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About Morning Oregonian. (Portland, Or.) 1861-1937 | View Entire Issue (June 25, 1906)
12 THE MORNING OREGOXIAX. MONDAY, JUNE 25, 1906. PORTLAND CAPITAL WILL MAKE GARDEN SPOT OF ARID LEWISTON VALLEY - - - - - t - - - a 1 t 'V V a'V H,t IJL - r ; - r- ; --( j F;;ff " - IMF v v . - 4VSv i,vv 'Ufo' a; u: v'? . . V JilC i nv WALLACE STA1NTON. EWISTOX. Idaho, June 24. (Special.) Portliiml capital is taking a con spicuous ami impftrtant part in the development of the Lewiston country re sources through the operations of the I.ewlston Sweetwaier Irrigation Company. The L-ewlston country was the scene of the first-white settlements in Idaho and it was in those days that Portland capital supplied the river craft which carried the rush of pold-seckers into the Idaho mines in the early 'fios. Portland later afforded the first market for the grain Brown in Idaho and the OreRon metrop olis has since been the wholesale supply depot for this great section of the In land Empire. There has been in that time a revolu tion of commercial conditions in t he Pa cific Northwest the half century has changed a wilderness into great states, throbbing with the. energy of wealth niakinK and ( harped with confidence and Ereater ambition, but Portland is still the sreat factor in the commercial af fairs of the vast basin recion of the I'pper Columbia and Snake Rivers. I-ewiston is at the gateway to all Idaho and Portland occupies a similar position in respect to all the Pacitic Northwest. Lewiston is at the upper stretch of Na ture's preat canal that flows past Port land, and the laws of trade have bound together In friendship and mutual inter est the Oregon and Idaho cities. During Ihe experimental stages, the transporta tion problem may have temporarily checked its course, but the natural flow of the commerce of the Inland Empire Is as definitely toward Portland aa Is the course of the great waterways, cut deep in the channels of stone. Kailroiuls Grasp Situation. Within the past few months the rail road magnates have shown a realization of this fact and have inaugurated the greatest railroad construction period In the history of the Northwest, centering the greatest activity on the Snake and Columbia Rivers, so that Portland and the Ltewiston country are to be drawn still closer together. With a study of the past and the con ditions of the future In mind, it seems a fitting development that Portland capital should give to Northern Idaho its. first big irrigation enterprise and thus, in the larger commercial activities that are coming to the inland Northwest, more closely ally the business interests of the Lewiston country and the Oregon metrop olis. Accordingly, Portland capital has within the past year Invested more than a quarter of a million dollars In the Lewiston Valley In providing one of the most interesting irrigation enterprises of the entire West and one which will work a marked Influence on the development of Lewiston and the tributary region. The magnitude of the work has been obscured in large degree by the unpre tentious methods of the promoters. It has been, quite generally the custom, If not the rule. In the carrying out of such projects, to give wide publicity to every step, but the work here has been a pro nounced exception in that regard. The company has quietly worked out its plans and the project became a reality before many Lewiston people realized that me details had been advanced more than be yondthe preliminary stage. The company is now charging Its res ervoir with waters that will flow over XX acres of as rich land as can be found in the West and which crowd into the very limits of the City of Lewiston. History of die Enterprise. The head of the Lewiston Sweetwater Irrigation Company is Walter F. Bur rell, of Portland, with whom are as sociated a number of Portland business men. H. L. Powers, of Portland, con ceived the undertaking, organized the company and has personally managed the enterprise from the beginning. The pri mary entrance, of the company into the field was in January, 1905, when Mr. Pow ers made a visit here and thoroughly in vestigated the possibilities of the project. Iir May. 19(6. purchases of 3000 acres of land were made on the lower slopes of the Lewiston Valley, which has its south ern boundary at the base of the Craig Mountain and which extends north and west to the Clearwater and Snake Riv ers, embracing roughly speaking 40,000 to 60.000 acres. That section of the valley hugging close the rivers and low enough for the rich soil to be served with water by grav ity or by pumping through small ditches from the rivers, lias been devoted to fruit culture for forty years, and the products of vine and orchard have contributed Largely to the fame of Lewiston valley fruit. The upper stretches of the valley, ranging In altitude from one thousand to 2500 feet are cemi-arid and have been de voted to grain raising, and successfully, too; but during all these years, that land lV'ing from the city limits of Lewiston to the south and east has been looked upon as a most inviting field for an irrigation enterprise an enterprise that would turn wheat fields into gardens and sparsely settled areas Into more thickly populated suburban tracts. Sleet With Many Obstacles. But obstacles are there. The water sup ply must be obtained from the deep can yons into which plunge in torrents the storm and flood water, from the melting snow, during a period of comparatively short duration afterward dwindling to in considerable streams. To pick up these