870 



THE I R R I G A T I X AGE. 



Reclamation Notes 



Joaquin river through its two canals at Firebaugh ferry, 

 in Fresno county. 



CALIFORNIA. 



The irrigation ditches in the vicinity of Browns Valley 

 and Smartsville are being cleaned out preparatory to 

 being put in condition for the transference of water this 

 spring and summer. 



The East F'ark reservoir of the Orland Reclamation 

 Project is full of water. When measured recently there 

 was found to be eighty-five feet of water. This will in- 

 sure plenty of water for irrigating the lands in the 

 project. 



A delegation of probably twenty local and Tehama 

 county property owners went to Sacramento recently to 

 appear before the Legislature and protest against the pas- 

 sage of a senate bill, which provides that irrigation ditches 

 may be carried across the lands of private owners with- 

 out being compelled by law to furnish water to those 

 lands. 



Over 250,000 acres of rich land in the Sacramento 

 Valley are being irrigated by the Kuhn Syndicate. This 

 project is reported to be of more importance than the 

 one at Twin Falls, backed by the same responsible com- 

 pany. 



It is possible that there will be an extensive irriga- 

 tion system developed in the Little Simi Valley, about 

 twenty miles east of Oxnard, the system to have its center 

 at the Warne Brothers' ranch. 



J. L. Slater, the promoter, who organized the Tehama 

 Irrigated Lands Company and purchased many thousands 

 of acres of farming land in the vicinity of Red Bluff with 

 a view to colonizing it, recently filed six deeds of this 

 land from himself and wife to the Tehama Irrigated Lands 

 Company, the combined tracts covering 3,000 acres of 

 land. 



More than 500,000 acres of land under a $10,000 irriga- 

 tion system has been added to the resources of southern 

 California through the Chucawalla bill by the recently 

 adjourned Congress. Actual work on this great project 

 was started in March, when two surveying crews left Los 

 Angeles for the dam site on the Colorado river. The 

 Chucawalla and Palo Verde valleys are to be brought 

 under cultivation by this project. 



For the irrigation of alfalfa on the red hills near 

 Wheatland, a number of wells will be sunk in time to fur- 

 nish water for the summer's irrigation. The first well 

 will be sunk on the Oakley tract, which the owners wish 

 to maintain as demonstration of what can be done on the 

 red lands adjacent to Wheatland. The idea is to show 

 that with irrigation anything can be grojvn on the red 

 soil. 



The Senate has passed the bill by Assemblyman Griffin 

 of Modesto to give Boards of Directors of irrigation dis- 

 tricts power to levy assessments to pay regular expenses 

 or meet emergencies without calling an election. It is 

 provided, however, that such assessments must be 

 levied by at least four-fifths of the directors of a district. 



The citizens of Orland and residents of the surround- 

 ing country are planning a great celebration when the 

 irrigation system of the Orland project is opened and 

 the water distributed over the land. It is expected that 

 the system will be completed about the middle of April. 



A decision was handed down in the Supreme Court 

 recently upholding the injunction granted in 1904 to J. J. 

 Stevinson, a corporation, prohibiting the San Joaquin 

 and Kings River Canal & Irrigation Company from tak- 

 ing more than 760 cubic feet per second from the San 



The United States department of agriculture, in a 

 bulletin just issued, reports that construction work is now 

 under way, which will, when completed, result in the ir- 

 rigation of 750,000 acres of land. 



The canal dam north of Knight's Landing was re- 

 cently cut and the flood water discharged into the Yolo 

 and Colusa basin, thus doing away with the menace to 

 the reclamation districts in that section. 



Reclamation district in Yolo county will coyer its 

 levee with a sheet of concrete to make it impervious to 

 washing when the water is high outside it. 



Deep snow in the higher mountains surrounding the 

 Sacramento Valley assures plenty of water for mining, 

 electric power and irrigation during the coming summer. 



It is reported that the Sutter-Butte Canal Company 

 recently purchased the Butte County Canal Company pro- 

 perties, paying over a million dollars, and that they will 

 extend the system for irrigation purposes in Sutler and 

 Butte counties. The project consists of 57 miles of canals 

 and 131 miles of laterals. 



UTAH. 



Suit was recently started in the United States district 

 court by the Utah-Colorado Cattle & Improvement Com- 

 pany against the Paradox Irrigation and Land Company 

 to recover $2,400 damages alleged to have been done to 

 property of the plaintiff company by the breaking of a 

 dam owned by the defendant company. 



At a mass meeting of the citizens, city and county 

 officials and members of various irrigation companies of 

 Webster county, the project for constructing for Ogden 

 and vicinity a monster reservoir in South Fork Canyon 

 was carried through. Sufficient stock in the proposition 

 was subscribed to assure the success of the enterprise. 

 The company will be incorporated under the laws of Utah, 

 with an authorized capital stock of not less than $750,000. 



While the big Weber and Davis counties canal is be- 

 ing rushed to completion, preparations are being made to 

 start work on the enlargement of the mammoth reservoir 

 in East canyon, a tributary to Webster canyon, about 

 twelve miles above Morgan. 



The present reservoir, which has a capacity of 6,000,- 

 000 cubic feet, and is 145 feet in depth above the outlet 

 tunnel, is to be increased to a capacity of 1,200,000,000 

 cubic feet by enlarging the dam. 



The Delta Land & Irrigation Company has recently 

 been organized to take over the Oasis project to reclaim 

 43,000 acres of land in northern Millard county, which was 

 abandoned by the Oasis Land & Irrigation Company a 

 year ago when its big diversion dam in the Sevier river 

 went to pieces. They will rush the work to completion 

 this year. 



A bill was recently introduced in the House by the 

 Committee on Irrigation providing for the selection of 

 reservoir sites, construction of reservoirs and empowering 

 the state land board to make loans from reservoir land 

 grant fund. 



Chief Engineer Davis, of the reclamation service, met 

 with the board of the Strawberry Valley Water Users' 

 Association and suggested that the capital stock of the 

 corporation be increased from $40.00 to $60.00 per share 

 J. S. McBeth, president of the association, has called a 

 meeting of the stockholders to be held in Spanish Fork 

 City pavilion, Payson, April 17th, with the hope that this 

 can be done in order that the work may be pushed through 

 and completed. 



WASHINGTON. 



Officials of the U. S. Reclamation Service and farmers 

 on irrigation projects are looking forward to an exception- 

 al crop season. Advices from the several projects are 

 (Continued on page 872.) 



