86 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



MISCELLANEOUS 



The Sun River Valley in Montana is now entering 

 upon an era of electrical development which is to hasten 

 the completion of one of the government's huge irrigation 

 projects. 



Seventy miles of transmisspn line have been built, 

 extending from the Rainbow Falls hydro-electric plant 

 of the Great Falls Power Company on the Missouri river, 

 westerly through the entire length of the valley to the 

 base of the mountains where the principal diversion dam 

 is now under construction across Sun River. The elec- 

 trical energy, transmitted at a voltage of 110,000, is 

 stepped down at three transformer stations, from which 

 it will be distributed to the principal features of the work. 

 It is now being used at the Sun River diversion dam, 

 operating pumps and air compressors, concrete mixers. 

 derricks, and in lighting the construction camp and the 

 site of the work. The government is constructing a dis- 

 tribution transmission line along the Piehkun reservoir 

 and the Sun River Slope canals, a distance of 44 miles. 



The contract for the excavation of the main canals 

 and laterals has been awarded and the contracting com- 

 pany is having special power shovels and drag line scrap- 

 ers designed and constructed for the work. All power 

 machinery on the work will be actuated by electrical en- 

 ergy, including the air compressors on the tunnel work. 



The exclusye use of electrical energy in the con- 

 struction of an irrigation project, including the excavating 

 of the canals, marks a radical departure from the old 

 order of things and a new epoch in construction work. 

 It is believed that a considerable reduction of cost and 

 time will be accomplished. 



The power company is bound by the contract to 

 extend the present trunk transmission line 30 miles when 

 required by the United States, at right angles entirely 

 across the project. This will make available at the outset 

 electrical energy for each of the towns already projected 

 along the three new lines of railway which are being con- 

 structed across the project, giving them cheap light and 

 power for manufacturing and allied uses. They may also 

 follow the example of the towns on the Minidoke project 

 in southern Idaho, where many of the homes, business 

 houses, and public buildings, are heated as well as lighted 

 by electricity from the government power plant. 



The Sun River project involves some of the largest 

 features of construction work yet undertaken by the rec- 

 lamation service, and the results obtained by settlers on 

 the Fort Shaw unit justify the expectation that this will 

 be one of the most satisfactory of the northern projects. 



The Secretary of the Interior has authorized the 

 expenditure of $70,000 in the extension of the canal and 

 lateral system, Yuma irrigation project, Arizona-Califor- 

 nia. This work will bring a considerable additional area 

 under ditch for which the main canals have already been 

 constructed. The land which will be served by the new 

 ditches has all been filed upon. 



The Secretary of the Interior has authorized the 

 Reclamation Service to execute contract with the Hinman 

 Hydraulic Mfg. Co., of Denver, Colorado, for furnishing 

 regular gates for the Grand river dam in connection with 

 the Grand Valley irrigation project, Colorado. The con- 

 tract price is $6,079. 



Actual construction on this project commenced one 

 year ago, and progress has been most satisfactory. A 

 tunnel 3,725 feet in length has been completed, more 

 than a thousand linear feet of the second tunnel has been 

 excavated, and work has commenced on the third tunnel. 

 Construction work on the high, line canal itself is well 

 under way and the diversion dam site in Grand river is 

 progressing rapidly. 



This dam will be unique in American engineering, the 

 only other structure of its type in this country having 

 been built in connection with the Boise irrigation project 

 in southern Idaho. It will be provided with movable 

 crest consisting of large steel rolls. During the low water 

 period this rolling crest will be in place to force the 

 water into the canals, but in times of flood it rolls up on 

 the abutment, allowing the high water to pass. It is es- 

 timated that it will require two years for the construc- 

 tion of this dam, as work can be carried on only during 

 the low water period. 



(Continued from page 78) 



a response. But the results are now apparent to 

 even a casual observer. More specifically, while 

 previously the forests were going backward be- 

 cause of fires, there is now an annual gain through 

 growth. This increase translated into dollars and 

 cents is much greater than the total cost of pro- 

 duction and all other expenses of the forests. 



The necessity to take immediate steps to pre- 

 vent the public forests from being destroyed by 

 fire has placed a large emphasis on the protective 

 feature of the administration. The wise use of the 

 forest resources in the development of industries 

 and in building up the country is essentially the 

 real aim of maintaining the forests. Protection 

 from destruction is a first essential ; otherwise there 

 would be no resources to use. But the purpose of 

 the administration is not merely protective, but 

 constructive. It is a favorite theme of the oppo- 

 nents of the national forest system to represent the 

 forests as a separate federal domain, held for the 

 use of future generations or for persons other than 

 those now living in the region in which the forests 

 are situated. Such statements are not only con- 

 trary to the spirit of the administration of the 

 forests, but are disproved by the results already 

 being secured. The aim is to make the forests 

 count in the highest possible measure in the indus- 

 trial upbuilding of the local communities, at the 

 same time that they serve their broader public func- 

 tions. In classifying the agricultural lands the aim 

 is to get people to make permanent homes in the 

 , forests. Every consideration in the development 

 of the states and in the upbuilding of the forests 

 themselves makes for the encouragement of a 

 greater local population. When there are people 

 to create a demand for the timber and other re- 

 sources, the real development of the forest becomes 

 possible, and the forest begins to render its greatest 

 service. 



To encourage this development the Forest 

 Service is promoting the sale of its ripe timber to 

 build up local lumber industries of a permanent 

 character ; it is opening to entry land chiefly 

 adapted to agriculture; it is further helping the 

 settler by providing free such timber as he needs 

 and protecting him in the use of the range needed 

 for his stock; and in every way it undertakes to 

 make the forests of public service and the country 

 in the long run a better place for men and women 

 to live in. 



That a long step has already been taken toward 

 this end is indicated by the very extraordinary 

 change in sentiment in the West in the last few 

 years. I have this year been able to analyze in detail 

 the sentiment on the individual forests and now 

 know just where opposition in each case exists and 

 the extent to which the work of the federal govern- 

 ment is valued. I have been astonished at the over- 

 whelming preponderance of sentiment among the lo- 

 cal communities in favor of the forest system. Fre- 

 quently there are objections to certain regulations, 

 or difficulty and friction in specific transactions. 

 But every year these local troubles are being ad- 

 justed on the ground. There is still definite oppo- 

 sition to the forest system and the principles of 



