124 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



type has been purchased and will be 

 kept going turning sod as long as 

 its services are required. 



A contract was awarded May 16 to 

 Rolla Barnes, Malta, for the excava- 

 tion and earth lining on the Nelson 

 South canal, Milk river irrigation 

 project. Contract price was $8,750. 



A big year is predicted for the 

 farmers of the Bitter Root valley. 

 The largest acreage of grain and veg- 

 etables in the history of this section 

 has been planted and with a favor- 

 able season the yield will be im- 

 mense. 



IDAHO 



The Minidoka irrigation district and 

 the local office of the United States 

 department of agriculture have es- 

 tablished bulletin boards at their re- 

 spective offices wtih a view to assist- 

 ing the farmers of the project in their 

 effort to comply with the request of 

 military and state authorities that all 

 available land be utilized. The idea 

 is to list the wants of the farmers of 

 this section along lines of help want- 

 ed, employment sought, land for sale 

 and the names of prospective pur- 

 chasers. 



Surplus waters in the reservoirs on 

 Carey Act Project in the state will be 

 distributed under the direction of the 

 state engineer this season to people 

 who wish to raise crops on unentered 

 lands, it was announced at a meeting 

 of the state land board of Idaho re- 

 cently. 



The taking of surplus waters for ir- 

 rigation purposes is termed a war 

 measure, and is being inaugurated 

 with a view to encouraging the culti- 

 vation of all irrigable lands. 



The plan to appropriate waters 

 stored by the Carey Act companies 

 was outlined by the governor to the 

 executive committee of the Idaho Ir- 

 rigation Company of Richfield, when 

 the members appeared before the 

 land board Wednesday for the pur- 

 pose of getting acquainted. The 

 members of the executive committee 

 are men from the East and Middle 

 West. They came to Idaho to visit 

 their project. 



According to the governor, the 

 land board expects to control the dis- 

 tribution of water in irrigation dis- 

 tricts on Carey Act projects and from 

 private sources. He announced that 

 the state engineer had been author- 

 ized to conserve the water and make 

 it do a larger duty than in normal 

 years. 



The government has moved to take 

 charge of the King Hill project. F. 

 E. Weymouth, chief of construction 

 for the reclamation service, head- 

 quarters, Denver, Saturday notified 

 Governor Alexander that J. H. Miner 

 has been selected as project manager 

 and will reach Idaho at an early date. 

 A total of $5,000 has been made avail- 

 able for the present fiscal year to 

 start the necessary surveys and make 

 such other investigations as are nec- 

 essary on the project. 



Some time ago the state purchased 



the King Hill project under the ham- 

 mer after private capital failed to 

 complete it. Since then the state has 

 paid the maintenance and had a man- 

 ager in charge. The matter of the 

 government taking over the Carey Act 

 segregation to relieve the state was 

 taken up with the Interior Department 

 with the result that the plan was 

 approved by Secretary Lane and an 

 appropriation of $200,000 for that 

 purpose subsequently passed. The 

 reclamation service has been placed 

 in charge. This is the first Carey Act 

 project the department has taken 

 over. Saturday the governor re- 

 ceived the following self-explanatory 

 letter: 



"Hon. M. Alexander, Boise, Idaho. 

 My Dear Governor Referring to the 

 matter of' the reclamation service tak- 

 ing over the King Hill project in the 

 event the appropriation pending in 

 Congress is approved and in the fur- 

 ther event that a suitable contract 

 can be entered into with the state, 

 this is to advise that the director has 

 allotted from secondary project funds 

 a total of $5,000 for this fiscal year, 

 which is immediately available to 

 start necessary surveys and other in- 

 vestigations in order to get ready for 

 construction work at the earliest 

 practicable date. 



"Mr. J. H. Miner, at present proj- 

 ect manager of the Grand Valley rec- 

 lamation project in western Colo- 

 rado, has been selected to have charge 

 of that work as project manager, and 

 I have asked him, when he reaches 

 Idaho, which will be at an early date, 

 to call upon you in connection with 

 this work. 



