Home-making by the Government 



267 



might be regarded as one of the lesser 

 works, but when studied as to its possible 

 future development it easily takes a prom- 

 inent place among the most favorable and 

 attractive agricultural regions in the 

 West. 



No expert who has investigated this 

 wonderful land of sunshine has yet dared 

 to place a limit upon its agricultural pos- 

 sibilities. Nature here gives the maxi- 

 mum return for the minimum of labor. 



The irrigable lands lie in rolling 

 "benches along the Columbia and between 

 it and the Umatilla. The diversity of 

 crops, many of which are high priced, 

 made possible by the exceptionally favor- 

 able conditions of soil and climate, predi- 

 cate small farms intensively cultivated, 

 providing homes for an intelligent and 

 prosperous husbandry. The promise of a 

 compact community of scientific agri- 

 •culturists in this valley is certain of ful- 

 fillment in the near future. From the 

 nature of the crops and the character of 

 the people who will grow them it re- 

 quires no particular gift of prophecy to 

 predict the establishment in this valley of 

 a rural settlement which will be likened 

 unto many of those nearly ideal commu- 

 nities which have grown up under meth- 

 ods of intensive irrigation in Southern 

 'California. 



The water supply is the flood flow of 

 the Umatilla, which is stored in a reser- 

 voir created by constructing an earthen 

 •embankment nearly 100 feet in height 

 and one-half mile long. Owing to the 

 •exceedingly porous character of the soil, 

 many of the canals are lined with cement. 

 The line of the Oregon Railroad and 

 Navigation Company passes through the 

 irrigated area. 



TRUCKEE-CARSON PROJECT, NEVADA 



On the western border of the Great 

 Interior Basin in the bed of ancient Lake 

 Lahontan, in Nevada, an important work 

 is now completed to irrigate 160,000 

 acres. This is the dryest part of the 

 United States except Death Valley, and 

 was called "Forty Mile Desert" by the 

 gold hunters who crossed it en route to 

 California. The old overland trail can 



still be traced across the desert, and we 

 come upon many melancholy evidences 

 of desert tragedies, enacted in the early 

 fifties. In excavating canals our great 

 shovels have encountered the bones of 

 men and horses who perished of thirst. 

 We know now that much of their suffer- 

 ing was unnecessary. There is plenty of 

 good water not far below the surface of 

 the sands. In fact, the grave-diggers, if 

 they had gone a few feet deeper, would 

 have been able to satisfy their own thirst. 

 The irrigation works in this valley in a 

 way have changed physical geography. 

 The Truckee River is lifted from its bed 

 by a huge dam 30 feet high, which turns 

 the waters into a broad and deep canal 

 31 miles long and lined with cement. 

 Truckee River is now flowing into Carson 

 River. Another dam in Carson River 

 diverts the combined flow of both streams 

 upon the desert, which has already begun 

 to blossom. Eight hundred farms are 

 now awaiting settlers here. The terms 

 are easy and the market for farm pro- 

 ducts is the best in the West. You reach 

 this valley on the Southern Pacific Rail- 

 way. 



KLAMATH PROJECT, OREGON-CAEIFORNIA 



The Klamath Project contemplates the 

 reclamation of about 190,000 acres of 

 land situated in Klamath county, Oregon, 

 and Modoc and Siskiyou counties, Cali- 

 fornia. The plans involve, in addition to 

 the irrigation of the valley lands, the 

 reclamation by drainage and future irri- 

 gation of a portion of the Lower Klamath 

 and Tule lakes, lands which are now 

 either swamp or lake bottoms. Prac- 

 tically all the uplands, which include the 

 greater part of the project, are held in 

 private ownership, mostly in large hold- 

 ings, which, under the terms of the Rec- 

 lamation Act, must be subdivided into 

 tracts of not to exceed 160 acres. The 

 public lands under the project, which in- 

 clude nearly all of the lake and swamp 

 areas, are at present withdrawn from 

 entry. When these lands are restored to 

 entry, homesteaders may file applications 

 for available public lands. 



Construction work on the first 9 miles 