waters, to divert them from the steep canyons to the plateau and to provide the Immense storage accommodations nec essary, were problems that only large capital and skillful engineering could solve. Mr. Powers spent nearly a year Investigating these various phases before taking up the enterprise. The soil, the fundamental necessities, the future of Lewiston and the proximity to the city of the lands to be reclaimed, the unusual climate, the mild winters, the Intensely hot summers and the long pe riod of sunshine throughout the year with reference to their effect upon the cultiva tion of fruit; the market value of the products, the demand, the transportation conditions, the supply of labor to harvest the fruit and outside work for the hor ticulturist in factory, forest or mine dur ing the winter season or while trees were maturing; all these were to be considered. These matters demanded the most thor ough inquiry. In order to be convinced of the possibilities of the undertaking, It was necessary only to investigate the model Vineland irrigated district, located just across the Snake River from Lewis ton In Washington, financed and devel oped by Charles Francis Adams and 13. H. Llbby and associates of Boston, uni versally acknowledged to be the best type and the most successful irrigation project in the Northwest, where families through out the tract support themselves from an average of four acres, and raw land Is worth from t300 to JSOO per acre, and im proved land from $S00 to 1500. Water Rights on Three Streams. The water rights for the system were acquired on Sweetwater, Webb and Mis sion creeks. These streams rush down deep canyons from the slopes of the Craig Mountain. The point of diversion of the ditch just completed is at the forks of the Sweetwater, twelve miles on an air-line from Lewiston. Nine miles of open ditch, at points built through solid rock at a cost of J20.000 a mile, and three miles of flume, make the canal that leads the water to an immense reservoir, lo cated six miles from Lewiston and four hundred feet above the lands to be served. The flume section of the ditch Is eight feet wide at the bottom and has a carry ing capacity of one hundred second-feet. The upper section of the open ditch is nine feet wide at the botton and ten feet at a depth of three feet. These dimen sions are increased on the lower stretches of the ditch to ten feet on the botton and 20 feet at a depth of three feet, and will ultimately be enlarged to carry the wat ers of Webb and Mission Creeks when the latter are diverted. A natural de pression in the earth has been found for the reserroir, covering 205 acres, and which has a storage capacity of 6000 acre feet. From this reservoir, under pressure, the water is to be sent in wooden-stave pipes over the rolling hills to Lew:iston. It Is told in a few words, but only a visit to the plant can bring a realiza tion of the immense amount of work and engineering skill that has entered into the enterprise. At some points the big flume is supported by bolts of Iron driven into the upper sections of the sfeep basalt cliffs that fringe the Sweetwater Canyon. It was built by means of a crane working forward by the same process that bridges are extended over a stream. The com pany operated its own sawmill to supply the lumber for fhe work and for months a small army of men has been employed. Two Years of Reservoir AVork. Just a peep at the scene of the reser voir work will suggest the magnitude and substantial character of the plant. It is the reservoir element that has made pos sible the reclamation of the lands, and I I II ' i , ,l M i ' J'? F 'VtUTf&A S:-: 1 1 ;A'::: i W i:1 m I- - 4 'tf&Z&X 'VtO W- VjF turn, sjav -A ii.i-. 1 hf X 1 1. View allowing Mection of three-mile flame of Iwtnton-Sweetwafcer Company, whAe Mine is at points bolted to solid cliffs of basalt, the work cf Portland people in developing resources of Lewiston country by lifting waters from deep canyons to flow over the fruit lands. 2. A loop in the flume of the Lewiston-Sweetwater Irrigation Company, whose operations haTe reclaimed to Irrigation rich sections of the Lewiston Valley in Idaho. 3. Section of canal of Lewiston-Sweet water Irrigation Company. At points the canal has been blasted out of solid rock at a cost of $20,000 a mile. How Portland capital is developing resources of Lewiston Valley. 4. In building the big flume of the Le wist on-Sweet water Company it became necessary to adopt the same method as is em ployed in extending a bridge over a stream, a traveling crane being utilized. here is where the great work has been done, lasting and secure. The reservoir site is a natural one, requiring only a dam, outlet pipes and gates. Water Is now flowing into the reservoir, but men, machinery and material are swarming over the work and gradually raising the great wall of the dam. It will take two years to complete it, and then it will be 100 feet high at its highest point, 3S00 feet In length and 600 feet thick at its widest point. Seven hundred and fifty thousand yards of selected material are entering into it. Layer after layer, six inches thick, is being spread over the wall and wedged into place by heavy rollers 14 tons in weight, actually cementing on all sides the solid concrete outlet pipes, which have been built in solid rock. Ludlow steel gates, each 36 inches in diameter, are also buried beneath the immense mass, which is creeping higher and higher and thicker and thicker. It takes a sharp pick to even scratch the wall at any point. Such compactness seems unneces sary, but the