"I understand that the legal de- 

 partment of the Reclamation Service 

 is giving consideration to the legal 

 phases of the situation. 

 "Very truly yours, 



"F. E. WEYMOUTH, 

 "Chief of Construction." 



MISCELLANEOUS 



Gen. H. F. Robinson, superinten- 

 dent of the Indian irrigation service, 

 yesterday completed the plat for a 

 new townsite opposite the Santa 

 Clara pueblo, New Mexico. The plan 

 will be sent to Washington, and if 

 approved by the department the new 

 town will be established. It will be 

 separated from the old pueblo by the 

 Santa Clara creek, which furnishes 

 water for irrigation at the pueblo. 



The townsite was requested by the 

 young men of the tribe because of 

 dissatisfaction, and because they fear 

 another epidemic of scarlet fever, 

 such as visited the pueblo last year. 



An irrigation dam in New South 

 Wales which will impound about 32,- 

 380,000,000 cubic feet of water, backed 

 up in a lake forty miles long, will 

 cost $3,680,000. 



The irrigation of 16,000 acres of 

 land is contemplated by the Santa 

 Helena Improvement Company, San 

 Benito, Tex., the estimated cost be- 

 ing $500,000. 



spring. It is muddy and running 

 high, and all the water in it with 

 the exception of twenty-three second 

 feet is coming from melting snow be- 

 low the 6,500-foot level in the moun- 

 tains. 



The fact that this snow is melting 

 now does not indicate that there will 

 be a shortage of water for irrigation 

 purposes in the Truckee valley dur- 

 ing the coming summer. There is 

 plenty of water in lake, although 

 at the present time the level is about 

 six inches below normal for this time 

 of the year. 



The irrigation department of Siam 

 has taken over the works of a large 

 private irrigation company at Klong 

 Rangsit, in order to extend the irri- 

 gation not only to the entire district 

 covered by the activities of the com- 

 pany, but also farther north. The 

 total project is to cost $50,000,000. 

 Immediate improvements contem- 

 plated embrace the expenditure of 

 about $4,250,000. 



In connection with the Huntley 

 project, Montana, certain supplemen- 

 tal construction in the canal system 

 of the first unit is desirable which 

 will increase the construction charge 

 in the sum of $4 per irrigable acre, 

 and also certain supplemental con- 

 struction is desirable for drains for 

 the protection and relief of lands un- 

 der the same unit, which will increase 

 the construction charge in the sum of 

 $11 per irrigable acre. The secretary 

 of the interior has directed, therefore, 

 that all lands within the first unit for 

 which acceptances of the reclamation 

 extension act have been duly filed, 

 shall be charged with the cost of 

 the above described works a total of 

 $15 per irrigable acre. These pay- 

 ments will be made in easy instal- 

 ments after the payment of the last 

 of the regular instalments payable 

 under sections 1 and 2 of the reclama- 

 tion extension act. 



The directors of the Wenatchee rec- 

 lamation district have sold $160,000 of 

 district bonds to the Spokane & East- 

 ern Trust Company of Spokane, 

 through Herbert Witherspoon, vice- 

 president of the company. The price 

 was 95 cents, said to be the highest 

 price ever paid in the West for such 

 a large block of irrigation district 

 bonds. The court receivership is to 

 be ended as soon as the court for- 

 malities can be provided for. A great 

 deal of permanent work has been done 

 on the canal this winter. 



Another survey of the ditch lines 

 and power site of the Louis Lake 

 irrigation and power project near 

 Lander. Wyo., is under way. The 

 water is to be stored in Louis Lake 

 at the head of the Little Popo Angie, 

 and taken as wanted from the Little 

 Popo Angie lower down the stream. 



The Truckee river at Reno, Nev., 

 has begun to feel the effects of 



E. S. Gooch and associates are in- 

 terested in the construction of an ir- 

 rigation system near Lawton, Okla., 

 to cost about $100,000. 



