THE IERIGATION AGE. 



447 



000 acre-feet and the dam at Straw- 

 berry, nearly completed, will provide 

 as much more. 



by the Imperial irrigation district 

 board of directors. The water supply 

 comes from the Colorado river. 



stated that 22,000 acres will be 

 brought under irrigation in a few 

 years. 



From 2,000 to 3,000 acres will be 

 sown in rice in Willows county, Cal., 

 next spring. Rice fields yielded better 

 than 50 sacks an acre this year. 



The project of the Northern Cali- 

 fornia Irrigation Company, formerly 

 known as the Pit river project, is 

 progressing rapidly, and as the re- 

 ports of the engineers in the field 

 come in, the wonderful possibilities 

 of this enterprise become more ap- 

 parent. The preliminary surveys an- 

 ticipated that about 100,000 acres of 

 land would be brought in, but the sur- 

 vey now being made shows that this 

 estimate was far too low. The 

 project will water at 'east 300,000 

 acres and the power possibilities will 

 be at least twice as great as at first 

 supposed. In addition to watering 

 this vast area and making available 

 200,000 electric horsepower energy, 

 the plans also contemplate the crea- 

 tion of a series of storage reservoirs 

 that will practically control the flood 

 waters of this vast drainage area at all 

 seasons of the year. 



Construction work on the second 

 unit of the Goose Valley Irrigation 

 Company's project is progressing rap- 

 idly. The original unit embraced 70,- 

 000 acres, most of which will be de- 

 voted to forage crops, while the 

 present undertaking, which is known 

 as the West Side project, will water 

 45,000 acres of land suitable for 

 peaches, pears, apples and alfalfa. The 

 impounding dam which is being con- 

 structed to form the main reservoir is 

 66 feet high, 200 feet long at the bot- 

 tom and 600 feet at the top. This 

 forms a reservoir that will store 65,- 

 000 acre-feet of water, from which the 

 two main canals will be supplied. The 

 cost of construction will be approxi- 

 mately $1,000.000. The cost of the 

 water to the land will be $25 an acre 

 and a small yearly assessment for up- 

 keep. 



The Turlock city council is plan- 

 ning to install a new pump in time 

 for next year's irrigation season. The 

 city is rapidly outgrowing its present 

 pumping facilities, and last season 

 there was a considerable shortage of 

 water. Water Superintendent G. H. 

 Taber has recommended the installa- 

 tion of another pump with a capacity 

 of 3.000 gallons per minute and the 

 boring of a new well. 



The work of excavating the Byron- 

 Bethany Company's irrigation ditch 

 near Byron, Cal., has begun. A large 

 force is engaged in the work, includ- 

 ing many scrapers and teamsters. The 

 contract for building laterals is to be 

 let to some of the stockholders. 



Imperial Valley voted nearly 10 to 

 1 in favor of the $3,500,000 bond issue 

 for the purchase of the California 

 Development Company's irrigation 

 system. Parfof the system is in Mex- 

 ico and will necessitate the ownership 

 of stock in the Mexican corporation 



The Chicago Park, Forest Springs 

 and Union Hill districts of California 

 have launched a movement with the 

 idea of organizing into a water dis- 

 trict under the Wright act, for the 

 purpose of voting irrigation bonds to 

 construct 138 miles of canal. By such 

 a system of water distribution it is 



The Modoc Irrigation Company of 

 California has acquired the rights of 

 the Surprise Valley Water Company. 

 The new company, capitalized at 

 $1,000,000. has assumed the $85,000 ob- 

 ligations its predecessor contracted in 

 its efforts to consummate this great 

 project. 



Cutting Ditches 



And Laterals In 



New Easy Way 



This is the invention 

 for cutting ditches 

 for irrigation and 

 drainage purposes. 



Sent you on 



10 Days' 

 FREE 



Does Work of 100 Men and Cuts Cost of 

 Ditching Way Down 



THE ABOVE ILLUSTRATION shows you the new method of cutting 

 ditches with the remarkable little Martin Ditching and Road Grading 

 Machine, invented by an Owensboro, Kentucky, farmer, for lessening 

 the cost of draining wet land and cutting ditches and laterals, as well as for 

 cleaning out old ditches and laterals. 



It is a simply constructed, all steel device without any wheels or other 

 unnecessary parts to gfet out of fix, break, or give trouble. So simple that 

 any blacksmith could fix any part of it in case of unavoidable breakage. 

 Requires only one man and one team to operate it. Cuts a V-shaped ditch 

 at an angle of about 45 degrees, and in ordinary land will cut a ditch 1200 

 yards long and two feet deep in a single day. With one team and one man 

 it will do the work of 100 men with shovels or ten men and ten teams with 

 plows, scrapers, etc. and do it better. Best of all, it is 



Only One -Tenth Cost 



of the big, heavy, clumsy machines, and will be sent on ten days' free trial 

 with money-back guarantee. Write today for descriptive catalogue, prices 

 and testimonials. It will be a revelation to you ! 



Owensboro Ditcher and Grader Co. 



103 Allen St., Owensboro, Ky. 



