THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



173 



NEWS NOTES FROM IRRIGATION PROJECTS 



OF THE COUNTRY 



CALIFORNIA 



Farmers in the vicinity of Dixon, 

 Solano county, are planning forma- 

 tion of an irrigation district compris- 

 ing about 20,000 acres. 



The Sutter Basin Company has 

 been granted permission by the state 

 water commission to use 45 second 

 feet of water from the Sacramento 

 river to be taken out near Grafton, 

 Sutter county, by means of a cen- 

 trifugal pump. This company plans 

 to spend $20,000 on a pumping plant 

 and ditches to irrigate 7,984 acres of 

 land in Sutter county. 



A reservoir to cost about $11,000,- 

 000 to store the water of three rivers 

 and irrigate 300,000 acr^s of land in 

 Madcra county is to be built in the 

 near future, according to a recent in- 

 terview given by a member of the 

 engineering firm of Quinton, Code & 

 Hill, of Los Angeles. Work on the 

 project will be done in the name of 

 the Madera irrigation district, of 

 which C. M. McCardell and J. G. 

 Roberts are directors. It is to be a 

 mutual concern. The land will be 

 bonded under the state laws and sell 

 bonds to cover the expense of the 

 project. Water will be taken from 

 the San Joaquin, Fresno and Chow- 

 chilla rivers and will irrigate practic- 

 ally the entire west end of Madera 

 county. The dam will be about 9,000 

 feet long and 290 feet high. 



Plans for the formation of an irri- 

 gation district in the Hayford valley 

 of Trinity county are under way and 

 a request has been sent to the state 

 engineering department asking that 

 an engineer be sent to the valley to 

 determine the feasibility of the 

 scheme. The proposed district em- 

 braces about 12,000 acres of exceed- 

 ingly fertile land lying near the town 

 of Hayford. 



A. L. Dowler, of San Francisco, 

 has purchased 1,800 acres of land ly- 

 insj along the Sacramento river near 

 Ball's Ferry. The entire acreage lies 

 under the system of the Anderson- 

 Cottonwood irrigation district. 



The promotion committee working 

 upon the fomation of the Wood- 

 bridge irrigating system has secured 

 the signatures to 15,000 acres to be 

 included in the new district. With 

 the average now gained the bond on 

 the land will amount to $20 per acre, 

 which will raise $300,000. It is the 

 present intention not to commence 

 paying off the principal of this bond 

 for 10 or 20 years, the exact time to 

 be determined by the land owners 

 later. The interest on this money 

 will amount to $1.20 per acre per an- 

 num and allowing $7,500 per year for 

 maintenance will make an additional 

 tax of 50 cents per acre, that the farm- 



ers will have to pay for the next 10 

 or 20 years. After that it will be a 

 trifle more for a while until the prin- 

 cipal is cut down. This will make the 

 cheapest irrigation in the state. The 

 land embraced in this new district 

 lies near the town of Lodi in San 

 Joaquin county. 



The Baxter Creek Irrigation Dis- 

 trict in Lassen county, recently sold 

 $300,000 in bonds at $97.20 to a San 

 Francisco firm. 



By a contract executed ' between 

 Franklin K. Lane, secretary of the 

 Interior, and Mr. Mark Rose, repre- 

 senting the Imperial Laguna Canal 

 Company of Southern California, a 

 tract of arid land comprising from 

 120,000 to 200,000 acres adjoining the 

 Imperial valley, is to be irrigated by 

 means of an all-American canal some 

 30 miles in length. The water is to 

 be taken from the Laguna dam of the 

 Yuma reclamation project on the Col- 

 orado river at Yuma, Arizona. 



There is a prospect of the early 

 completion of the Byron-Bethany ir- 

 rigation system which will irrigate 

 15,000 acres of land. The project 

 has been retarded, owing to the fact 

 that it was controlled by a private 

 company which could not condemn 

 land for rights of way for the canal, 

 but it has been reorganized, and as a 

 public utility, has the rights of con- 

 demnation. The land is situated in 

 Contra Costa county. 



Work on the Paradise irrigation 

 project in Butte county is progressing 

 rapidly. Two miles of the main canal 

 which is being constructed under a 

 separate contract has been completed. 

 W. H. Kraner, contractor for the dis- 

 tributing system, has a large ditching 

 machine at work and several miles of 

 trench for the pipes has been opened. 



The Modesto irrigation district will 

 hereafter manufacture all cement tile 

 to be used in drainage ditches 

 throughout the district. The cement 

 tile factory of Irvin & Rinehart at 

 Modesto, was recently purchased by 

 the board of directors at a cost of 

 $4,280. Purchase of this plant was 

 made at this time in anticipation of 

 extensive work on drainage ditches 

 which may be necessary in the near 

 future in the lower acres of the dis- 

 trict to the east and northeast of 

 'Modesto, which are in danger from 

 the continually rising level of sub- 

 waters, due to irrigation in the higher 

 areas. 



According to statement made by 

 Project Manager A. N. Burch, 12,000 

 acre feet of water may be saved an- 

 nually if a major portion of the main 

 canals of the Orland irrigation proj- 

 est are lined with concrete. At pres- 

 ent some thirty miles are lined. Mr. 



Burch wants this increased to 108 

 miles. The cost of maintaining un- 

 lined ditches is placed at $123 per mile 

 annually by Mr. Burch, whereas lined 

 ditches cost but $10 a mile a year to 

 keep in condition. He declares 

 that seepage and evaporation of water 

 while in distribution throughout the 

 unlined portion of the project 

 amounts to thirty per cent of the 

 total amount of water turned into the 

 canal headgates. 



With the intention of completing 

 the project by April 1, 1918, work is 

 being rushed on the $285,000 West 

 Side Irrigation District project in 

 Sari Joaquin county. 



Officials of the Long Valley Irriga- 

 tion District recently made a trip to 

 the Little Truckee river for the pur- 

 pose of preparing for the survey of 

 a 24-mile ditch to convey the waters 

 of that stream to their project. The 

 district which embraces 28,000 acres 

 of land in Lassen county, has made 

 application for permission to take 

 32,000 acre feet of water from the 

 Little Truckee. The district has a 

 natural storage basin in Long Valley 

 which will impound 95,000 acre feet 

 of water. 



A 150-foot well is being drilled on 

 the Christiansen & Burmeister ranch 

 near Willows. This water will be 

 used for irrigating rice and will sup- 

 plement or replace water now taken 

 from the West Side Canal Company's 

 ditch. 



Construction soon is to be started 

 on ten miles of main canal and lat- 

 erals to irrigate the 9,000-acre ranch 

 of P. B. Cross, near Willows. 



The Railroad Commission has is- 

 sued an order fixing the water rates 

 to be charged by the Madera Canal 

 & Irrigation Company operating in 

 Madera county. The order of the 

 commission authorizes the company 

 to charge 50 cents per acre foot for 

 water delivered from Oct. 1 to March 

 1; $1.00 per acre foot for water de- 

 livered from March 1 to June 1, and 

 $1.25 per acre foot for water delivered 

 from June ] to October 1 of each 

 year. 



COLORADO 



Suit has been filed in the district 

 court asking for temporary injunction 

 against the Consolidated Hillsborough 

 Ditch Company, and asking that on 

 final hearing this restraining order be 

 made permanent. Mayor T. J. Nor- 

 cross of Loveland, Zenos McCoy, M. J. 

 Gard, W. B. Harris and Rev. G. Jos. 

 La Juenesse are the plaintiffs. They 

 sue the officials and agents of the 

 company to prevent them from inter- 

 fering in the ditch carrying certain 

 water rights they are entitled to and 



