344 



THE IRKIGATION AGE. 



AMERICAN 



RECLAMATION 



FEDERATION 



(Incorporated Not for Profit) 



WITH WHICH IS MERGED 



The Chicago Irrigation Association 



AND 



The American Irrigation Federation 



Section 2. The American Reclamation Federation is 

 organized for the promotion and encouragement of the 

 irrigation, reclamation, drainage, colonization and develop- 

 ment of land within the United States of America, and to 

 facilitate conference and deliberation among the people of 

 the country concerning such reclamation and related in- 

 terests, especially to promote agreement and con- 

 certed action among those organizations interested in the 

 conservation and proper utilization of our natural re- 

 sources to the end that united efforts may be towards 

 agreed upon ultimate results. 



THE OFFICERS OF THE FEDERATION ARE: 



EDMUND T. PERKINS, President 

 ISHAM RANDOLPH, Vice-President 

 D. H. ANDERSON, Secretary 

 W. F. VAN BUSKIRK, Treasurer 



DIRECTORS : 



EDMUND T. PERKINS, President Edmund T. Perkins 



Engineering Co. 

 HENRY C. WOOD, Wood & Lounsbury, Attorneys-at- 



Law. 



D. H. ANDERSON, Publisher "Irrigation Age" 

 W. L. PARK, Vice-President, Illinois Central R. R. 

 FRANK B. KNIGHT, Chicago Manager, Lidgerwood 



Manufacturing Co. 

 WALTERS. MILLER, Vice-President, Fairbanks, Morse 



&Co. 



CHARLES J. VOPICKA, President, Atlas Brewing Co. 

 W. B. BOGERT, Chicago Board of Trade. 

 W. F. VAN BUSKIRK, Vice-President, Standard Trust 



& Savings Bank 



JOHN D. HIBBARD, President, North American Secur- 

 ities Co. 



ISHAM RANDOLPH, Consulting Engineer 

 JAMES A. McLANE, James A. McLane & Co. 

 RICHARD S. THAIN, Lewiston Land & Water Co. 

 C. B. SCHMIDT, Ind. Com'r., Rock Island Lines. 

 CLAYTON MARK, Vice-President, National Malleable 



Castings Co. 

 FRANCIS M. LANE, Editor, Nat'l Land & Irrigation 



Journal. 



Organizations and individuals interested in 

 reclamation are invited to become members. 

 Detailed information concerning initiation fees 

 and dues will be furnished upon application to the 

 secretary. Address 



D. H. Anderson, Secretary 



30 North Dearborn St., 



Chicago, 111. 



THE SAN JUAN BASIN. 



The San Juan Country, comprising that section of 

 Colorado which includes the counties of San Miguel, Dolores, 

 Montezuma, San Juan' and La Plata, has attracted not only 

 a vast army of followers of the "back to the farm" move- 

 ment but also many mining investors eager to participate 

 in its mineral wealth. 



Extending from Telluride on the northwest to Allison 

 on the southeast the San Juan basin contains the two im- 

 portant cities of Telluride and Durango, the former the 

 most important mining center of southwestern Colorado, 

 the latter both an agricultural and mining metropolis. 



Telluride. 



The city of Telluride, with its 3,000 inhabitants, is the 

 county seat of San Miguel County and the center of a 

 rich mineralized section embracing more than 200 square 

 miles of territory which has in the past 15 years yielded 

 more than $1,000,000 in value annually. It is situated in 

 a picturesque valley and is reached from the north by way 

 of Denver and Grand Junction on the main line of the 

 Denver and Rio Grande Railroad. It is also the western 

 terminal of the Rio Grande Southern, which road by con- 

 necting Telluride with Durango serves the mining towfi 

 of Rico as well as the agricultural communities of which 

 Dolores, Mancis and Cortez are the shipping points. 



Durango. 



Nature has truly blessed the San Juan Basin. Its soil 

 is unsurpassed in fertility and productivity; its many streams 

 amply supply its many irrigation systems with water; its. 

 lands are easily irrigated and its climate is ideal. 



And yet the development of this section has scarcely 

 begun; several irrigation projects are under way which will 

 develop thousands of acres of fertile land and furnish homes 

 to tens of thousands of farmers and homeseekers to whom 

 Durango will of necessity be a market place. 



La Plata County, of which Durango is the county seat, 

 is the most highly developed (agriculturally) section of the 

 San Juan District. Durango is comparatively a young city. 

 It was founded in 1880 and its growth has been the result 

 of natural conditions. Mining and agriculture have been 

 its mainstays and these industries have combined in de- 

 veloping it into a beautiful city of 10,000 inhabitants, and 

 having all the essential requirements of a modern city. It 

 has broad, regular, paved streets ; schools ; banks ; churches 

 and manufacturing plants which have 1 been important factors 

 in its commercial development. Among the latter the most 

 important are the smelter of The American Smelting and 

 Refining Company ; the machine shops of the Ball Foundry 

 and Machine Company and ' the foundry of the Vulcan 

 Foundry CompaYiy; the two latter employing a number 

 of men in the manufacture of mining and irrigation ma- 

 chinery. 



Among other enterprising towns of La Plata County 

 may be mentioned Ignacio, Bayfi'eld, Oxford, Tiffany and 

 Allison. Ignace and Bayfield are located in the Pine River 

 Valley, and are important trading points on the Denver 

 and Rio Grande Railroad between Durango and Alamosa. 

 The lands tributary to Ignacio were formerly part of 

 the Southern Ute Indian Reservation. The Federal gov- 

 ermnent from time to time diminished the reservation and 

 threw the lands open to settlement. The townsite of Ignacio 

 is located on the west bank of the Pine River and is at 

 the present time the scene of considerable building ac- 

 tivity, and what a few years ago was a vast expanse of 

 sage brush is now a fertile valley thickly dotted with 

 farm houses, modern residences and scores of substantial 

 business buildings. North of the townsite are located the 

 government buildings, Indian school and Indian trading store 

 of Hans Aspaas the licensed trader. 



The oldest town in the Pine River Valley is Bayfield 

 and while an inland town it is a flourishing community 

 surrounded by fertile irrigated lands. 



The towns of Oxford, La Boca, Tiffany and Allison 

 are at the present time but small settlements of from 20 

 to 30 families, but with an assured future. In the Ox- 

 ford district Mr. F. Brockenauer, the postmaster, has made 

 a marked success in the raising of fancy poultry, and the 

 Oxford Townsite Company is, under the management of 

 Mr L. A. O'Donnell, developing extensive fruit tracts. 



In a future article the writer will treat of the com- 

 mercial and irrigation development of La Plata County. 



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