156 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



NEWS NOTES FROM IRRIGATION PROJECTS 



OF THE COUNTRY 



California 



The contract for furnishing steel 

 pipe for the irrigation system in San 

 Fernando Water District No. 3 has 

 been awarded to the following Los 

 Angeles concerns: The Baker Iron 

 Works, the Llewellyn Iron Works, 

 the Lacey Manufacturing Company, 

 the Western Pipe and Steel Company 

 and the Los Angeles Manufacturing 

 Company. The total cost of the pipe 

 will be $714,000. 



A plan for the utilization of the 

 waters of Lake Almanor for the irri- 

 gation of 20,000 acres lying immedi- 

 ately southwest of Oroville has re- 

 cently been presented by S. J. Norris. 

 The land proposed to be irrigated 

 would include the rich Central House 

 district, the territory between Cen- 

 tral House and Palermo and the 

 Honcut section. 



The assessment roll in Anderson- 

 Cottonwood irrigation district of Cali- 

 fornia shows land values of $1,500,- 

 000 on 32,500 acres to protect a bond 

 issue of $480,000, voted recently to 

 construct an irrigation project. 



The Oakdale (Calif.) irrigation 

 district has sold its $400,000 bonds is- 

 sue to the E. J. Knight Company of 

 Los Angeles, on a bid of $90.25. 



The Central Water Users' Associa- 

 tion, recently formed to devise ways 

 and means of untangling the muddle 

 into which the affairs of the Sacra- 

 mento Valley Irrigation Company of 

 California have passed, has appointed 

 a committee of three to take up the 

 ppsposal of O. L. Raper to solve the 

 situation by turning the project over 

 to the United States Government. 

 Lnder Raper's plans the irrigation 

 system would become a unit under 

 the Iron Canyon Project. 



Colorado 



B. H. Tallmadge of Pueblo has re- 

 cently signed a contract with the 

 Twin Lakes Land and Water Com- 

 pany to dispose of 12,000 acres of 

 land, under irrigation, in the Ordway 

 and Olney Springs district, east of 

 Pueblo. The land will be disposed 

 of in tracts averaging forty acres each. 

 The company will build modern 

 homes and place the tracts in readi- 

 ness for the coming of the home- 

 seekers. 



Through the work of a former Clin- 

 ton, Iowa, man, Daniel B. Ellis, one 

 of the largest irrigation projects ever 

 attempted in southern Colorado has 

 been completed at Durango on the 

 New Mexican border line. 



The plan provides for the stretch- 

 ing of a great irrigation flume from 

 a dam above Durango through the 

 heart of the rich San Juan valley. 

 Back of the project is the Kutz 

 Amaigo Ditch Company, which con- 

 trol a nine-mile tap from the main 

 dam at the present time. 



It is said that 20,000 acres of rich 



agricultural land will be opened up 

 for settlement and cultivation as a 

 result of the new plan. 



Work has been begun on the 

 Omar project in Otero county to irri- 

 gate 20,000 acres of good land in 

 Pueblo, Otero and Las Animas coun- 

 ties by the end of next year at a cost 

 of $400,000. There has been a con- 

 solidation of the Omar and Apishapa 

 irrigation districts. Both systems 

 have water rights from the Apishapa 

 river. 



It is expected that water will be put 

 on 1,000 acres this year, and on sev- 

 eral thousand acres next. Fifty thou- 

 sand dollars will be spent on the 

 scheme, and after irrigation has been 

 established the owner intends to de- 

 vote the land entirely to cattle rais- 

 ing, growing the fodder on the land 

 with which to support the stock. 



Idaho 



Through a government appropria- 

 tion having been made for the survey 

 of the Black Canyon project, which 

 lies adjacent to Middleton, the general 

 belief is prevalent among the settlers 

 of the project that the government 

 has decided to add the project to the 

 Boise-Payette project, and that water 

 for its irrigation will be furnished 

 from the Arrowrock reservoir and 

 from the Payette river. The project 

 has an area of approximately 100,000 

 acres. 



