390 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



prepare graphic representations for the information of 

 their farmers. 



The director of this division has asked that the manu- 

 facturers of the United States be informed of the new 

 office and that they may send to him detailed catalogues, 

 with prices of agricultural machinery, motors, pumps, 

 turbines, etc., and to report to him all data referring to 

 new'constructions and inventions. 



In exchange the director will gladly give all the in- 

 formation possible regarding agricultural implements in 

 use in Argentina. 



Correspondence concerning this subject should be ad- 

 dressed to Senor Ingeniero Enrique Lopez Aldana, 

 Laboratorio de Mecanica Agricola y Trabajos Craficos. 

 Ministerio de Agricultura, Buenos Aires, South America. 



Announcement has recently been made 

 Costly by the officials of the Denver & Rio 



Improvements Grande Railway that it has been decided 

 on Denver & Rio to standard gauge the present narrow 

 Grande System, gauge line over Marshall Pass between 

 Salida and Montrose, Colorado, and this 

 will involve the widening of the gauge from three feet 

 to four feet eight and a half inches for a distance of 136 

 miles, at a cost of approximately $2,000,000. 



Between 1893 and 1900 Transcontinental trains of the 

 Denver & Rio Grande were operated over Marshall Pass, 

 but in the last named year a standard gauge line by way 

 of Tennessee Pass and Glenwood Springs to Grand Junc- 

 tion was completed, and since then through trains have 

 been operated over the latter route, and the Marshall 

 Pass narrow gauge line has been reserved especially for 

 tourists and sight-seers, and such local freight as origi- 

 nated in the narrow gauge territory. The Marshall Pass 

 route has been famed the world over for its scenic at- 

 tractions, as it crosses the Continental Divide at an alti- 

 tude of 10,856 feet, and the new standard gauge line will 

 cross at the same elevation and preserve many of the 

 scenic attractions of the old route. 



Marshall Pass, by reason of its being the first, is per- 

 haps the best known crossing of the Continental Divide. 



The decision of the directors to appropriate this large 

 sum of money for the betterment of this line is an indica- 

 tion of the farsightedness of the officials of the road, and 

 this move will be much appreciated by the traveling public 

 generally. 



In conversation with a gentleman who 

 Idaho to recently returned from the state of 



Become Idaho we learn that a farmer from Hoi- 



Great land who originally located in Oregon 



Dairy State. has purchased a ranch near Buhl in the 



state of Idaho and has gone into the 

 dairy business, the principal product to be high-grade 

 cheese. 



Our informant states that the Hollander is extremely 

 enthusiastic over the possibilities of that section as a 

 dairy country. He states that he has at present 75 milk 

 producing cattle on his ranch and claims that he will 

 make each head earn $75 per year, and if they will not do 

 that, or close to it, he would put them on the block, in 

 other words, dispose of them. 



The Hollander states further that one acre of land, 

 planted to the right crops, in this section of Idaho will 

 take care of one milch cow and if this is true he can make 

 his acres earn him $75 each per year, which would be a 



very good profit on land that cost him not to exceed $60 

 per acre, including a water right. 



This sounds like a big story, but so many big stories 

 have come out of Idaho which have subsequently been 

 verified, that we are inclined to think this man knows 

 what he is talking about. It is our intention to study this 

 departure further when the writer visits Idaho sometime 

 early in October and secure complete information as to 

 this work and inform our readers from time to time con- 

 cerning the development of the enterprise. 



If $75 can be made from each cow and an acre will 

 support a cow it would be difficult to estimate the value 

 of the land. It should certainly be worth three times its 

 annual producing value. 



A conference of officials of the Reclama- 

 Important Meet- tion Service, representatives of the 

 ing to Be Held Transcontinental Railways and State 

 at Salt Lake City Land Boards will be held at Salt Lake 

 September 30. City, Monday, September 30, 1912, just 

 prior to the opening of the Twentieth 

 National Irrigation Congress. 



This conference will take up the subject of settle- 

 ment of public lands in the west and will be attended by 

 representatives of the railways, reclamation service and 

 newspaper men interested in the subject. 



The questions to be discussed are as follows: 



(1) How to find the name and address of the man 

 who really desires a small farm. 



(2) How to sift out of the thousands of names thus 

 obtained those persons who are presumably competent 

 to make a success. 



(3) How to gain the confidence of the latter and to 

 make valuable suggestions to them. 



(4) How to test the various agencies or individuals 

 who are offering opportunities to determine whether the 

 lands offered are suitable for small farms and homes. 



(5) How to get the' information concerning these 

 lands to the persons who are seeking them. 



(6) How to eliminate the agencies which are known 

 or suspected to be untrustworthy. 



These questions were gone over carefully at a series 

 of meetings held in Chicago in May of this year, and it 

 was decided to hold meetings at stated periods in the 

 future so that the matter could be thoroughly threshed out. 



Thousands of letters are received annually by the 

 reclamation officials and railways and publishers of irriga- 

 tion journals from home-seekers who are anxious to know 

 where to locate and who wish descriptions of various 

 localities. 



It is almost impossible to answer these questions fully 

 and at the same time be fair to the promoters of various 

 projects throughout the west hence it was decided that 

 there should be some central organization to whom such 

 inquiries may be referred one which will be absolutely 

 impartial, and which will gain the confidence of inquirers 

 by having no indirect or concealed interest in placing the 

 people in any particular section. 



The question to be considered is as to what agencies 

 now exist and to what extent they may be unified to be 

 more effective and further safeguard investments o; in- 

 tending settlers. 



This is a large problem and will, no doubt, be care- 

 fully gone over by the gentlemen who will attend the 

 conference, a report of which will be given in a future 

 issue of THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



