298 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



PREDICTS GREAT PROGRESS IN IRRIGATION 



U ""THE Newlands bill appropriating $500,000,000 

 i for the construction of huge reservoirs in 

 Colorado, Montana and one or two other Western 

 states will be passed at the next session of Con- 

 gress," declared J. B. Case of Abilene, Kan., presi- 

 dent of the international irrigation congress, which 

 will meet in California during the week of Septem- 

 ber 17. President Case predicted that there would 

 be more progress in irrigation and colonization in 

 this country in the next ten years than in the last 

 forty years. 



/'There is a widesnread and genuine interest in 

 the Newlands act throughout the territory inter- 

 ested," continued Mr. Case. "A systematic cam- 

 paign is to be made in the interests of the passage 

 of this act at the next session of Congress. Suffi- 

 cient sentiment has already been crystalized to in- 

 sure its passage, but we are going to take no 

 chances. Meetings will be held in every state af- 

 fected by the measure, and every effort will be made 

 to bring out an overwhelming and unrefusable de- 

 mand for its passage. 



"The Newlands act proposes to appropriate 

 $500,000,000 in ten annual installments of $50,000,- 

 000 for the construction of huge reservoirs in the 

 intermountain country containing headwaters of 

 large streams for the purpose of supplying water 

 and power to these and adjacent states. 



"We propose to discuss at the next congress 

 practical means for taking care of the immense army 

 of colonists that will come to this country at the 

 close of the present war in Europe. With the nu- 

 merous irrigation projects now under construction 

 and in process of creation, we will have plenty of 

 available land for the thrifty and the honest farmer, 

 whether from this country or abroad. 



"There will be thousands attracted here by the 

 wish to escape the taxes that will burden the coun- 

 tries of Europe for years as a result of the war, and 

 we must be in a position to give these men a fair 

 chance with our own people to win a competence 

 from the soil." 



The 1915 session of the Irrigation Congress will 

 be held on wheels. One thousand automobiles have 

 been tendered the officers of the convention for the 

 purpose of transporting the delegates from Sacra- 

 mento, where the convention will open, to Stockton 

 for the second day's proceedings, and from thence 

 to Fresno and then on to San Francisco, where the 

 final sessions of the congress will be held in Festival 

 Hall at the Panama-Pacific Exposition. Instead of 

 exhibits in halls or buildings the delegates will see 

 growing orchards, fields and vineyards during the 

 automobile journey between the points named. 



FLOATS GIANT EXCAVATOR ACROSS RIVER 



From the Adelaide, Australia, Chronicle 



THE Irrigation and Reclamation Works Depart- 

 ment has performed a feat of some note in 

 transferring intact across the River Murray the type 

 A Austin excavator which was purchased in America 

 and erected on the Mypolonga swamp during the 

 regime of the Verran Government, at a cost of 

 6,826. A Parliamentary party was taken down to 

 see the big machine in motion, and members were 

 much impressed by its size. The excavator has two 

 enormous arms, which rise up on either side to a 

 height of about 30 ft. The spread of these arms is 

 80 ft. from tip to tip, and the complete machine, 

 which travels over the earth upon "caterpillars," 

 weighs 80 tons. It is a great labor-saver, but the 

 department was criticised for having bought such a 

 costly machine, for it was considered much too 

 heavy and unwieldy to be moved across the stream 

 to other swamps without being dismantled. Mr. S. 

 Mclntosh (Director of Irrigation and Reclamation 

 Works) enquired in America to ascertain the 

 methods that would be adopted in similar circum- 

 stances there. The Americans advised, building a 

 pontoon to float the machine intact across the broad 

 stream, but the pontoon, besides costing a couple of 

 thousand pounds or so, would have been of little 

 use for anything except as a float for the excavator. 

 The question of shifting the huge machine long 

 troubled Mr. Mslntosh. Engineers in South Aus- 

 tralia advised him that he would have to dismantle 



it, carry it in sections, and erect it again on the new 

 site. It was a fast worker and did not take long 

 in fixing up the drains on Mypolonga and other 

 swamps on the western side of the stream, finishing 

 at Wall Swamp, not far from Mannum. Then it 

 was required at Neeta Swamp, on the other side of 

 the river, and the transportation question had to be 

 settled. To dismantle the machine, carry it in sec- 

 tions, and reassemble it would have cost about 

 250, and as that expense would recur every time a 

 water-shift was required, it would probably have 

 counteracted the value of the machinery in com- 

 parison to manual labor. In addition the process 

 would have occupied about six weeks, and the ex- 

 cavator would have been out of use all that time. 



Therefore Mr. Mclntosh 'decided upon a bold 

 course, which many people said would end in dis- 

 aster. He gave instructions for two barges to be 

 built, which were required in the general operations 

 of the department, and proposed to lash these ves- 

 sels together, run the big machine onto them, and 

 sail away with it on board. Competent engineers 

 prophesied failure and facetiously asked Mr. Mcln- 

 tosh how he was going to fish the wreck out of the 

 river, for the machine, with its long arms reaching 

 up into the sky, was considered so top-heavy that 

 the barges would not carry it. People who have 

 seen the excavator realize the magnitude of the 

 undertaking. Still, in spite of all opposition, Mr. 

 Mclntosh lashed the barges together and ran the 



