76 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



Oregon 



The total cost of operating and 

 maintaining the storage and distribu- 

 tion system on the Umatilla project 

 for the season of 1915 was $24,902.54. 

 The area that has been relieved from 

 charges on account of seepage is 

 206.5 acres. The net irrigable area 

 subject to operation and maintenance 

 charges is approximately 15,000 acres. 

 This gives an average cost of about 

 $1.66 per acre, as compared to the 

 cost of $1.85 for the season of 1914. 



The area of Klamath project is to 

 be enlarged 54,000 acres within the 

 next few months if no hitch occurs in 

 negotiations now under way. The 

 cities of Klamath Falls and Dorris 

 will have this fine body of marsh 

 lands added to their already great 

 agricultural territory. A bond issue 

 is to cover the cost. 



.Assurances have been given that the 

 Suttles lake irrigation project of the 

 Grandview district, in Jefferson 

 county, will be carried to its comple- 

 tion by April, 1917, by a Salt Lake 

 City concern, which has offered to 

 take up the $600,000 bonds. All of 

 the preliminary surveys have been 

 completed under the direction of 

 George S. Young, project engineer, 

 and as soon as the contract is let work 

 may begin. The Suttles lake project 

 covers 18,000 acres. 



Permits for irrigating 87,329 acres 

 of 'and, developing 30,766 horsepower 

 and storing 285,669 acre-feet of water 

 were issued last year by State Engi- 

 neer Lewis. The permits number 581 

 and the total estimated cost of all the 

 projects under them is $5,349,152. 



E. G. Hopson, consulting engineer, 

 has completed plans for the proposed 

 Five-Mile Rapids irrigation project 

 and submitted them to the Chamber 

 of Commerce at Pasco. Wash. If the 

 preljminary steps now being taken are 

 carried out a total of about $3,000,000 

 will be spent to reclaim 70,000 acres. 

 A district will probably be formed, 

 and bonds sold to cover it. 



The contract for the construction 

 of the $600,000 Suttles Lake irrigation 

 project was awarded to Henry J. 

 Kaiser Company of Vancouver, B. C. 

 The award of bonds to finance the 

 work will be let at an early date. The 

 plans for the project were drawn by 

 O. Laurgaard, a Portland engineer. 



The water right in Hood river, held 

 by the Farmers Irrigation Company 

 for power purposes, was abandoned 

 by vote of the stockholders, and com- 

 pany rights will pass to a private cor- 

 poration to be organized. This was 

 the only power site on the river 

 owned by private interests. 



The Desert Land Board on Feb. 28 

 stood by its recent action in recom- 

 mending to the government a further 

 extension of the state's contract with 

 the government on the Benham Falls 

 unit of the Central Oregon Irrigation 

 Company project in Crook county. 



Accordinf to a joint report issued 

 by State Engineer Lewis and the 

 reclamation service the cost of irri- 



gating 122,000 acres of land embraced 

 in what is known as the John Day 

 project, will be $125 per acre. The 

 project lies along the Columbia river, 

 west of Umatilla, and the plan pro- 

 posed is to divert water from the John 

 Day river through a 75-mile supply 

 canal. The report recommends that 

 the project be not immediately con- 

 structed unless funds can be had with- 

 out interest. 



The desert land board has ordered 

 the Central Oregon Irrigation Com- 

 pany to file a report on the amount of 

 lands on the central Oregon canal 

 which in its judgment are subject to 

 sale. The company has requested the 

 board to allow the sale of approxi- 

 mately 3,000 acres, but State Engineer 

 Lewis and the settlers claim that the 

 acreage which can now be irrigated 

 with the company's present water 

 system, is already oversold. The 

 board also requested the state engi- 

 neer to submit a report of his views 

 regarding the project. 



Nevada 



On March !) on the Truckee-Carson 

 project there are to be opened 59 pub- 

 lic land units, covering 3,076 acres, 

 and 2,893 acres of private lands a 

 total of 5,969 acres. The first water 

 payment is $3 per acre. 



Utah 



A project to irrigate 15,920 acres 

 in Iron county was announced when 

 George F. McGonagle of Salt Lake 

 filed three applications at State En- 

 gineer W. D. Beer's office for water 

 rights for irrigation purposes. One 

 application is for 5,000 acre feet of 

 water from Coal creek to irrigate 3,120 

 acres. Another is for 10,000 acre feet 

 from Coal creek to irrigate 8,320 

 acres, and the third is for 2,500 acre 

 feet from Rush Valley wash to irri- 

 gate 4,480 acres. 



