872 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



(.Continued from page .870.) 



to the effect that the unusually heavy snowfall at the 

 headwaters of the streams on which they are located has 

 already nearly filled the reservoirs. This assures an 

 abundant water supply to the settlers. 



Believing that the completion of the Wapato irriga- 

 tion project, involving 120,000 acres of land on the Yakima 

 Indian reservation must be brought about with funds now 

 held for the Indians, the Toppenish Commercial Club re- 

 cently sent a lengthy letter to the Secretary of the Interior 

 suggesting that this be done if possible. 



With settlers flocking into the country by the scores 

 work on irrigation systems about White Bluffs is being 

 rushed with all speed practicable. Eight thousand acres 

 are to be watered by the low line ditch of the Wahluke 

 irrigation project this spring and 20,000 acres will be 

 irrigated on the completion of the high line ditch. 



Plans to i.rigate 2,000 acres of the lower Eureka Flat 

 district by building a canal 12 feet wide, 3 feet deep and 

 33J4 miles long to connect the district with the Touchet 

 river, are expected to materialize within a very short 

 time. 



IDAHO. 



S. D. Boone, who was the first manager of the Idaho 

 Irrigation Company, says that the capacity of that com- 

 pany's Magic Dam, that is situated about 16 miles south 

 of Hailey and backs water to within 12 miles of Hailey, 

 is oved 210,000 acre-feet. It is said to be the biggest, 

 highest earth dam in the world, and it has a concrete 

 core reinforced with sheet steel on each side. 



The Idagon Irrigation Project, which will furnish 

 water for 20,000 acres of fine fruit land in Owyhee county, 

 was purchased recently by W. H. Abel, lawyer; J. C. Hay- 

 ward, broker, and E. F. Taylor, contractor, all of Portland 

 Oregon. The purchasers will at once complete the work 

 and will have water ready for delivery in 1912. The old 

 company had constructed 21 miles of canal and had done 

 considerable work on the reservoir on Sucker Creek, from 

 which water for the project is to be secured. 



The unique pumping plant of the Snake River Irriga- 

 tion Company, located on the Snake River immediately 

 west of F'ayette, is completed and ready to furnish water 

 for a large acreage on Dead Ox Flat. It is the second 

 plant of its kind ever built. 



MONTANA. 



Consulting Engineer Robert Sibley visited Butte re- 

 cently where he was in consultation with the Plainsmont 

 Company regarding plans for the irrigation of a large tract 

 of land near Plains. G. R. Wharton, A. H. Wethey', C. 

 A. Henderson and several other men prominent in busi- 

 ness circles form the personnel of the company, which 

 owns over 4,000 acres just across the river from Plains 

 and all water rights in Swamp Creek, which flows through 

 the tract. 



Suit for $3,500 damages was recently brought against 

 the Bitter Root Irrigation Company in the district court 

 by Gilmore D. Pierce. The action was based on the al- 

 legation that the defendant company broke a contract 

 with the plaintiff. 



OBE&ON. 



The traffic department of the Oregon-Washington 

 Railway and Navigation Company is receiving numerous 

 inquiries regarding the opening of the fourth unit of the 

 Umatilla irrigation project in northeastern Oregon. This 

 is near the town of Hermiston. The federal department 

 has just completed a huge dam site at this place at an 

 expense of $1,250,000. The third unit was thrown open 

 to settlement February 2nd. The rest of the land in the 

 project will be open for entry within the next year. 



Work on a big irrigation ditch at West Stayton is 

 being carried on at the present time, the company having 

 60 men and 25 teams engaged in excavating. The ditch 



is being built large enough to supply water not only to 

 the land controlled by the company, but to adjoining farms 

 if desired by the owners. 



J. R. Blackaby, president of the Ontario National Bank 

 of Ontario, predicts a great growth for Ontario and 

 Malehur county during the next year, based on the open- 

 ing of 10,000 acres of irrigated lands tributary to that town, 

 the general spread of information as to the eastern Ore- 

 gon opportunities and the probability that present rail- 

 road activity will make Ontario the junction point of the 

 east and west line of the Oregon and Washington Railway. 



Although the rainfall of the Willamette valley has 

 been considered ample for practically all purposes, a 

 proposal to irrigate this land is before the people. A 

 company has been formed at Portland and a tract near 

 Salem will be watered by means of a canal from the 

 Santin river. Land has been purchased and work is now 

 going forward on irrigation canals, which are to be com- 

 pleted in time for watering next season's crops. 



Owing to the opening of irrigated lands by the gov- 

 ernment in Central Oregon, local representatives of the 

 Great Northern railway are expecting a rush of tourists 

 and colonists with the opening of the colonist season. 



It was expected that before the first of the present 

 month the reorganizing of the Dechutes Irrigation & 

 Power Company as the Central Oregon Irrigation Com- 

 pany would be completed and the bonds of the new- 

 company exchanged for those of the old, but delay in the 

 arrival of the members of the reorganization committee 

 prevented this. Engineers who reported on the project 

 recently say that it will require but a short time to entirely 

 clean up the first two segregations and leave a good profit 

 for the company. 



Eight bills have been enacted into law by the recent 

 Legislature which tend to strengthen and make more 

 complete the water laws of Oregon. F'erhaps the most 

 important of these is the act extending the present irriga- 

 tion district law. 



NEW MEXICO. 



An -eight million dollar enterprise is now understood 

 to have been finally launched in Colfax County, uniting 

 half a dozen big projects in an undertaking to reclaim 

 a total of 150,000 acres, almost as large a tract as will be 

 irrigated by the immense Elephant Butte dam of the 

 government on the Rio Grande. This project, if carried 

 through, will be one of the most ambitious in the history 

 of irrigation in the southwest. 



The election for the approval of the bond issue of 

 $480,000 of the Orchard Irrigation District in San Juan . 

 county was held by the residents of that district recently, 

 the bonds carrying by a vote of 13 to 2. This district is 

 organized under the same law as the Estancia Irrigation 

 district and will mean a great deal for the apple country. 



The report that the Estancia Irrigation district could 

 not find a market for its bonds was misleading, as a repre- 

 sentative of the General Electric Company of Schenectady. 

 New York, was recently in Estancia in consultation with 

 the board of directors and virtually offered to install the 

 whole plant and take the bonds as payment. 



That 750,000 acres are now under irrigation in New 

 Mexico and that water is now available for a total of 

 4,000,000 acres, are two interesting statements in a report 

 for the past two years just issued by Territorial Engineer 

 Miller. He estimates undeveloped water power at a half 

 million horse power, and shows that $7,000 is being spent 

 annually for the collection of data on New Mexico's water 

 resources. 



The approval by the New Mexico irrigation engineer 



of the application of the Gila River Power Company to 



appropriate water from the Gila river for irrigation and 



power purposes, clears the way for one of the largest 



(Continued on page 878.) 



