TTIE StfXDAY OREGOXIAX. PORTLAND, JANUARY 22, 1911
IDAHO LEADS IN IRRIGATION ENTERPRISES
Freaks Played by Nature Have Become Valuable Asset of Growing
State Millions of Private Capital Help Transform Desert.
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BY H. A. L.viv.-o.v. I b crops Snane m'vcr. just above American
BOISE. Idaho. Jan. II. Idaho be- I ran. Thu dam will be SO feet high and
lleve. that it leads tha world go f, lonr. forming a reservoir with
a capacity auincieni to store a,(B.oJU
acre-feet of water, covering i0.)0 "acres
of land, constituting the largest artifi
cial reservoir In the world. The entire
townslte of Araerlrsn Fails will be sub
merged, besides thousands of acres of
adjoining Indian lands. Tha Intake of
the great canal, which will be 2u) feet
wide on the bottom, will be at the Mll
ner dam. The hugs American Falls
reservoir Is to store the water during the
flood season, snd supply the demands of
the canal flow during the Irrigating sea
son. The lands have been withdrawn
from the public domain, and the com
pany Is engaged In running the surveys
and doing the preliminary work. The
Bubl-Milner-Klmt-erly interests are baca
of this scheme. They successfully com
pleted the famous Twin Falls project of
2I.OOu acres.
Nature played Its freaks In Idaho, but
with Irrigation coming Into Its own. these
freaks are the southern portion of the
slate's most valuable assets. Kature drew
rflvMlntP lln tKrm rfm I i-o 1 lilahn HI.
Is that of the Twin Falls Land & Water tributing the rain to the northern' half
Company, which proposes to Irrigate 1 and tha aim to tho nurhm u.,i the
about uVJ.OOO acre of land In Owyhee I mighty Fnake River and Its tributaries
County at an expenditure of tIT.00O.on. 1 cut a way through the lava and sand.
To sccomp.lsh this end will reoulre the j It is the Snake that brought Into promi
construcrtlon of a main canal more than nenre the possibilities of irrigation. Its
1M mll a long, besides hundreds of miles ' waters have been liberally distributed
of laterals, and tha building of a dam over Its valley, and the desort soon, de-
llevrs that it leads the world
In Irrigation. The boast Is
backed by rigures which on their
face appear abounding. No fewer than
2 Independent Carry Act projecta are
dotted over the southern portion of the
state, reclaiming Z.630.&13.43 acrea of land.
Add to' these 373.000 acres under United
States reclamation projects, and the
1.0VO.0OO acres of private lands, and Idaho
fcas A grand total of S.003.S33 acres of
land situated under Irrigation canals.
The cost of Installation will be tT5.000.000,
Here ia the foundation of Idaho'se boast.
The future la even brighter than the
past, for Idaho was fortunate In secur
ing a liberal slice of the Irrigation bond
lag fund.- sufficient to complete the
great Payette-Boise and Mlnlndoka proj
ects within this state.
Project Is Stupendous.
The most stupendous project thus far
undertaken in Idaho. !f not In the world.
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CAREY ACT PROJECTS COMPLETED AND UNDER
WAY IN IDAHO.
Company
American Falls Canal A Power Company.
I' Is? Lorn I l;ir rr i-.t.o-i CimMni
Ialr.s Countr trrSfallon Company. .... .
Vtitr CIIX projret
lurh Credit irrlratlon Company........
tirunau IrrtEaticn v.'ompny
Il ! KdH't Nrin Irrlsalloa Co.......!
Canyon Csrsi Company
liubiLi Irns itlon projt
Ora:nr linKJtion Company.
C.ran.1lw Kx:nton Company...........
Hfiiud a Ajon project ..............
finuston Dili ft Company
t:irh Uln 1'umpins Company...........
Hnron. c. V
I'ah irriratmn Company
Iil.son Irnicaiion Company..............
Kns Hhl company .....
Kmc Hill' axtrniilon .............I"
lorn K'attna project
I.vmhl Irnsaitnn Company.........,...""
Lmie l..t Itur
Lrtr t'hlmrrol "
MarysvlJe Canal Company
OilHl Cary LAS'! Irrigstloa Ob
tmi.iM Lard Irr:ra-lm Company.....
Owyhf Irrtsatln Company............
ra- innrl projact H
1'i.rtncuf Mrh V!Uy Company........
Prall Irrlyation Company
"naka i;ir Irrlsatlon I'ompany .
T:n fi'i lnd tVaiar l omptnr..,.
Twin Falla lind A Hn.r Company....
Tlo Kal.e Nortn eid I Pum pins i. ......
