THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



187 



320,000 ACRES THROWN OPEN BY LITIGATION COMPROMISE 



Settlement of the so-called Wyoming Central 

 litigation, involving the rights of settlers under the 

 Riverton ditch of the Wyoming Central Irrigation 

 Company's project in Fremont county, has been 

 reached by a compromise which was announced Sep- 

 tember 30. 



The dispute had been in progress for ten years 

 and was involved in more than twenty lawsuits 

 which now will be discontinued. Under the com- 

 promise agreement the settlers under the ditch, the 

 Wyoming Central Company and the bondholders 

 of the company all make concessions and during the 

 first week of October the settlers were given a clear 

 title to the ditch for a consideration which is not 

 stated. 



The Wyoming Central project contemplated the 

 reclamation of 320,000 acres, but only the Riverton 

 ditch, covering 15,000 acres, was completed before 

 Joy Morton of Chicago, and his associates in the 

 scheme decided that the whole project was not feas- 

 ible and declined to go ahead. 



Meanwhile settlers on lands totaling about 8,000 

 acres had made payments to the company and pro- 

 tested its abandonment of the scheme. The many 

 angled litigation now settled by compromise, fol- 

 lowed. The last legislature oppropriated $3,000 to 

 enable the settlers to proceed with the litigation. 

 The abandoned project is the largest ever undertaken 

 in Wyoming. 



NEWS NOTES FROM IRRIGATION PROJECTS 



OF THE COUNTRY 



California 



Twenty-six miles of the main canal 

 of the Anderson-Cottonwood irriga- 

 tion district's system is completed. 

 Only eight miles more remain to be 

 excavated. Over half of the laterals 

 are finished. The land to be irrigated 

 lies in the vicinity of Redding. 



At a recent session of the board of 

 directors of the Terra Bella irrigation 

 district, held at Terra Bella, the initial 

 tax levy was made, amounting to $36,- 

 000. The valuation placed on the land 

 in the district is nearly $600,000, the 

 highest assessment acre being $60. 

 The tax rate was fixed at six per cent 

 and the taxes will be due in two in- 

 stallments, in December and June. 

 The district has established a suite of 

 offices in the First National Bank 

 building of Terra Bella. 



The contract for the construction of 

 an irrigation system, costing $1,250,000 

 to water approximately 16,000 acres 

 of land lying between the town of 

 Lindsay and the foothills, was signed 

 recently by the directors of th^ Lind- 

 say-Strathmore Irrigation System. 



The Southern Lassen irrigation dis- 

 trict in Lassen county, Cal., has com- 

 pleted surveys for an irrigation proj- 

 ect eventually to involve the spending 

 of several millions of dollars. A bond 

 election will probably be held within 

 the next sixty days to vote on an issue 

 of upwards of a million dollars to be 

 used in constructing the first part of 

 the work. This will include 60 to 75 

 miles of concrete lined canals and one 

 dam to retain floodwaters. Wm. L. 

 Wales, Woodland, Cal., is engineer for 

 the district. 



Colorado 



Contract has been awarded to J. M. 

 Groesbeck of Springville, Utah, for 

 earthwork on the Grand Valley proj- 

 ect, of the total value of $5,394, involv- 

 ing the moving of approximately 3,500 

 cubic yards of material. The work is 

 in connection with the laterals of the 

 project, and is located in the vicinity 

 of Grand Junction. 



At a recent meeting of the Reclama- 

 tion officials in Denver, the Uncom- 



pahgre project in Colorado was al- 

 lotted the sum of $360,000 for the year 

 1917. which was the full amount asked 

 for by the officials of the project. 



The local land office at Montrose, 

 Colo., has received advice from Wash- 

 ington to the effect that the E^ of 

 section 25, T. 50 N., R. 8 W., N. M. P. 

 M., which had been withdrawn for use 

 in connection with the Uncompahgre 

 project, will be subject to settlement 

 under the public land laws of the 

 United States on and after November 

 7th at 9 a. m. and will be subject to 

 entry, filing or selection on December 

 7, 1916, at 9 a. m. at the United States 

 land office at Montrose, Colo. 

 Idaho 



An election was held at Ontario 

 recently to decide upon the issue of 

 bonds to the amount of $750,000 for 

 the Warm Springs irrigation project, 

 which covers 35,000 acres of land be- 

 tween Ontario and Vale. Only land 

 owners were permitted to vote. The 

 proposition carried by 86 to 32. The 

 proposed work consists of a reservoir 

 and the enlarging of the ditches under 

 the old systems. The reservoir will 

 be built on the middle fork of the 

 Malheur river at a point four miles 

 beyond Vale. The reservoir will cover 

 25,000 and will have a capacity of 150,- 

 000 acre feet of water, which with the 

 flood waters each year is sufficient to 

 irrigate fully 50,000 acres. The dam 

 for the reservoir will be 87 feet high 

 and 200 feet long at the bottom and 

 350 feet long at the top. State and 

 Federal government each appropriated 

 $50,000 to carry on the work. The 

 cost of the reservoir will be less than 

 $400,000. This includes the site and 

 the dam. 



D. C. MacWatters, general manager 

 for the Twin Falls-Oakley irrigation 

 project has failed to secure the con- 

 sent of the state land board to rescind 

 its order made last spring giving to 

 the settlers on that project an exten- 

 sion of time in which to make final 

 proof. During November the board 

 will take up the matter with the attor- 

 ney for the settlers, and if he consents 



to rescinding the order it may be 

 rescinded at that time. Mr. Mac- 

 Watters explained that the company 

 wishes to cut down the acreage in the 

 project to 26,000, as recommended, and 

 rescinding of the order would only af- 

 fect non-residents. 



Washington 



The Whitestone Irrigation and 

 Power Company has succeeded in 

 raising the entire funds to complete 

 the first unit of 5,000 acres of their 

 irrigation project. Active construc- 

 tion of the immense ditch and flume 

 will be started immediately. 



The United States reclamation serv- 

 ice has established an engineering 

 camp at the intake of the Mabton 

 syphon feeder canal, where the water 

 is discharged from the main Sunny- 

 side canal, and the party is making 

 final surveys for the construction of 

 irrigation works for the watering of 

 over 4,000 acres above the present 

 gravity canal. The power for pump- 

 ing will be developed from the drop 

 of the water into the Mabton canal. 



Two thousand acres will be added 

 to the irrigated acreage of the Yakima 

 Indian Reservation this year as the 

 result of permission from the depart- 

 ment for expenditure of $5,000 for 

 construction of a distribution system 

 from Wanity slough. This is entirely 

 separate from the main system, from 

 which about 35,000 acres are watered. 



Approximately 100,000 acres of land 

 can be feasibly irrigated in the Willa- 

 mette valley at the present time, re- 

 sults of an investigation just com- 

 pleted by the United States Reclama- 

 tion Service in cooperation with State 

 Engineer Lewis show. A joint report 

 of the inquiry into irrigation and 

 power development possibilities of 

 the Willamette valley has been is- 

 sued recently. 



Miscellaneous 



Under authority of the Secretary of 

 the Interior, contract has been award- 

 ed to the Pearson Construction Com- 

 (Continued on page 189) 