most exacting demands of the expert engineers must be satisfied, in modern reservoir construction. This wall is toeing built by men who have studied the famous reservoirs of Colorado for a quarter of a century and vrfio are spe cialists in this class of engineering. Among World's Greatest JDams. The dam ranks among the highest earthen, dams of the world and there axe very few as high that have been con structed for the purpose of drrlgation. There are twenty dams which are higher than this one, ranging from 85 feet up to 125 feet, which are distributed over the world as follows: California 6, Maryland 1, New York 1, Ireland 2, India 3, England 6, Algeria 1, Scotland 1. None of these is used for irrigation, except in California, India and Algeria. They are all con structed on much the same slopes and with crowns of from six to sixty feet in width. There are several dams now projected by the United States reclamation service which will be as high or higher than the dam of ,the Lewiston Sweetwater Irriga tion Company. The dam on the Cold Springs reservoir in the Umatilla project will be of very nearly the same charac ter and height and contain about 700,000 cubic yards of material or a trifle less than this dam. The Bellefourche dam in South Dakota will contain 1,600,000 cubic yards of earth and will be about 115 feet in height and 6400 feet in length. It is the largest earthen dam now under con struction by the reclamation service. Who the Engineers Are. Convinced that the reservoir plan was the only one by which the beautiful val ley lands could be reclaimed for fruit growing and suburban homes, the pro moters of the Lewiston project went to Colorado, where reservoir irrigation sys tems have reached their most advanced success: Investigation there resulted In their securing the services of Professor L. G. Carpenter, the noted irrigation ex pert, as consulting engineer. Prof. Carpenter was State Engineer for Colorado and is Professor of Irrigation Engineering at the Fort Collins Agricul tural College. He is known throughout the United States for the success of his work in irrigation engineering. To take direct charge of the work for the com pany here, Professor Carpenter appointed Porter J. Preston, former Assistant State Engineer of Colorado, a graduate of the Fort Collins School of Irrigation En gineering, and an engineer of fifteen years actual flaJd experience. For five years, Mr. Preston was superintendent of the Fort Lyon. Colorado canal system, embracing 113 miles of ditch, and his spe cial work has been the handling of those features of irrigation work dealing with the reservoir systems. Superintendent Is From Portland. Preliminary engineering work was handled by Engineer J. O. Maxon of this city and Engineer A. "Wold of Tacoma, who built the N. J. Furnish plant In Eastern Oregon. During actual construc tion. Professor Carpenter and Mr. Preston have included In their force of assistants, three graduates of the Washington State College of Pullman, Washington C. C. Cartlich, W. R. Rehorn and Dennis P. Woods. Mr.' Preston as Chief Engineer, has personally directed the various en gineering details of the big enterprise, while the field superintendent for the company Is F. D. Warner, of Portland, a graduate in Mechanical Engineering of the University of Wisconsin. In the distribution of the water to the lands of the company, the Irrigated tracts to be known as the Lewiston Orchards, the element of efficiency, which has been the governing influence in all the engi neering details, is again carried out in the work of the company. The outlet fa cilities at the reservoir will enable the entire capacity of the reservoir to be dis charged In six weeks' time, and the plan of marketing the water to be adopted is such that the owner of the land may at his option receive all the water contracted for within a period of 60 days. Conse quently he may take a large quantity during hot days and less during cooler weather. , Essentially Storage Plant. Every irrigation system has distinct methods of distribution, peculiar to the conditions that must be met. The Port land plant, being one of storage, essen tially suggests, when the Immense size of the reservoir is considered, that a large amount of water is demanded in a limited period of time, and that the per iod, for catching the water is limited to a season. And these are the facts: The drainage area of the Craig Moun tain watershed is about 100,000 square miles. The greater altitudes of the moun tain do not exceed 6000 feet. The melt ing snows and heavy rains of the early Fall and late Spring therefore rush down the mountain streams in torrents. If conditions so warrant the step, the Port land company can store, during these rushes of storm waters, 10,000 cubic feet of water in the reservoir and this water can be held until mid-Summer, when crops may depend solely upon water. When the situation is analyzed, entirely free from every ' element of speculation, the logic of engineering skill that has planned the big system quickly impresses one. It was the only method of reclaim ing, on a substantial and permanent basis, the stretches of valley land surrounding Lewiston, which are now to be converted into orchard homes. Model Suburban Residence Tract. While the prominence of the Lewiston Valley as a fruitgrowing district is am ple evidence of the success that can be expected in fruitgrowing on the new lands reclaimed, the proximity of these lands to Lewiston will naturally make Lewiston Orchards a suburban residence district. The company has planned a model