These lands arc 

 tributary to the Oregon Short line, the Boise, Nampa & 

 Owyhee and the Idaho Northern railroads. Construction 

 work is well under way and many new settlers have already 

 taken up homesteads. 



INDUSTRIAL ENTERPRISES, IRRIGATION AND 

 TOWNS SURROUNDING IN SANTA MARIA 

 VALLEY, SANTA BARBARA COUNTY, 

 CALIFORNIA. 



The engineer's report on the Yuma irrigation project, 

 California-Arizona, for the month of May states that about 

 3,500 acres of land under the Farmers' Pump Canal is under 

 cultivation, some 300 acres of this being devoted to cantaloupe 

 culture this season for the first time. Shipments of melons in 

 small quantities were made during the last ten days of the 

 month and it was expected that carload shipments would soon 

 begin. With the new gravity system in operation water will 

 be available for an additional 10,000 acres. 



Everything is in readiness to admit water to the gravity 

 system when the river reaches a proper stage. The river is 

 reported about four feet lower than a year ago, but a rise of 

 eighteen inches would be sufficient to allow of the operation 

 of the system. Work is progressing on the producer plant and 

 the foundations for gas engines which will be utilized to pump 

 water during low stages of the river. The main canals have 

 been cleaned and put in condition to receive water far a dis- 

 tance of about eighteen miles. A small force is working on 

 channels to the outlying districts which are badly silted up. 



The maximum discharge of the Colorado River for the 

 month of May was 33,700 second feet; the minimum, 23,000 

 second feet, and the mean, 27,150 second feet. 



Work on Laguna dam has been carried on continuously 

 on both sides of the river and good progress is being made. 



Approximately 80,000 acres of land which were withdrawn 

 in connection with the Cheyenne River irrigation project, South 

 Dakota, have been restored to the public domain and will be- 

 come subject to settlement and entry on such dates and after 

 such notice by publication as the Secretary of the Interior may 

 prescribe. These lands lie in Township 6, 7, 8 and 9 South. 

 Ranges 3 to 9 East, Black Hills Principal Meridian. 



Preliminary work on the Blackfeet-two Medicine irrigation 

 project, Montana, is well under way. The necessary equipment 

 and animals are being transferred from Shoshone and Hunt- 

 ley projects, where they are no longer needed, and contract 

 has been made for hauling lumber and material for the head- 

 quarters buildings at Mission. Preliminary surveys and canal 

 location are proceeding rapidly. Owing to the high stage of 

 the river and the saturated condition of the soil resulting from 

 unusually heavy rainfall, the first construction camp will prob- 

 ably be located about two and one-half miles below the 

 proposed headworks, where work on the steep hillsides and 

 sluffy banks would be difficult. It is believed that the building 

 of bridges across some five or six sloughs between the camp 

 and Two Medicine will greatly increase the freighting facil- 

 ities, and steps have been taken toward a co-operative scheme 

 of building these bridges whereby the Indian agent is to fur- 

 nish the lumber and the Reclamation Service is to do the 

 work. Such an arrangement would be an equitable one for 

 both the reservation and construction work. 



,^^_ Will pay for the 



CO FjQ IRRIGATION AGE one year and the 



PRIMER OF IRRIGATION 



BY A. T. TAYLOR. 



While the Santa Maria oil fields are at the present 

 time claiming a wide range of attention, especially 

 among capitalists and investors of the Pacific Coast, 

 the fact remains that agriculture is the life and founda- 

 tion upon which all other business enterprises are 

 based. 



Long after the oil fields of the world have been, 

 exhausted and man has ceased to remember oil as a 

 commodity, agriculture will not only have maintained 

 its supremacy in the universe, but with each succeeding 

 generation it will become more and more a part of its 

 very existence, until at last, all other enterprises will 

 be subordinate to her majesty, the soil; and so it will 

 be in the Santa Maria iValley, where today oil is king 

 and agriculture is but a secondary condition, save but 

 to the few far-sighted. 



Among the small minority in this valley who have 

 been prophetic enough to forsee the growing importance 

 of this great industry, is the Union Sugar Company. 

 This company was organized about ten years ago by 

 J. W. Atkinson and associates and is composed entirely 

 of San Francisco capital. Though it has met with many 

 sore trials, and all the prejudice attendant upon the 

 success of any great enterprise, it ranks today as one 

 of the greatest sugar properties in the world, and in 

 reality is Santa Maria's greatest benefactor. 



As an evidence of the commercial and industrial 

 importance of this company to the Santa Maria Valley, 

 -the development of the Santa Maria oil fields can be 

 directly traced to this company, as they were largely, 

 if not wholly, instrumental in creating the first and 

 profitable demand for the product. 



There is no other place in the world that is so 

 admirably adapted to the cultivation of the sugar beet 

 as the Santa Maria Valley. Here, in favorable sea- 

 sons, beets have been planted and harvested during the 

 entire year, or so that it may be better understood, 

 while the beets were being harvested in one part of the 

 field, seeding was in progress in another. 



At the present time there are 12,000 acres under 

 cultivation. The approximate yield this year will be 

 120,000 tons of beets which will produce between 15,000 

 and 18,000 tons of sugar, or about 360,000 sacks. 



The plowing and harvesting is done by the Fowler 

 System of steam engines, of which four sets or eight 

 engines are employed. The seeding season begins in 

 the latter part of October and ends about the first of 

 April. Harvesting begins about the first of June and 

 ends about the first of November. 



By the courtesy of J. W. Atkinson, the writer was 

 shown over the entire plant and premises, and even the 

 casual observer could not but have been impressed with 

 the perfect order, cleanliness and above all, the broad 

 and liberal ideas employed in every detail of its man- 

 agement. Success is apparent to the view in every de- 

 partment. 



When the factory is in operation it furnishes em- 

 ployment to 1,000 men and 600 horses and mules. They 



