3 TlfE BTJXPAY OREGOXtAy. rORTLAyD. AtTGUST 20. 1911. - I . ' ' : - . I TIETON PROJECT MODERN MIRACLE ' - J, Vr , BT RAXOALL K. HOWARD. THIS 1 the firt of a srrtv of eight or more artlclas. to be publlvbed weekly, that will deal Intimately lth the present atatoa of the great I nited Platen reclamation project of the WL Each article will dliicuea a special phase of the work of the rec lamation iortirf, and the difficult Tohlema of one project. Among the project to be vl.oted and dexerlbed. re: The Tleton and the Sunnyolde. Washtnaton: the Payett-Bole and the Minidoka. Idaho: the Truckee-Carson. Nevada: the Orland. fallfornla. and the . t'malllla and the Klamath. Orrtton. The rannl. lateral and larae tlltrh e of these project have a total ap proximate lencrth of one and three fifth time the distance around the world, not Including the many thou tands of mile of emaller dltche that will UIMnbute the Immense volume of formerly masted water that Is beinc ronserred by the reclamation service. 'ountinc a family or four to every ten rres. these wafr-rrea ted district will support a population of more than half a million people. I .aw Approverl hy nooscvelt. The reclamation act, was made a law by the slitnuture of Preldent Roose velt June 17. 1nl. The subetanc of the art Is that all money received from the s.ile and disposal of public lands In Anions. California. Colorado. Idaho. Kansas. Montana. Nebraska. Ne vada. New Mexico. North I'akota. Okla homa. Oreaon. Houth I'skota. Utah. Vt'axhlncton and Wyomlna. bralnnlns; with the fiscal year ended June lu. l?0l. Includlnir the surplus of fee and commission In etces of allowance to register and receiver, and ea ceptir.ii S per cent of these amounts, which Is set aside for educational and other purposes, be appropriated a a pedal fund In the Treasury, to be known as the -reclamation fund.- to be used In the examination and survey for and the construction and main tenanc of Irrigation work for the storsae. diversion and development of water for the reclamation of arid and aeml-arld lands in the said atatea and territories, A blrdseye view of the various projects provided for by the act of Con grens follow: Tleton Protect Area. JS.001 acres: altitude, about rioo feet: canal and laterals. ; mile In length: farm unit. o acres: location. Central Washington: rpened November T. 1M0: products, hops, alfalfa, fruit, vegetables; precip itation, eight Inches:. soil, deep volcanlo ash and gravel. t'mattlla Project Area, first unit. t.44 acre; altitude, average 479 feet; construction charge. per sere; ca nals and laterals. ISO mile In length: dims, storage, length of. SSOO feet: farm units, 1 to 40 acres; location. Northeastern Oregon: maintenance, an nual fee per acre. 11. 1; opened, first unit. PecemberN 17. 107: products, hay. fruit, vegetables, poultry. dairying; average annual rainfall, eight Inches; soil, sandy loam and volcanic ash; water supply, I'matllla River. 8unnyslde Project Area, lOO.OftO acres: altitude, about 1004 feel: canal and laterala. 410 mile In length; con struction cost. S1 per acra; farm units. 40 to SO acres: location. Central Wash ington: opened November 1. l0t; pre cipitation, eight Inches; product, al falfa, fruit, vegetables, melons, .hops: soil, deep volcanic ash and gravel. Work Phowo In Operation. One of the mot daring of ths Irri gation plan of ths United States reclamation Service Is the Tletoa proj ect of South Central Washington. Here may be seen the practical working out of many Government reclamation the ories. The work of ths Iteclaraatlon Serv ice appeals strongly to popular Inter est, and some of Its snginserlns; ac complishments have been spectacular In the extreme. Water Is such a com mon substance that the average man takes a little thought of It aa he doe of the air that he breathes. But no western man need be reminded that this most common of all substances cn be made to perform miracles f or the very term "reclamation" Implies a transformation from dead aridity to ths hiithest tat of productivity of ths soil that may be een among clvlllied men. Ths Tleton project offers example doth of the spectacular and of the miracle-working power of water. Ths great Yakima Valley, that contain hlf a million Irrigable acres, was an lid Irrigated section when the Reclama tion Act was spproed nine year . In fact. Irrigation began In the Yaki ma Valley as early as 147. But con illtloo wars aot -Ideal. Water rlghla i BO? V V: '-V were In a tangle: litigation was threat ened: ras considered separable from the land which It reclalr Mo the Reclamation Act had scarcely be come law before the s Yakima Valley appealed lle In the to the Cot- ernment officials for help. The Investigation of this the largest of the National projects began In 11)03; and so complicated were the water rights on the aireams'and the lakes of the Yakima basin that the agreements, which alone committed the Government to proceed, were not signed until 105. I .and Values I. So little faith did the Investing pub lie have In the reclamation of the dis trict Included In the Tleton unit of ths Yakima project, that 10 years (as the railroad lands In this section were sold as low as to cents an acre land that has recently been resold at prices ranging from $73 to S-00 and more an acre. It should be noted, too, that this price doe not Include the water-right charge of $!J an acre which Is the cost to ilhe Government of reclaiming the land. Contrast this former condition, also, with the singular struggle on the part of horaeseeker to file homestead right on hs project. The total area of land Included In the Tleton unit Is 34.500 acres. Of this amount, about 2000 acres was publlo land. Fsrly during the present year It wa officially an nounced that on April , 1711. 