THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



249 



UTAH. 



Dr. E. G. Titus, Eutomologist for the State 

 Agricultural College, visited Lehi recently in con- 

 nection with some experiments that Utah is making 

 in an effort to control the ravages of the alfalfa 

 weevil. During the winter, at the Saratoga Springs, 

 experiments were made with winter irrigation. The 

 Doctor will know in a short time whether covering 

 the alfalfa with a coat of ice will kill the destructive 

 pests. It is stated that the Saratoga alfalfa appears 

 to be advanced over any similar crop in that vicinity. 

 Dr. Titus is also conducting experiments at Lehi, 

 with fall cultivation, and hopes to prove that stir- 

 ring the soil after the weevil has hibernated in the 

 fall will help in their destruction. In any event, 

 cultivation will stimulate the alfalfa growth the 

 following season. 



F. H. Abbott, acting commissioner of Indian 

 affairs for Utah, has issued a statement in which 

 he sets forth the advantages of the Uintah basin and 

 the opportunities offered to settlers there. Under 

 the law, beneficial use of the water for irrigation 

 must be made before 1919, the water to irrigate 

 78,000 acres which is now under ditch belonging to 

 the Ute Indians. In order to develop the land, 

 leases will be granted to 1,000 white persons within 

 the next two years, the leases to be on liberal terms 

 and for five years, according to the statement. 



The Blue Mountain Irrigation Company, of 

 Monticello, San Juan county, Utah, has been organ- 

 ized with a capital stock of $15,000. A. H. Barton 

 is president; F. I. Jones, Vice-President ; F. P. Jones, 

 Secretary and Treasurer. 



At a meeting recently held at the Commercial 

 Club, in Salt Lake City, the subject of the best 

 practical means for the conservation of water was 

 discussed. It was demonstrated by experts that the 

 customary application of water to the lands in agri- 

 cultural operations in Utah is beyond any real need. 

 In fact, is beyond the best use of the water, and it 

 was clearly proven that less water would be better 

 for the crops, and would eliminate altogether the 

 overflow and the destruction of low lands by floods 

 from over-irrigation. 



Utah farmers, in Utah county, state that there 

 are about 10,000 acres of land in Utah lake bottoms 

 that are completely covered with water as the result 

 of the damming up of the mouth of the Jordan 

 River. This will ruin thousands of dollars' worth of 

 crops for the farmers in this section, and will do 

 material damage to the potato crop of Utah county, 

 as a large percentage of this acreage is planted to 

 potatoes. Farmers who are affected say that they 

 will bring suit against the Salt Lake Irrigation com- 

 panies for damages. 



Word reached us from Ogden that it will be an 

 impossibility to impound sufficient water this season 

 for irrigation purposes, and that nearly all the work 

 . on the storage reservoir and dam in South Fork 

 canyon has been suspended. Operations will not be 

 resumed until Engineer Craven has completed his 

 estimates of the work finished by the Ogden River 

 Reservoir Company. 



OREGON. 



Judge Will R. King, of Portland, Democratic 

 National Committeeman for Oregon, has been ap- 

 pointed Chief Counsel of the United States Reclama- 

 tion Service by Secretary Lane. Judge King was 

 . Associate Judge in the Oregon Supreme Court, and 

 was first selected to fill a vacancy on the Board of 

 General Appraisers, but at the solicitation of the 

 President and Secretary Lane, he consented to take 

 charge of the Legal Department of the Reclamation 

 Service, a pursuit which King himself felt was more 

 in line with his experience. 



The name of the Columbian Reclamation Proj- 

 ect will be changed to Tumalo Project. 



The Central Oregon Irrigation Company has 

 been granted until September 1st to complete its 

 irrigation project, by the desert land board of Ore- 

 gon, and the Company asked until January, 1914, 

 while counsel on behalf of the settlers who are 

 affected by the project asked that steps be taken to 

 declare the Company's bond of $25,000 void. 



The Kuhn's, of Pittsburgh, have sent engineers 

 into the country around Vale to investigate and 

 report on conditions there. They have investigated 

 Malheur, Bully Creek, Cottonwood and Willow 

 River valleys, and will present their report to the 

 Kuhn Company at Pittsburgh. 



. The Willow River Irrigation Project Company's 

 property at Brogan and Jamieson has gone to sale, 

 including their big reservoirs, fruit lands, water 

 contracts and valuable franchises and irrigation 

 sites. D. M. Brogan, after whom the townsite of 

 Brogan is named, backed by capital from Chicago, 

 began the construction of the Willow River Irriga- 

 tion Project five years ago. Under his management, 

 the project is stated to have been successful in every 

 way, but after a time, other men were placed in 

 charge of the work, and with no knowledge of the 

 science of irrigation much money was expended 

 without accomplishing any practical results. 



Umatilla county, Oregon, will, it is stated, add 

 another 20,000 acres to its area of irrigated lands. 

 The plans and specifications recently filed by W. B. 

 Hinkle, Engineer in Chief of the Teal Irrigation dis- 

 trict, with State Engineer, John H. Lewis, have 

 been approved with the result above stated. This 

 district lies across the Umatilla River from the 

 United States Government Project. 



Activities in connection with the Modoc irri- 

 gation project on the Klamath Indian reservation 

 have begun. The engineers in charge of the work 

 are now considering a change in the location of th'e 

 dam on Sprague River so as to get more fall for the 

 development of power. By moving the dam a short 

 distance up the river, a large amount of water 

 power can be developed. 



Preliminary work for a large irrigation project 

 near John Day, Oregon, is well under way. Michael 

 Spears, former county surveyor, is the engineer jn 



