THE SPIRIT OF THE WEST 



351 



While all the Government land on the 

 JLower Yellowstone project has been 

 entered, a considerable area of railroad 

 _grant land is available at a maximnm 

 price of $2.50 per acre. The develop- 

 ment of the valley since the beginning 

 •of the work of reclamation has been very 

 rapid, and the time is not far distant 

 when it will be one of the most prosper- 

 ous districts in the Northwest. 



A HARVEST-FIELD 20 MILES LONG AND 6 

 MILES WIDE 



In the southern part of Wyoming, 

 where the North Platte River flows in 

 3. deep granite-walled canyon, another 

 ■masonry dam has been erected. It rises 

 215 feet above bed-rock, and back of it 

 there is a lake with a capacity great 

 -enough to cover Rhode Island a foot 

 •deep. 



Located 45 miles from the nearest rail- 

 way, its construction was expensive and 

 difficult. All machinery, cement, and 

 provisions for men and horses were 

 "brought over the long miles of sage-brush 

 ■desert. 



Down the river many miles another 

 -structure of concrete turns the stored 

 water into a canal 95 miles long, whence 

 it is conveyed to the gently sloping valley 

 lands in Wyoming and Nebraska. 



In the beginning of the work I visited 

 the valley, and at one particular pointy I 

 gazed over a broad stretch of prairie. 

 Within the radius of my vision I could 

 count only six farm-houses. 



Last year, from the same point, I saw 

 a harvest-field 20 miles long and 6 miles 

 wide, and counted 600 homes. Today on 

 the North Platte project there are more 

 than 1,500 families living in homes of 

 their own. The construction of this irri- 

 gation system has already increased land 

 values in the valley more, than $4,520,000. 



THE MOST SPECTACULAR PROJECT IS IN 

 COLORADO 



Among the valleys of the western 

 slope, two in Colorado have focused the 

 attention of the citizens of the country 

 for the past few years. These are the 



Uncompahgre and Grand valleys, in the 

 drainage basin of the Grand River, the 

 most important tributary of the Colorado 

 River of the West. Situated on one of 

 the main traveled transcontinental high- 

 ways, in the midst of the grandest 

 scenery on the continent, no section of 

 the West is more generally known. 



It is only Vk'ithin the past few years 

 that the agricultural importance of these 

 valleys has impressed itself on the public 

 mind. Surrounded by a rich mineral 

 zone, the development of mines served 

 to obscure the far greater wealth which 

 is hidden in a soil of wonderful fertility 

 and in a climate adaptable for the pro- 

 duction of high-priced crops. 



In the Uncompahgre Valley the Gov- 

 ernment has one of its most spectacular 

 projects. The progress of construction 

 has been widely advertised. For several 

 years two large forces of men have been 

 burrowing night and day through a 

 mountain 2,000 feet high and 6 miles 

 thick, excavating a tunnel, one portal of 

 which is in a profound canyon 3,000 

 feet deep and the other at the upper end 

 of a broad and fertile valley. The work 

 is nearly concluded ; a great underground 

 waterway 6 miles long and capable of 

 carrying a whole river has been exca- 

 vated. 



President Taft, on September 23, 1909, 

 presided at the fonnal ceremony. He 

 placed a gold bell on a silver plate and the 

 electric connection released the pent-up 

 floods of the Gunnison, and its waters, 

 passing through the mountain, flowed out 

 upon the Uncompahgre A^alley to fruc- 

 tify a thirsty desert. The tunnel is lined 

 with cement, as is also the main canal 

 for several miles. 



The irrigable area of the Uncompahgre 

 Valley is 140,000 acres, of which 36,000 

 acres were public at the beginning of the 

 work. Approximately 15.000 acres are 

 yet unentered, but are not at this time 

 open to settlement. Due announcement 

 of the opening of these lands to entry 

 will be made through the public press 

 when the canals are constructed to fur- 

 nish water to them. 