district in that regard. The dis tributing pipes extending from the res ervoir are 24, 18 and 10 inches in diameter. The reservoir is several hundred feet higher than the lands. The water is therefore to be delivered under a mini mum of 100 feet head pressure to every house. The lands are divided into five-acre tracts, with 60-foot streets and 20-foot alleys. The plan of marketing the tracts provides for systematic Improvements, such as fencing. Each purchaser must maintain around his property a fence of uniform design painted white. This alone will lend character and distinction to the lands under this system. The company will plant avenues of ornamental trees throughout the holdings. The work of the company is toward providing home tracts, with all the advantage of proximi ty to city conveniences, yet affording the freedom of suburban life and the oppor tunities of carrying on there successfully fruit growing and truck farming. What It Means for LeVlston Valley. Lewiston people view the enterprise of the Portland company as the most .im portant development in the history of the city, assuring a large suburban popula tion and the increase pf the fruitgrow ing area to such a size as will give the valley first place among the fruit districts in the Northwest from the standpoint of the output of the more delicate varieties of fruits. . For 40 years there have been periodical movements .to place under water large tracts of the valley lands, but the plans all these years have awaited consumma tion. There was no speculation as to the results water would bring the Robert Schleicher vineyard, recognized as the finest in the Northwest, is in this Valley; and then there is the remarkable achieve ment at Vineland, from which place car loads of cherries, peaches, apricots and berries are shipped out to the East every year. So long as the waters of Craig Moun- 1 tain remained unassembled, wheat-growing was the sole industry of the larger areas of the valley, but Portland capital has assembled the waters, and Idaho's march of progress has been quickened by the addition of another big irrigation scheme successfully carried out. BEET CROP IS SCARCE. Yield In the Grand Ronde Valley Reaches 40,000 Tons. LA GRANDE, Or., June 24. (Special.) Machinists are busy at the sugar-factory overhauling the machinery and getting the plant In order for the Summer run for the working Into brown sugar of the residue syrup of last year. The mill ex pects to start on this run early in July, and will continue for six or eight weeks, which will bring It almost up to the time when the regular Fall run will commence, which to meet demands must .begin not later than the middle of Sep tember. The pressing need for this unusually early beginning is brought about by the exceptional heavy crop of beets that Is expected to be harvested this year and which must be disposed of before the hard frosts come; therefore an early start is necessary to get all the beets through. Manager Bramwell is enthusiastic over the present prospects for a beet crop. He says: "We have 4400 acres of beets this year and at least 4000 acres of this is a per fect stand. The only difficulty that con fronts us is the scarcity of help. We employ all the white help we can and then fill out with the best we can get. In addition to our home supply of help we have about 200 Japanese." This week a band of Umatilla Indians came over to seek employment in the beet fields, and were welcomed, for the reason that the beetgrowers are glad to get anybody who will work at thinning and weeding. One cause of the present scarcity of help in the beet fields is the big fruit yield all over the valley which employs many pickers and packers that otherwise would be working In the beets. The strawberries and cherries are com ing in market and will keep qujte an army of workers busy to handle the crop. Beetgrowers are afraid they may be compelled to secure Greeks if the labor supply cannot be obtained in any other way, but this will only come as a last resort- The yield of beets for this year is esti mated at between 35.000 fend 40.000 tons, with a sugar output of not less than 10, 000,000 pounds. VIXEGAR FACTORY IS ASSURED. La Grande Plant Will Be Ready for Work Xext Fall. LA GRANDE. Or.. June 24, (Special.) That La Grande will have a vinegar factory, which will be in operation In time to handle the crop of fall apples, la now an assured fact. Nearly all the stock has been subscribed. Cash stock sub scriptions, amounting to nearly $30,000, have been made. The company will be known as the Rlp ly Oregon Apple Food Company. The contract for the construction of the build ing will be given this week, the location is on the Elgin branch east of the city limits. The building will be 45x150 with cement cellars, and the factory will have a ca- pacUy for handling 100.000 bushels urlng 300,000 gallons of. vinegar, apple wine and cider. It Was His Job. Harper's Weekly. Representative Cushman, of the State of Washington, was recently entertaining a constituent at luncheon. A man passed whom Mr Cushman seized by the arm and presented to his friend. "This is the man." said Cushman, con fidentially, "who has written more stu pidities than any other living person." The man from Washington was so taken back by the remark, which appeared to him to be the height of impoliteness, that he sat in open-mouthed silence. The man introduced, however, took the observation good-naturedly, smiling broadly. "Perhaps I should add," continued Cushman. "that this gentleman is one of the official stenographers of the House."