108 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



NEWS NOTES FROM IRRIGATION PROJECTS 



OF THE COUNTRY 



CALIFORNIA 



Wm. Sproule, president of the 

 Southern Pacific Railway, returned 

 recently from a trip of inspection in 

 the Imperial Valley and offered sug- 

 gestions about protection against 

 high water during the spring rise. 

 He stated that much work should be 

 done otherwise great loss would be 

 encountered. Mr. Sproule stated that 

 the trip has produced evidence of 

 business activity on both sides of the 

 Colorado River. On the Mexican 

 side great areas are being actively 

 farmed and Mexicali has become an 

 active business center. 



The directors of the Alta Irrigation 

 District refused all bids for the sale 

 of 20 acres taken by them as a re- 

 sult of litigation. The bids made were 

 too low to satisfy their claim. 



A definite policy for distribution of 

 the waters belonging to the Oakdale 

 Irrigation District is being worked 

 out by the directors to be used this 

 season. This plan is based on the 

 law that each piece of property shall 

 be entitled to receive water in pro- 

 portion to the amount of taxes paid. 



Contracts were let April 25 for 53 

 miles of irrigation ditches to take 

 water from the main central canal 

 of the Central Jacinto Project to 

 9,500 acres of the project that will 

 be planted to rice. 



A new record in the sale of irriga- 

 tion bonds was made recently when 

 a block of $114,500 5 per cents held 

 in the treasury of the South San Joa- 

 quin District was sold to the San 

 Joaquin Valley Bank at .9678. The 

 money is to be used to complete 

 the Woodward reservoir north of 

 Oakdale. 



Fruit trees in various, sections of 

 California suffered slight damage 

 from a frost early in April. 



Work on completion of the Ander- 

 son-Cottonwood Irrigation District 

 will be rushed to insure water to two- 

 thirds of the district by midsummer 

 of this year. 



A Stockton paper states that the 

 municipal baths water is to be used 

 to irrigate the public park at Lodi. 



The California assembly passed a 

 bill recently authorizing co-operation 

 between adjoining states in forming 

 irrigation districts. 



A complaint has been filed with 

 the railroad commission against the 

 Sutter-Butte Canal Company, asking 

 repayment of excessive water tax im- 

 posed on settlers under this project. 



put on the market May 1st a $350,000 

 bond issue for development of the 

 district. 



The Board of Directors of the re- 

 organized Happy Valley Irrigation 

 District in Shasta County has formed 

 plans for the purchasing of a private 

 company operating in that commu- 

 nity. 



WASHINGTON 



The Bald Hill Irrigation Company 

 of Beaver has recently been organ- 

 ized with a capital of $3,200 and Arch 

 Patterson president and R. A. Olcott 

 secretary and treasurer. 



UTAH 



The first annual gathering of the 

 Utah Irrigation and Drainage Con- 

 gress was recently held at Salt Lake 

 City. Interesting papers were pre- 

 sented by President M. Thomas, W. 

 D. Bees, state engineer; C. F. Brown, 

 drainage engineer, and R. S. Callett 

 of the Dry Gulch Irrigation Co. in 

 the Uinta Basin. It is understood 

 that these meetings will be held an- 

 nually hereafter. 



The Northwest Irrigation Com- 

 pany's Carey Act project at Wood- 

 side was recently considered by the 

 State Land Commission in session 

 at Salt Lake. The contract with this 

 company has been canceled, but the 

 segregation still stands. It was de- 

 cided that it should remain so and 

 that the incoming board be allowed 

 the privilege of deciding as to the ad- 

 visability of leaving the segregation 

 intact. 



Conversion of 150,000 acres of sage 

 brush land in Eastern Millard County, 

 Utah, into productive farms by 

 means of artisian well irrigation is a 

 project that is being worked out by 

 the farmers in Fillmore Valley. 



Construction work on a 35,000- 

 acre reclamation project between 

 Hurricane and St. George is soon to 

 be started, according to Engineer 

 Clarence Jarvis, who was in Salt Lake 

 recently. Storage dams and a series 

 of canals, some of them 30 miles 

 long, are features of this project. 



The state of Utah is confronted by 

 a problem in connection with a loan 

 of $50,000 on land of the Green River 

 Irrigation District at Emery, Utah. 

 These bonds were purchased by the 

 State Land Board in 1911 and in- 

 stead of the state receiving $3,000 

 interest annually, the amount actually 

 collected in the whole period since 

 the purchase is only $1,986. 



The Paradise District contains 11,- 

 000 acres of land and the directors 



MONTANA 



The dry farmers' side of the pro- 

 posed irrigation of the Greenfield 

 bench under the Sun River project 

 was recently explained to members of 

 the Great Falls Commercial Club by 



a delegation of bench farmers. The 

 contention of these men is that water 

 will cost $50 an acre or more, which 

 means a total on 160 acres of $8,000 

 with an additional cost of $15 per 

 acre more for drainage, also a main- 

 tenance cost of $1.25 an acre, making 

 the amount necessary to pay on a 

 quarter section $14,400. The impres- 

 sion among these farmers is that bet- 

 ter success will result under dry 

 farming. 



Butte capitalists interested in the 

 Flatwillow Irrigation project are 

 ready to proceed with the work of 

 construction. This development will 

 add a great wealth to Fergus County. 

 It is estimated that $150,009 wil1 l5e 

 expended in putting the project over. 



There is plenty of snow in the 

 mountains of Montana to insure suffi- 

 cient water for irrigation this season. 

 In fact, if flood water would be con- 

 served there is enough for several 

 seasons. 



Over a quarter of a million dollars' 

 worth of land on the Valier irrigation 

 project has changed hands since De- 

 cember, 1916. 



NEBRASKA 



There is a plan on foot at Min- 

 den and Holdrege to harness the 

 Platte River under some such plan 

 as it was proposed to do with the 

 Laupe for water power, only the 

 Platte idea, which is prompted by J. 

 S. Canaday of Minden, contemplates 

 irrigation instead of power. It is 

 said that C. W. McConaughy of Hol- 

 drege is the father of the proposed 

 plan. 



OREGON 



The Klamath Water Users' Asso- 

 ciation has decided to institute suit 

 in an effort to prevent the operation 

 of the contract recently made be- 

 tween the Secretary of the Interior 

 and the California-Oregon Power 

 Company of Klamath Falls, leasing 

 to the power company the Keno Ir- 

 rigation Canal and granting to them 

 a right to construct a dam across 

 Link River at the head of the river. 

 The board has taken decided steps 

 and the development of this suit may 

 reveal interesting features. 



Attorney McColloch of Portland 

 has taken up with State Engineer 

 Lewis the question of having the 

 lands of the Payette-Oregon Slope 

 Irrigation District certified under the 

 new law. This project covers 67,000 

 acres and is irrigated by pumping 

 water from the Snake River. 



The Desest Land Board of Oregon 

 recently, after hearing from a com- 

 mittee of prominent citizens of Bend, 

 decided to ask the Department of the 

 Interior to hasten the decision on the 



