352 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



TEXAS. 



B. L. Womack, a large potato planter of Cal- 

 houn, Tex., is sinking two wells preparatory to irri- 

 gation. Owing to dry weather, which as a rule pre- 

 vails in that district during August and September, 

 it is almost impossible to raise a full crop of pota- 

 toes without irrigation. He has 35 acres in alfalfa 

 which he will flood when not using the water for 

 the potatoes. Mr. Womack is evidently a convert 

 to supplemental irrigation and it is hoped that his 

 efforts may prove successful. 



On the claim that a failure of crops that San 

 Benito, Hamilton County, Texas, in 1912, resulting 

 from abnormal and unusual rainfall, and the failure 

 of the farmers to procure a market for their 1912- 

 1913 products, had resulted in bringing about con- 

 ditions in the business of The San Benito 

 Land & Water Company threatening insolvency, 

 receivers were appointed for that Company recently, 

 by Judge Waller T. Burns of the Federal Court at 

 Houston. 



T. S. Ellis, of Anahuac, Texas, Manager of The 

 Lone Star Irrigation Company, visited Houston re- 

 cently and reported that work on the dam which is 

 being constructed across the neck of Turtle Bay, 

 so that the farmers in the adjoining part of Cham- 

 bers County may have plenty of fresh water for 

 irrigation purposes, is progressing nicely. Work 

 on the dam commenced June 28th, and although the 

 contract states that the work shall be completed 

 by the latter part of September, Mr. Ellis thinks 

 it may take somewhat longer to entirely finish the 

 work. 



The Trans-Pecos Land & Irrigation Company, 

 Arno, has been incorporated at Arno, Reeves 

 County, with a capital of $500,000. The purpose 

 being to reclaim land for agriculture under irriga- 

 tion. 



the Minidoka irrigation project, Idaho. The con- 

 tract amounts to $14,056.66. 



MISCELLANEOUS 



In view of the unusual requirements regarding 

 operation and maintenance during the current year 

 on various irrigation projects, the Secretary of the 

 Interior has ordered that water users who are 

 actually unable to pay such charges and who shall 

 have failed to pay them by July 21, 1913, may be 

 allowed to receive water after making an agreement 

 in writing to make an additional and further pay- 

 ment of one cent per acre for each month which 

 elapses in whole or in part from July 21, 1913, to the 

 date of payment. Such additional charge shall be 

 separately added to each portion of an installment 

 for operation and maintenance remaining unpaid 

 on and after July 21, 1913, that is to say, those who 

 owe portions of installments for operation and 

 maintenance for two years shall be required to add 

 the amount of two cents per acre per month or 

 fraction of a month. 



On Saturday, June 14, 1913, the Teel Irrigation 

 District of Echo, Oregon, voted bonds in the 

 amount of $1,200,000 for the construction of neces- 

 sary works to supply water for irrigation purposes. 

 The district comprises 20,000 acres. The main fea- 

 tures of construction will be a tunnel 12,341 feet 

 long, a storage reservoir dam 105 feet high, 650 feet 

 long on top and 200 feet on the bottom, a main 

 canal 19 miles long, including 5 miles of flume, and 

 ditching for distributing system of 54 miles, with 

 all structures connected built of concrete. W. B. 

 Hinkle is chief engineer, and J. Frank Spinning 

 secretary. 



The Secretary of the Interior has authorized 

 the Reclamation Service to proceed with the plans 

 for the construction of the sixth unit of the Uma- 

 tilla irrigation project, Oregon, which is the 10,000 

 acre unit of the west extension, on condition that 

 the Oregon Land & Water Co. will agree to a modi- 

 fication of its decree, to the effect that these lands 

 may be sold in farm units to be fixed by the Sec- 

 retary of the Interior, not exceeding those fixed 

 for the Northern Pacific lands in the same project. 

 The land owners and settlers must file water right 

 applications, and the charges per acre will be fixed 

 by the Secretary of the Interior. 



The Secretary of the Interior has directed the 

 Reclamation Service to execute contract with the 

 Standard Underground Cable Company of Los 

 Angeles, California, for furnishing copper wire for 



On March 27, the Secretary of the Interior 

 signed a contract with the State of Oregon provid- 

 ing for co-operation between the federal govern- 

 ment and that state in the investigation of irriga- 

 tion and power projects. Under the terms of the 

 contract the secretary agrees to withdraw the nec- 

 essary land, and the state engineer agrees to hold 

 the necessary water for the irrigation of projects 

 under investigation. 



The first work to be taken up was the investi- 

 gation of a project for storing waters of Upper 

 Deschutes river and diverting it at some point 

 between the town of Bend and Cline Falls. Active 

 organization for field work was not begun until 

 about the first of May, when a topographic party 

 was put in the field to develop detail topography of 

 the dam site and vicinity. 



In a power survey and investigation of Des- 

 chutes river, made in 1911 by the U. S. Geological 

 Survey in co-operation with the State of Oregon, 

 it was developed that a dam between 65 and 70 

 feet high, immediately above Benham Falls, would 

 store approximately 700,000 acre feet of water, 

 something less than the estimated supply available 

 from winter flow. From any point below Benham 

 Falls it would be difficult to divert water from 

 Deschutes river to any considerable body of land 

 other than that already being served or in process 

 of being served by the Central Oregon Irrigation 

 Company, successors to the Deschutes Irrigation 

 and Power Company, Carey Act corporations. 



The apparently cheap storage referred to sug- 

 gested that it might be feasible to divert this water 

 to lands north of Crooked River and the Central 

 Oregon Irrigation Company lands on the east side 

 of the river, and the lands on the west side of the 



