1110 



THE IKKIGATION AGE. 



Reclamation Notes 



CALIFORNIA. 



A deed was recently filed with the county recorder of 

 Yuba County transferring a portion of the Browns Valley 

 Irrigation district to Thomas Turner of Browns Valley. 

 Turner intends to use the property he has acquired in con- 

 nection with an irrigation project he is promoting. The 

 opening of this district adjoining the Browns Valley dis- 

 trict will bring many settlers to that section, as the ter- 

 ritory affected is very rich land and with irrigation will be 

 valuable for fruit raising and other agricultural pursuits. 



The Sacramento Valley Colonization Company, who 

 recently acquired and have been colonizing the Haggin 

 tract, just north of Sacramento, have purchased the Chow- 

 chilla ranch, which contains nearly 110,000 acres in a solid 

 body. The larger part of this land is in Madeira county 

 and the remainder is in Merced county. The land is in 

 the artesian belt and there are thirty-seven flowing wells 

 on the property. The Chowchilla canal also furnishes 

 water for irrigation and the lay of the land affords perfect 

 drainage. The work of getting the property ready for 

 market is proceeding with all possible haste and It is pre- 

 dicted that within a year the greater part of it will be ac- 

 quired by colonists. 



The tax rate for the coming year was fixed at $3.00 

 by the board of directors of the Modesto Irrigation dis- 

 trict at their meeting held recently, all of the directors 

 being present. This is an advance of over 45 cents over 

 last year's rate and is due to the $25,'000 special assess- 

 ment. The rate was computed upon an assessed valuation 

 of $6,003,385. 



The detailed report of the board of army engineers 

 especially appointed to investigate the various reclamation 

 projects of the United States Government shows that 

 there have been $3,781,355 spent on the reclamation work 

 at Yuma. The report is the most exhaustive ever pub- 

 lished by the government on this department of its work. 



The Sacramento Valley Irrigation Company has de- 

 cided to place upon the market a townsite to be known 

 as Monroeville, on the line of the new Colusa & Hamil- 

 ton City Railway. The new town site will be equipped 

 with an underground irrigation system of concrete pipes 

 placed far enough below the surface of the ground to in- 

 sure a dustribution of water over the entire site. The land 

 will be cut up in five and ten acre tracts and placed on the 

 market. 



Thirty-five thousand acres of land in Contra Costa 

 county are to be put under irrigation by a company of 

 capitalists which has been organized for the purpose. 

 Water is to be taken from the San Joaquin river at a point 

 near the little town of Oakley. The district will extend 

 from the town of Bay Point on the bay shore to the San 

 Joaquin county line and to the slopes of Mt. Diablo. 



That Alturas is to be the center of the largest colon- 

 ization work in Northern California in many years now 

 seems to be an established fact. There are to be three 

 large and four small reservoirs put in. The region will be 

 reclaimed, ditches dug and the land planted to alfalfa and 

 grain. 



The main canal of the Thornton Irrigation Company 

 has been completed at Thornton, and work will be started 

 on the laterals at once. The water for irrigation is 

 pumped from the Mokelumne river when the water is low, 

 and during the season when the water is high the pump 

 acts as a suction and the water is carried to the land with- 

 out cost. 



By the construction of a water ditch three miles from 

 the Butte County canal, 6,000 acres of the Richvale colony 

 have been placed under irrigation. About 6,000 more acres 

 will be added to the irrigated land in a short time. 



It is rumored that Eastern capitalists will soon form 

 an irrigation project for the irrigating of the Farmington 

 section of San Toaquin county with water obtained from 

 the Salt Spring Valley reservoir. It is estimated that this 

 reservoir will store enough water to supply 25,000 acres 

 during the irrigation season. 



COLORADO. 



Flans to irrigate over 3,000 acres of land by a ditch 

 and reservoir system were filed recently in the office pi 

 the county clerk. The new irrigation project will be built 

 east of the city of Pueblo by the Adamson Ditch and 

 Reservoir Company. The new project will cost some- 

 where in the neighborhood of $11,000 and will be com- 

 pleted some time next spring. 



Denver, Rifle and Grand Valley capitalists have or- 

 ganized an irrigation project to water 20,000 acres of high 

 mesa land south of the Grand river. The surveys cover 

 land from Spring creek on Battlement mesa to the lower 

 end of Bonita Park section. Practically all of the land in- 

 volved belongs to the government. 



Contracts have been closed for the irrigation of 3,000 

 acres of land in the Grand valley and 1,920 acres near Fort 

 Morgan by means of pumps. 



Contract has recently been awarded the McDowell 

 Construction Company of Lamar by the people of the 

 Omer Irrigation district for the construction of a system. 

 The project consists of a dam across the Apishapa river 

 and the construction of a storage reservoir for flow water, 

 which will hold 20,000 acre-feet of water. The contract 

 stipulates that work shall begin within sixty days and that 

 the irrigation system shall be completed within one year. 

 The Omer district, about twelve miles south of Fowler, is 

 generally level, with good slope, and the soil when irri- 

 gated is as productive as any found anywhere in the 

 valley. 



Contract has been signed for boring of the 14,725-foot 

 tunnel through the continental divide, twelve miles west 

 of Empire, in Clear Creek county. The tunnel will carry 

 the waters of the Williams Fork river, on the western 

 slope, to the Henrylyn irrigation district, northeast of 

 Denver. The main range tunnel will cost $589,000. The 

 entire project to carry water from the western to the 

 eastern slope, including a 3,000-foot tunnel and the neces- 

 sary ditches, will represent an investment of $1,000,000. 



The biggest land sale yet made under the new Hard- 

 scrabble Irrigation district was that of the Bean and Lan- 

 caster tracts, comprising 380 acres of the finest land in 

 the very heart of the district. The tract in question has 

 good improvement, 100* acres in alfalfa and 150 acres in 

 other crops. 



MONTANA. 



The Reclamation Service announces its latest home- 

 stead undertaking, the Huntley irrigation project, in Mon- 

 tana, is fast being settled by the newcomers to the west, 

 and that splendid crops of all sorts are being produced. 

 One of the principal crops being raised with success in 

 the new country is sugar beets. 



In the Sun River Valley the government is construct- 

 ing an irrigation project embracing about 250,000 acres of 

 exceptionally fertile land. The first unit, known as the 

 Fort Shaw Unit, is completed. 



For the purpose of extending the main ditch of the 

 Billings Land and Irrigation Company about two miles 

 and constructing two miles of laterals between Crooked 

 and Razor Creeks, surveys are being made. It is expected 

 to begin work on the proposed extension immediately and 

 will mean, when completed, a large acreage of land under 

 irrigation which has heretofore been dry land. 

 NEW MEXICO. 



L. E. Foster, resident engineer at Carlsbad, states that 

 the United States Reclamation Service plans to make of 

 the Carlsbad project a permanent proposition in all re- 

 spects when the repairs now contemplated are completed. 

 Mr. Foster gives out the plans of the improvement in de- 

 tail, the whole amounting to $50,000 in cost instead of $40,- 

 000 as heretofore announced. 



Articles of incorporation have been filed in the secre- 

 tary's office by the Portales Valley Irrigation Land and 

 Development Company at Portales, naming Basil J. 

 Reagan as agent. The company is incorporated at $25,000. 



The United States Reclamation Service has found it 

 necessary to issue a warning against misrepresentations 

 made by land agents as to the lands and prospects under 

 the Elephant Butte project. Much harm may be done 

 New Mexico by permitting small investors to be swindled 

 or to be lured to New Mexico by stories that are over- 

 drawn. The simple truth is good enough advertisement 

 for New Mexico. 