South Dakota 



The men interested in the Central 

 Water Reservation project of South 

 Dakota are asking congress for an 

 appropriation of $100,000 to cover cost 

 of a survey. 



The South Dakota Irrigation Asso- 

 ciation met at Pierre in February. Its 

 object is to promote legislation that 

 is beneficial to all irrigation projects, 

 and it was decided at this meeting 

 that the most important work before 

 the association at this time was the 

 pending amendment to the state con- 

 stitution permitting the organization 

 of State Irrigation Districts. 



Idaho 



Caldwell capitalists, headed by 

 County Attorney H. A. Griffiths, are 

 nearing consummation of plans for 

 reclamation of approximately 5,000 

 acres of land lying between Caldwell 

 and Notus, most of which is a part 

 of the Black Canyon district. Mr. 

 Griffiths has just been granted a per- 

 mit by the state engineer to divert 

 50 second feet of water from the Wil- 

 son slough drainage ditch and 25 sec- 

 ond feet from the Mason creek drain- 

 age ditch for the purpose they have 

 in mind. 



Lost River project will now be at- 

 tempted in two stages, or units. At 

 a cost of from $500,000 to $750,000, 

 the first half of the dam near Mackay, 

 Idaho, will be constructed during the 

 coming summer. The first unit, it is 

 estimated by officers of the company, 

 will be sufficient to reclaim about 30,- 

 000 acres of land. If the plan that has 

 just been approved by the land board 

 proves successful, the remainder of 

 the dam will be constructed in 1918. 



The codification of the irrigation 

 and drainage laws of the state of 

 Idaho under the direction of the irri- 

 gation and drainage commission cre- 

 ated by the last legislature and ap- 

 pointed by the governor, has been 

 issued, together with a report of the 

 commission to the governor showing 

 the findings of the commission on all 

 of the irrigation projects investigated. 

 The codification was done by A. C. 

 Hindman as compiler and his work 

 has met with general satisfaction. The 

 codification covers 303 pages, with in- 

 troduction and index, as well as a 

 copy of the act creating the com- 

 mission. 



An equity suit was brought in the 

 Federal District Court on Feb. 25 by 

 a bondholders' protective committee 

 to safeguard the affairs of the Twin 

 Falls Oakley Land & Water Com- 

 pany, a Delaware corporation, en- 

 gaged in irrigation projects in Idaho. 

 The company owes more than $2,000,- 

 000, the greater part of which is in 

 bonds on which interest has been de- 

 faulted, but it is claimed that the com- 

 pany has valuable contracts and the 

 court is asked to direct the Equi- 

 table Trust Company as successor of 

 the Trust Company of America, trus- 

 tee under the mortgage, to turn over 

 any money in its possession so that 

 the business of the company may be 

 carried out. The contracts amount to 

 some $1,800,000 and although the 

 company is unable at present to meet 

 its obligations, it is claimed that it 

 is really solvent. 



A decision was rendered this week 

 by Judge Bryan at Caldwell that is of 

 vital interest and importance to all 

 the owners of land under the Farm- 

 ers' ditch and the Noble ditch, the two 

 principal irrigation canals that furnish 

 water for the famous Payette bench 

 lands. Judge Bryan's decision in ef- 

 fect nullifies in toto the assessment 

 of $20,000 against the Farmers' ditch 

 and $10,000 against the Noble ditch, 

 these assessments having been made 

 by the officers of the drainage dis- 

 trict organized at Falk's some time 

 ago. The drainage district officials 

 levied these two large assessments on 

 the theory that these two irrigation 

 canals were responsible to some de- 

 gree for the water-logged lands com- 

 prised in the drainage district which 

 is situated between a point east of 

 New Plymouth and west of Emmett. 



Under the plans as proposed by the 

 Utah Construction Company, the Big 



An appeal has been carried to the 

 United States circuit court of appeals 

 at San Francisco from the decision of 

 Judge Frank S. Dietrich of the fed- 

 eral district court for Idaho in the 

 Twin Falls-Salmon river project case, 

 wherein Judge Dietrich restrained the 

 representatives of the company and 



