116 



THE IKRIGATION AGE. 



project for the irrigation of these lands. Plans call for 

 the construction of a reservoir to be known as Wolf Creek 

 reservoir and to have a capacity of 5,000 acre feet. 



The colonization of thousands of acres of semi-arid and 

 newly irrigated lands bordering Denver on the east, has 

 been given impetus by the purchase of 3,500 acres lying 

 under the Antero project by a syndicate of Fort Worth, 

 Texas, capitalists, for $250.000. The tract occupies the 

 central portion of the Antero irrigation system which was 

 completed last year by the Henry L. Doherty interests. 

 Three hundred acres of the tract lie just outside of the 

 system, but they carry water rights. 



The reclamation service has accepted the offer of the 

 Grand Junction Mining and Fuel Company to furnish 

 the power needed during the construction of the Grand 

 river diversion dam and tunnel No. 3, units of the Grand 

 Valley irrigation project, Colorado. 



Under the terms of the contract to be entered into 

 the government will pay approximately $36,418 for the 

 power service, an amount considerably less than the cost 

 of installing a new plant. 



The Secretary of the Interior has authorized the 

 Reclamation Service to proceed at once to complete three 

 important divisions of the Uncompahgre irrigation project 

 in Colorado. These units of the work are as follows: 



1st. Excavation of the East Canal system from the 

 headworks to the junction with the Loutsenhizer canal, 

 providing for the irrigation of 22,000 acres between the 

 Selig and Garnet canal system; following this excavation 

 headworks and lateral system will be completed. 



3nd. Construction of headworks, enlargement of 

 present Selig ditch, and construction of upper end of the 

 Selig extension, a distance of 4 miles; construction of 

 lower end of extension and of the Selig branch and the 

 completion of the Peach Valley lateral. 



3rd. Construction of Buttermilk, Poverty Mesa, and 

 Roubideaux laterals and extension of Spring Creek and 

 East Coal Creek laterals. 



The total expenditures approved for the completion 

 of the three canal systems is $7,14,650, and the completed 

 works will provide for the future irrigation of 78,000 acres. 



MONTANA. 



The completion for the excavation for the foundation 

 of Sun River diversion dam marks an important step in 

 the construction of the Sun River irrigation project, Mon- 

 tana, one of the largest projects so far undertaken by the 

 Reclamation Service. 



The dam site is in the narrow rock gorge through which 

 Sun River flows, about 72 miles west from Great Falls. 

 In excavating for the foundation the engineers encoun- 

 tered conditions similar to those in the Shoshone Canyon 

 in northern Wyoming, where the Shoshone dam was 

 constructed by the Service a few years ago. Huge boul- 

 ders had ground great holes deep in the rocky bed, and 

 the drills went down seventy feet before finding the solid 

 foundation rock. 



So narrow is the canyon that it is estimated one 

 thousand cubic yards of masonry will bring the dam to an 

 elevation well above the normal water level. This work 

 will be performed immediately. The structure. will have 

 a height of 125 feet, and a length along its curved crest 

 of 260 feet, but its length at water level will be only 

 about 15 feet. Water stored in the mountains will be 

 allowed to run down Sun River to this diversion dam 

 when needed for irrigation, where it will be diverted into 

 the supply canal for Pishkun reservoir, and later to a 

 supply canal for the Willow Creek reservoir, which now 

 stores the normal flow of Willow and Little Willow 

 creeks for the Fort Shaw unit. The machinery used in 

 constructing this dam will all be actuated by electric 

 power. 



Secretary of the Interior Lane has authorized the 

 Reclamation Service to hold an auction sale of town lots 

 in the government townsite of Ballantine on the Huntley 

 irrigation project on April 1. 



NEW MEXICO. 



Col. Jas. of Des Moines, N. M., has given out the in- 

 formation that he will construct a diversion dam to cost 

 $50,000 early in the spring on the Cimarron river, for the 

 purpose of supplying a reservoir with 3,000 acre feet of 

 water, to be used for irrigating a large tract of land. 



That the money necessary to proceed with the Red 

 River irrigation project in Taos county, through which 

 30,000 acres of state land are to be reclaimed, has been 

 secured, is the statement recently made to the state en- 

 gineer by Messrs. John Oleson and J. F. Sanborn of 

 Denver, who have submitted for approval a form of con- 

 tract entered into with an insurance company for the 

 necessary capital to finance this project. Several years 

 ago this project was undertaken and extensive surveys 

 made, but was later given up, owing to the depression in 

 irrigation finances. Work on the first unit will be com- 

 menced on May 1 of this year, and 5,000 acres will be 

 under cultivation by May 1, 1915, and two years thereafter 

 the second unit of 25,000 acres must be under water, 

 according to the contract. A bond of $41,000 must be 

 given by the purchasers, who will pay $7.00 per acre, or 

 $4.00 more than the minimum price for the land, the 

 payment to be made as land is disposed of to settlers. 



The Secretary of the Interior has authorized the 

 Reclamation Service to execute contract with the Best 

 Manufacturing Company of Pittsburgh, Pa., for furnishing 

 balanced valves for service conduits of the Elephant 

 Butte dam in connection with the Rio Grande project in 

 New Mexico. The contract price is $24,980. 



OREGON. 



The Secretary of the Interior has approved the con- 

 struction of the sixth unit of the Umatilla irrigation 

 project, Oregon, known as the West Extension and em- 

 bracing 10,000 acres of land. The Secretary's approval 

 covers an allotment of $800,000 for the work. 



The Umatilla project embraces some of the most 

 valuable fruit and truck land in the West, and the develop- 

 ment already shown on the areas now under irrigation 

 on the east side predicates a very substantial increase 

 in the population and taxable wealth of the state as soon 

 as the west side lands are brought under cultivation. 



The allotment just made initiates the government 

 upon a work which will call for a total investment of 

 nearly $4,000,000 and will provide for the reclamation of 

 nearly 40,000 acres now almost wholly desert and unpro- 

 ductive. 



TEXAS. 



At a recent election held in Ward county irrigation 

 district No. 1 the old directors and the assessor and col- 

 lector were re-elected for a two-year term. The directors 

 have had under way a survey of the reservoir site and 

 intake and will soon have same completed, when an esti- 

 mate will be made of the probable cost of the construction 

 of the reservoir and canals necessary for the impounding 

 of water for the district and an election will then be held 

 for a bond issue. 



The old "acequia" running through the southern part 

 of El Paso and now known as the Franklin canal, will be 

 improved at an early date. The work will be done by the 

 U. S. Reclamation Service at a cost of $200,000. This irri- 

 gation canal is 30 miles in length, and for 7,000 feet, 

 through El Paso, the sides and bottom will be concreted, 

 necessitating the excavation of 175,000 cubic yards of 

 earth. . 



C. C. Lockwood. former auditor of the West Texas 

 Telephone Company at Brownwood, has resigned his 

 position and will engage in farming in San Saba county. 

 Mr. Lockwood has purchased a tract of 700 acres on the 

 Colorado river near the town of San Saba. The tract 

 contains over 1,000 pecan trees and nearly all of the land 

 is susceptible of irrigation. 



Articles of incorporation have been filed by the United 

 Land and Irrigation Company, with a capital stock of 

 $165,000. Principal office of the company is located at 



