THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



141 



KING HILL PROJECT INVOLVED IN BIG SUIT 



T. A. Walters, attorney general of Idaho, in 

 behalf of the state land board, has brought suit 

 against the National Surety Company for $25,000 

 on an indemnity bond issued to insure the comple- 

 tion of the work, undertaken by the King- Hill Irri- 

 gation and Power Company in compliance with the 

 terms of a Carey Act contract made with the state 

 land board. 



What is known as the King Hill project com- 

 prises a total area of 24,000 acres of fertile land 

 near Glenns Ferry, in Elmore county. The project 

 has had a checkered career, having been first under- 

 taken in 1903 by the Glenns Ferry Land and Irri- 

 gation Company, which was succeeded by the King 

 Hill Irrigation and Power Company in 1907. The 

 latter company was controlled by J. L. Hammett, a 

 wealthy oil producer, who came to that state from 

 Oklahoma and who lost his fortune in attempting 

 to complete the irrigation system. 



L. L. Nunn, formerly of the Telluride Power 

 Company, acquired the power rights from Hammett 

 and later installed what is known as the Malad 

 River power plant, which he disposed of to the 

 Idaho Power Company about two years ago at a 

 handsome profit. 



Owing to bad engineering and unforeseen ob- 

 stacles in connection with the construction of the 

 ditches, the development of the project proved so 

 costly that it had to be abandoned. In 1908 the 

 project was sold under foreclosure by Judge Frank 

 S. Deitrich of the United States District Court and 

 was bid in by the state of Idaho. Since that time 

 the state has been operating the unfinished irriga- 

 tion works, but the legislature has declined to ap- 

 propriate sufficient funds to complete the under- 

 taking. 



For some time the state has been endeavoring 

 to induce the federal government to purchase the 

 tract and complete the irrigation system. Such 

 action was recently recommended by Secretary of 

 the Interior Franklin K. Lane, and it is thought 

 probable that the necessary appropriation will be 

 made during the present session of Congress as a 

 war measure. 



The completion of the irrigation project will 

 open up one of the most productive tracts in the 

 state, as, owing to the fact that the altitude is only 

 2,300 feet, the lands are adapted to fruit growing 

 as well as to diversified farming. 



NEWS NOTES FROM IRRIGATION PROJECTS 



OF THE COUNTRY 



CALIFORNIA 



W. J. Hole of Los Angeles, owner 

 of the La Sierra ranch, lying between 

 Corona and Arlington, has made ap- 

 plication before the state water com- 

 mission for the appropriation of suf- 

 ficient water from the Santa Ana river 

 to irrigate his property. 



Kern County farmers, who hope 

 some day to benefit from the flood 

 waters of Kern river, have just 

 learned that Governor Stephens has 

 recently signed the Hawson amend- 

 ed California irrigation act and there- 

 by paved the way for the forming of 

 the irrigation district in the Kings 

 river conservation district for the 

 construction of the reservoir at Pine 

 Flat, to irrigate one million acres in 

 Fresno, Tulare and Kings Counties. 

 Under the new bill the land owners 

 will be entitled to one vote for each 

 acre of land they own, and assess- 

 ments will be made according to ben- 

 efits to be derived from irrigation or 

 drainage. Fifty per cent of the land 

 owners must sign the petition to form 

 the district and have it passed upon 

 by the irrigation board of the state. 



Co-operating with the Northern 

 California Counties' Association, offi- 

 cials of the Trinity National Forest 

 have begun a campaign to form an 

 irrigation district in Hayfork Valley, 

 which will bring under irrigation 

 about 8,000 acres of the best land in 

 Trinity County. The water necessary 

 for irrigation will be taken from Salt 

 creek and will be conserved for use 

 during the low water month by a 

 dam which will back the creek up, 

 forming a lake some two or three 

 miles in length. 



Water Commission to use "J62J/2 cubic 

 teet in water from the San Joaquin 

 river in Fresno County from April 1 

 to July I of each year. The com- 

 pany will use the dam of the San 

 Joaquin & Kings river Canal and Ir- 

 rigation Company. The other works 

 consist of a main canal five miles 

 long and three pumping plants lifting 

 the water to three levels. The num- 

 ber of acres to be irrigated is 77,000 

 and the estimated cost of the project 

 is $500,000. 



Following the receipt of notice of 

 the validation of the $350,000 bond 

 issue of the Paradise irrigation dis- 

 trict, the directors and contractors 

 are rushing preparations for work. 

 The bonds have been sold. Sixty 

 men have started to work on the dam 

 for the reservoir in Little Butte creek 

 near Magalia and the system will be 

 completed not later than January 1, 

 1918. 



IDAHO 



W. L. Wells, Carey Act agent for 

 the Federal Department of the In- 

 terior, has been in Idaho recently 

 getting data on Idaho irrigation proj- 

 ects from the state engineer. He has 

 been making an investigation of the 

 Lost river project in Butte County 

 and the Houston project in Bonne- 

 ville County, and he will compile re- 

 ports on both of them for the gov- 

 ernment. 



By a large vote the people of the 

 Imperial Valley have sanctioned the 

 issuance of $2,500,000 in bonds for 

 flood protection and irrigation im- 

 provements. Directors of the Im- 

 perial Irigation District are striving 

 this year to provide water for 50,000 

 additional acres. 



State Controller John S. Cham- 

 bers has certified to the bond issue 

 of the Westside Irrigation District fol- 

 lowing approval of the issue by the 

 State Irrigation District Bond Com- 

 mission. The district embraces 11,000 

 acres of land located in San Joaquin 

 County, near Tracy. The bond issue 

 amounts to $295,000. 



The Panoche Canal Company has 

 been granted permission by the State 



The reorganization of the Crane 

 Creek and Sunnyside irrigation proj- 

 ect near Weiser is to be undertaken 

 at once by Pennsylvania capitalists. 

 The Pittsburgh Bank for Savings, a 

 concern which went into the hands 

 of a receiver some months ago, owns 

 Crane and Sunnyside projects bonds 

 to the amount of $300,000. When the 

 bank failed, its affairs were taken over 

 by the office of the Pennsylvania at- 

 torney general, with the result that an 