Announcement has been made by 

 W. R. Heyde, field engineer for the 

 Wickahoney Land and Water Com- 

 pany, that work would probably be 

 begun in the near future on two irri- 

 gation projects, one in the Sagehen 

 basin, near Ola, and the other in the 

 Paddock valley, above the Little Wil- 

 low creek irrigation district. The 

 Sagehen project contemplates the ir- 

 rigation of between 4,000 and 5,000 

 acres and will involve an expenditure 

 of about $150,000. The Paddock val- 

 ley project will put water on about 

 6,500 acres. An estimate of its prob- 

 able cost has not yet been made. 



At a recent meeting of the state 

 land board, the Elaine County Irriga- 

 tion Company was directed to show 

 cause on or before August 15th why 

 its contract with the state should not 

 be canceled and suit brought on its 

 bond for non-compliance with its con- 

 tract. This action on the part of the 

 board followed the reading of a peti- 

 tion signed by numerous settlers on 

 the project, who are protesting against 

 existing conditions. 



Montana 



The Interior Department has awarded 

 a contract to the Three Forks Port- 

 land Cement Company to furnish 18,- 

 000 barrels of cement for the Black- 

 feet, Flathead, Fort Peck, Huntley, 

 Milk River, St. Mary's Storage and 

 Sun River projects. The contract 

 price is $1.90 a barrel, delivery to be 

 made at Trident. 



M. L. Morris, a representative of 

 the engineering firm of the Gerharz- 

 Jacquet Engineering Company of 

 Helena, has been in the vicinity of Ft. 

 Benton for the purpose of looking 

 over the country in the Teton river 

 and Marias river regions, with a view 

 of determining the extent of lands 

 capable of irrigation by means of elec- 

 tric power stations. Considerable of 

 the lands in the low bottoms of both 

 rivers have been irrigated for years 

 by means of current wheels and other 

 devices. Most of these devices have 

 proved inadequate and at best only 

 temporary affairs, and it is believed 

 that with more permanent power sta- 

 tions big returns will be realized 

 through the irrigation of the rich 

 lands along these rivers. 



Ferris & Hardgrove, investment 

 bankers, of Spokane, have announced 

 the purchase of $45,000 worth of Flat- 

 head bonds of the Ashley Irrigation 

 district, situated near Kalispell. The 

 bonds, which fall due $2,500 each year 

 from 1920 to 1939, bear 6 per cent in- 

 terest and are in denominations of 

 $100. 



"The Ashley municipal irrigation 

 district was organized over six years 

 ago," said J. E. Ferris recently, "and 

 this bond issue was brought out to 

 cover the cost of taking over and add- 

 ing to an old and successful irrigation 

 system which has been in operation 

 for many years. 



"The district, which begins almost 

 at the city limits of Kalispell, includes 

 1,700 acres, practically all of which is 

 in a high state of cultivation. It is 

 estimated that there are about 350 

 dairy cattle in the district and there 

 are a large number of excellent 

 homes." 



Ferris & Hardgrove report an ad- 

 vance sale of $20,000 worth of these 

 bonds. 



The Musselshell Valley Irrigation 

 district in Montana has been dissolved 

 by an order of the district court, 

 granted on petition of a number of 

 the water users in the east end of the 

 district. The district, which was cre- 

 ated in June, 1913, was a cause of dis- 

 sension since its creation. The pro- 

 posed irrigation project extended 

 from Barber on the west to Melstone 

 on the east. The owners of the irri- 

 gable lands on the east end of the pro- 

 posed project maintained that they 

 had ample water for their needs and 

 did not wish to be taxed for the build- 

 ing of the proposed storage reservoir 

 at Barber. Most of them paid the 

 taxes levied last year for this purpose, 

 under protest. 



The Reclamation Service is asking 

 for proposals for construction of 

 about ten miles of laterals and appur- 

 tenant structures, in connection with 

 the Flathead irrigation project, Mon- 

 tana. The work involves about 43,000 

 cubic yards of excavation, 140 cubic 

 (Continued on page 157) 