Twin ti ll lnd at Company....
Twin I'alla Norih Slle.
Twin Tula flakier prtijeet
Twin Fail S.i'm.'n Klver. ........... ...
Twin Ka!l Raft Rlvar
Ta:ir Irrisation Company
T'lujMrl prlr-sa Ljui1 Company......"
Vat KuJ Tla Fal.a Company ...II
Totals .........t
Otis'n'l eat.
Acreage. of cost
I7.3v0.l3 SoOllH
3.100. ft'XI
78.241.M
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ve-loped Into a rich agricultural com
munity. The creation of the Carer Act opened
the avenue for private capital to ven
ture Into Irrigation enterprise. The esti
mated cost of construction of the Carey
Act projects so far undertaken In this
state aggregates the enormous total of
tT5,0O0.0u, of which amount $17,000,000
has been expended to date. Of the
2.630.830 acres under these projects, 713, KM
acres have been sold: of the unsold acre
age, 270,lSt acres are now open to public
entry.
The aggregate length of the main can
als Is 1363 miles, length of laterals is
3128 miles, making a total of 4491 miles
under Idaho's Jarey Act projects. The
aggregate length of all other Irrigation
canals In this state Is approximately
60tX) miles. This added to the mileage 01
Carey Act Canal gives a grand total of
10.491 miles of canals In this state.
Out of the 3.000.000 acres granted to this
state by the Government. 1.630.S33 have
already been taken, leaving a remainder
of 30.1-T7 acres to be absorbed In further
new projects.
Idaho has two lrrlgatloa projects under
the provisions of the Called States
Reclamation Service, known aa the Mln-
. proximate total length of the distribut
' lng system is 700 miles. Water is dl-
verted to the canal by the $1,000,000
1 dam in the Snake River at Mllner.
1 With the improvements already made
and the reservoir now under construction
the settlers of the' North Side have no
fear, another season, of water shortage
no matter if another unusual season like
the last should visit them, for the
; Snake River has been lower than has
j been known before in the recollection of
I the oldest Inhabitant,
j Mllner, the company headquarters,
! like other towns on the tract, is rapidly
; developing.
I Secretary Ballinger, under authority
conferred by the President. In recently
apportioning funds for irrigation work
In Idaho, only recently set apart $1,000.-
000 to begin Construction of Arrow Rock
aam
indoka and the Payette-Boise. The
former consists of 130.000 acres adjacent
to the great Twin Falls tract In the
Snake River Valley. The service has ex
pended several millions of dollars on
the Mlnlndoka project in an endeavor to
reclaim the land, and has constructed
reservoirs and many miles of canals, as
well as dams, along the Snaae River.
Progress has been slow, but sure.
Pumping Plan Adopted.
When the Mlnlndoka project Is com
pleted three mammoth pumping lifts
will be Installed, and water will be
raised from the Snake River to the ele
vated bench lands above. The third lift
Is made possible through the recent ap
propriation on the Irrigation bonds.
The Payette-Boise project comprises
240.000 acres In the western part of the
state In the Boise and Payette valleys.
Fewer than '100.000 acrea of land which
has been withdrawn from any form of
settlement except homestead Is actually
under Irrigation. The Reclamation Ser
vice has constructed a mammoth reser
voir known aa the Deer Flat, near
Kampa, and built S3 miles of main canal
large enough to carry the flow of the
average river. This canal taps the Boise
River seven miles northeast of Boise In
a rocky canyon. At this point a massive
concreie aam has been constructed to
I $7,113,435 comes to Idaho, and of it
only $528,000 goes to the Minidoka
project.
Of this total amount $2,000,000 was
taken from the $20,000,000 provided by
Congress and the remaining $5,000,000
from the amount allotted from the
regular reclamation fund between 1911
and 1914.
Arthur P. Davis, chief of the reclama
tion work was in Boise some weeks
ago, and In an Interview stated that
Arrow Rock probably would be chosen
as the site of the reservoir. Mr. Davis
later spoke before the Commercial
Club of this city telling of the gigan
tic amount of work that would have to
be done upon the dam and how the
amount of water which would have to
be obtained would be among the most
extensive for Irrigation purposes in the
entire country.
It was not contemplated that the actua.
work of construction would start for
several months, but, with the report of
the committee of which Mr. Davis is
chairman, construction work Is to be
j started earlier than was expected under
the direction of the Government engl-
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i.btiio . u- 1. 1. t u ,11 uuiac. iiicir wtii u tj m
force of 800 men employed on the dam.
