1104 



THE IBRIGATION AGE. 



THE INFLUENCE OF THE IRRIGATION CON- 

 GRESS IN THE DEVELOPMENT 

 OF THE WEST.* 



The Nineteenth National Irrigation Congress, which 

 is to be held in Chicago December 5-9 of this year, 

 promises to be the most important meeting of this body 

 ever held. For twenty years the Irrigation Congress has 

 been the most potent influence in the development of the 

 West. Steady of purpose and unselfish, its efforts have 

 always been devoted to the welfare and development of 

 the western portion of the United States. Incidentally, 

 other sections have profited by the discussions of these 

 congresses and agriculture the world over has benefited. 



The passing of the Reclamation Act and the subse- 

 quent expenditure of more than sixty millions of dollars 

 by the government in the reclamation of arid lands is 

 due more to the influence of the National Irrigation Cdri- 

 gress than to any other one agency. 



In coming to Chicago for the nineteenth meeting, it 

 was the thought of the delegates to the Congress in 

 Pueblo last September that here was a great opportunity 

 for a missionary campaign, that coming to one of the 

 great commercial centers of the country an opportunity 

 would be given to the people of the East and South to 

 learn of the objects of this Congress and what could be 

 accomplished by its efforts. It is quite probable that one 

 of the most important subjects considered at this Con- 

 gress will be the extension of the reclamation act to 

 cover the drainage of the swamp lands of the South and 

 the East. In the United States there are from seventy 

 to eighty million acres of these swamp lands, and on 

 account of their location and physical conditions, it is 

 impossible for satisfactory reclamation to be undertaken 

 by district, county or state and necessarily this work 

 must be done by the Federal government. The attorneys 

 of the government in Washington believe that the execu- 

 tion of the provision of the reclamation act has estab- 

 lished precedents which would warrant the reclamation 

 of these swamp lands under somewhat similar enactments 

 of Congress, and were this done hundreds of millions of 

 dollars would be added to the wealth of the country and 

 most substantial progress made toward the proper reclam- 

 ation and conservation of our natural resources, for 

 the questions of forestry, deep waterways, prevention of 

 flood and low water periods and general reclamation of 

 arid and swamp lands relate so closely to one another 

 that a general consideration of all of these questions is 

 the only satisfactory way by which these great national 

 problems can be solved, and it is hoped and believed that 

 this meeting of the Irrigation Congress of December 

 5-9 of this year will give an effective impetus to the 

 solution of this question. 



The Acting Secretary of the 

 Interior has approved the award 

 of contract to Nelson Rich, of 

 Prosser, Washington, for the con- 

 struction of Pablo dams and ca- 

 nals, Flathead irrigation project, 

 Montana. Three dams and Syi 

 miles of canals are included in the 

 contract, involving the placing of 

 about 234,000 cubic yards of earth 

 embankment in the dams and the 

 excavation of about 200,000 cubic 

 yards of material from the canals. 

 The work is located from 2 to 3 

 miles south of Poison, Montana. 

 The contract price is $115,693 for 

 class "A" material, or $116,093 for 

 class "B." 



The Secretary of the Interior 

 is asking for proposals for the construction of about nine 

 miles of canal located on the California side of the Colo- 

 rado River on the Yuma irrigation project, Arizona. The 

 excavation and placing of about 1,300,000 cubic yards of 

 material is involved. The bids will be opened at the of- 

 fice of the United States Reclamation Service at Yuma 

 on October 12, 1911. 



Edmund T. Perkins, 

 Chairman Commit- 

 tee on Publicity, 

 Board of Control, 

 National Irrigation 

 Congress. 



ENORMOUS DEVELOPMENT WORK. 



It is a long time since there has been as much de- 

 velopment work going forward on one line of railroad 

 as is now seen along the new Puget Sound route, a part 

 of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul system. There are 

 important sections of both the Dakotas, Montana, Idaho 

 and Washington which have never had railroad facilities 

 until they were supplied by the Puget Sound line. The 

 region thus affected is larger than all of New England, 

 and it is a land of great attractions and the largest possi- 

 bilities, capable of sustaining millions of inhabitants. 



Since the new Puget Sound line became a reality, four 

 or five years ago, settlers have been going in fast, taking 

 up available land or engaging in business. The innumera- 

 ble new towns between the Missouri River and Puget 

 Sound afford an endless variety of good openings. There 

 is plenty of cheap land along the route also. In fact, 

 there is still a great deal of government land to be se- 

 cured as homesteads in the states named, much of it con- 

 venient to the railroad. One has only to think of the 

 enormous expanse of territory embraced by the new 

 Puget Sound road to comprehend the extent of the devel- 

 opment work now going forward. 



The birth of towns, the breaking up of virgin prairie 

 land, the development of market facilities, the hustling in- 

 cident to the making of new homes and the adjustment 

 of family life to untried social conditions form a situation 

 which is unique and peculiarly American. This kind of 

 thing is made attractive by the energy and adaptability 

 of American men and women. When such a scene is set 

 in the magnificent prairies and plateaus of the Dakotas 

 and their sister states to the west, it becomes a sight well 

 worth visiting. 



For tourists and the general traveling public a situa- 

 tion replete with interest has developed. It is abundantly 

 worth while to go out over the new line just to see the 

 amazing things which the settlers are doing, but still more 

 is it wise to get a permanent financial connection in a lo- 

 cality, where the rapid development affords large and 

 quick returns on investments. There are attractions for 

 travelers all the way from Chicago to Puget Sound, and 

 the trip is made in the finest of modern trains. 



*By Edmund T. Perkins, chairman, Committee on Publicity, Board 

 of Control, National Irrigation Congress. 



USE OF ODD LENGTHS IN TIMBER. 



The investigation carried on last year by the United. 

 States Department of Agriculture, cooperating with lum- 

 ber manufacturers in the South, to determine the saving 

 that can be effected by using odd lengths of lumber as 

 well as even, has begun to bear fruit. That investigation 

 showed that a material saving was practicable, and at a 

 recent meeting of a southern lumber manufacturers' as- 

 sociation the fact was brought out that a beginning has 

 been made in putting the new plan into practice, and that 

 an increase in the sale of odd lengths is anticipated for 

 the near future. 



It was formerly the custom, and generally is so still,, 

 tc sell lumber in even lengths only. Waste resulted from 

 cutting off ends of odd lengths to make them even. A 

 considerable percentage of a sawmill's output is defective. 

 That is, boards have had knots, decayed spots, or split 

 ends, and the defective parts are cut out. To make an- 

 even length of what remains, it is often necessary to cut 

 off a foot of good wood with the bad, and it is wasted. 

 The practice of marketing odd lengths as well as even is 

 meant to lessen this waste. The sale of odd lengths of 

 lumber will frequently lessen waste in the woods also; 

 for example, a log may be cut fifteen feet long, which, 

 following the old custom, would be cut only fourteen, and 1 

 the extra foot would be left in the woods. 



The introduction of odd lengths meets with opposition 

 from many builders who are prejudiced in favor of even 

 lengths simply because they have never used any other 

 kind. Nevertheless, there are many places in which odd 

 lengths are more economical than even ones for instance, 

 where nine-foot studding is used. Following former cus- 

 tom, the ends must be cut from even lengths to make 

 the timbers fit. Some manufacturers of flooring success- 

 fully sell odd and even lengths, thus lessening waste in 

 the woods, at the mill, and in the construction of build- 

 ings. 