Under a cooperative agreement now
in force between the State Land Board
of Idaho and the Department of Agri
culture, every assistance has been
given to the farmers on the various
projects, the object being to instruct
along scientific lines of irrigation. This
has been found necessary, as many of
the settlers are from the East or Middle
West. Most of them had to begin farm- .
ing over again upon Irrigated lands.
Don H. Bark, an Irrigation engineer,
took charge of this important depart
ment of reclamation. He has met with
success.
Sub-stations have been Installed in
various parts of the state for the pur
pose of carrying on the scheme of In
struction. These stations are in or
near the towns of Gooding, Richfield,
Buhl, RIgby, Idaho Falls, Caldwell.
Nampa and Boise. While the farmers
have been materially assisted, the gov
ernment has conducted a searching In
vestigation and Is gradually securing
the valuable data with reference to
irrigation lands that it has been seek
ing. According to the agreement en
tered into between the - State Land
Board and the Department of Agri
culture the state and Government were
to work hand in hand. The state and
Government have been assisted in the
on thA Kn ma H vap TL'hlnVt la
to form the main storage reser- I w-ork by the Oregon snort t-me. tne
voir of the Pavetta Boise nroiert. This ' Idaho Irrigation company,
the Twin
Falls Land & Water Company, Irriga
tion districts in the Boise Valley and
the United States Reclamation Ser
vice.
Snake Valley Is Center.
Jam Is estimated by the engineering
board to cost 5,1E9.000. It will be a
masonry .structure 318 feet high and will
raise water to a level of 212 feet, creat
ing a reservoir of 150.000 acre-feet cap
acity, ample to meet the estimated
needs of the project.
The board agreed. with the reclamation
engineers that the dam at Arrow Rock
divert the flood waters of the Roiso into would be cheaper and rtTore efficient than west. Probably the greatest marked
the New York Canal. The water is then one at anyother available site. j development in the past year has been
carried through the New York to the i Supervising Engineer Weymouth of the in the central southern portion In the
Deer Flat reservoir, from which it Js j Payette-Boise project says that work is neighborhood of Twin Falls, which is
distributed. 1 to start on the mammoth dam, which It about six years old and is a modern
Probably the biggest tasx ever under- ! ,s asserted by irrigation experts, will be city of 6000 people. Clustered about
taken In irrigated Idaho is that which is ' tho largest ever constructed in the this city thousands of acres of level
Just being completed by the Twin Falls I world, within a comparatively short land have been placed under lrriga-
Reclaniation in Idaho centers In thf
Snake River Valley between the city ol
Pooatello in the east and Weiser In the
time.
"The first move that we will make
will be the construction of a railroad
North Side Comoanv In central Snnih.rn
Idaho, in the vicinity of Jerome. Only
three years have been occunled In tha
construction of the North Side croiect. ' from Barberton to the site of the dam.
It is In the heart of Lincoln County, and 1 said Mr. Weymouth. "Material will
contains SM.wv acres, and a system of be rusned to tne aam site as soon as
reservoirs capable of storing 171,000 acre j possible. While actual work will start
feet of water.
The dam for the reservoir of this
project will be a mile and a half long
with an extreme height of 40 feet. It is
200 feet wide on the bottom, tapering
to the top. From bedrock up to and con
necting with the earth work a stone
wall is built through the-center. Tho
shore line of the reservoir will be ap
proximately 40 miles, while the depth
will be from 10 to 50 feet.
The total length of the main canal
will be approximately Si mile. The ap-
within the next few weeks. It will not
be in full swing until the Summer is
well advanced. This is the word, how
ever, for which we have been waiting
and work will be carried on until the
big structure is finished."
President Taft not only apportioned
the fund of $20,000,000 which was pro
vided by Congress, but apportioned the
contemplated Increment of the regular
reclamation work for 1911 to 1914,
amounting to more than $25,000,000 additional.-
From - these two funds
tion, the water for most being secured
from the Snake River, although some
comes from the Salmon, the Wood,
the Lost and other rivers and lakes.
The Minidoka project Is also located In
this city. When the Kuhn Interests
complete the Bruneau project of 600,
000 acres, along the south shores of the
Snake River, between the Goose Creek
and the Grandview projects, the entire
valley, of the Snake from a point east
of Twin Falls to Nyssa, Or., will havev
been reclaimed. v
The various other projects are trih- X
utary to the Snake, and from Twin,
Falls west. They are the Gooding,
Richfield, King Hill. King Hill Exten
sion. Medberry, Mountain Home. Sunny
side, Bruneau-Twin Falls. Bruneau.
(Concluded on Page 4.)