1.1 home stead would "lp" open to entry .under the terms .of the Reclamation Act which demands Ave year residence on the land, and the payment of the water right In 10 eiial Installments. Three week Jefore the date on which filing could be made, would-be homesteader began to line up at ths district land of fice at North Yakima. At the head of the human line that did not break for more than to nights and 20 days, was a high school lad. It Is said that the young man was offered S1200 for his place In the line, and that thla offer was later increased to I IS 00. but ha did not yield. One of the resi dents of the section told ms that he "would have been willing to stand In line all Hummer for SUO1)" but the young man was working for a bigger reward, for when his five-years' resi dence is completed and his water pay ments made, he will be owner of a farm that has a present value of between J4W00 and 15000. Arre Ma do JKasy. The Tleton project la one of the best to study the practical working out of the water theories of the Jteolamatlon Service. The reclaimed area a west toward the Cascade Mountains from North Yakima, and the surface eleva tion is 1J0 to S100 feet. One may ap proach eitheron a branch steam rail way or on an electrlo line. Ths offi cial center of the project Is the creit of a rolling rldsje from which one may look In all direction over newly-reclaimed land. In reclamation parlance, ths Govern ment headquarter and the neat little village of erfices. dwelling and stable la merely "Camp Four." rown at the railroad station Is a long, well-used, warehouse, which Is filled with machin ery and electrical and engineering sup piles for the final completion of the last small units of the project. The station and ths various temporary and perma nent camps are connected by good roads that are traversed by old fashioned, true western, stags coaches and freight team. Also, the automo bile belonging to the office of the Supervising Knglneer at North Yakima Is constantly driven over the different units of the great Taklma project: and the buggv teams and the saddle horse of the officials and the employe ef ths Tleton unit average many milt J c f v. K V I a. . . ' ' " a day In the task of Inspection and supervision. The office of "Camp Four" Is Indi cated by a high, white flagpole, from which th Stars and Stripes are tin furled during office houra. The office la low and neat and crowded with the various departments of the work. The Chief Knglneer and the Superintendent of Irrigation, the officials who have the greatest responsibility, are. like ail other reclamation officials I have met. approachable and earnest and en thusiastic in their work. Office hours do not measure their work, and the building is usually occupied from early morning until late In the evening. Talk 1 All of Water. . Water Is the one toplo at head quarters, and the water-talk streams begin to flow as early as 30 In the morning, for between that hour and 7 o'clock is the regular period for the seven patrolmen scattered over the project to report by telephone to the Superintendent of Irrigation. By 7 o'clock the patrolmen will have re ceived suggestions and orders for meet ing the various water-supply problems of the day. Chlerly. they will- make notes concerning those. Irrlgatlonists who want the water turned off or turned on, and concerning any breaks or dangerous places In the many miles of ditch that they must watch. Ths personality and the work of the water patrolman on tha reclamation project resemble. In some degree, that of the ranger In tha National forests. Each must be Intensely Interested In his work In ordsr to do It well, and both'must view their respective sub jects of water and forests broadly snd Impersonally. The patrolman's chief equipment is his hardy pony, his shov el, and his practical knowledge of the control and the use of water. He must traverse and watch his ditches during every on of ths 15S rays of the regular water season on the Tleton project, beginning not later than May 1. each Spring. The patrolman will ride an average of IS to 13 mile a day. noting tha head of water In the main ditches, and regu lating the flow In the laterals and the sub-laterals that deliver the water to ths user. The ditch rider comes Into contact with the Irrlgatlonists on the project, and Is In a position to give manv practical suggestions for nine out of ten of the settlers on ths Gov ernment reclamation projects of the West are entirely new at tho Irriga tion game. On the Tleton project Is seen still another analogy between the Reclama tion Service and the Forestry Service. In the Forestry Service they have ths 'Use Book" the ranger's Bible and on the Tleton project there has been re cently published a small book of "Water Users' Instructions." a copy of which Is sent to every holder of a Government water right. Every em ploys of ths Service is also given a copy. This book Is official, having been approved by the Secretary of the In terior, and applying to all Government Irrigation works and employes In ,the Ststr of Washington. The water laws of the Nation and the state, and the contract between the Government and ths Individual 7 .a"- c 1; Li r water user and the local Water Users' Assooiatlon. are summarized and ex plained; also, the duties and the re sponsibilities of the employes of the Keclamztlon Service are -stated, so that each irrigationist may read and know Just what he may and may not expect from Uncle Sam's man who measures and watches the portion of water that is vital to crops, the life-giving ele ment which measures the difference be tween ,a seared, dusty str'p of desert and an oasis that will support a per son on every two acres. ? At the end of each day the observa tions of, the ditch patrolman are re duced to writing, and the reports sent to headquarters. These reports, and the rer,csts of the water tigers that are tranamltted by telephone, are turned over to the clerk who carefully tabu lates them. And the resulting dally water balance sheet woul'' dohtle9 be classed as the most waivable record of the office as Important as the ticker tape lp Wall street or the condensed budget of the srreat corporation. The water balance sheet tells the whole tale of the working of the rec lamation system. It indicates Just how much water .Is used, and how much is wasted by seepage and through breaks In the ditches; whether enough water Is leaving the upper diversion dam or the headgate of the storage reservoir to supply the known needs of the Irrl gatlonists. or whether the lower water users must endure a day's water fam ine: It tells which of the farmers are playing the "water hog" by applying for and Using more than their legiti mate share for that particular period of the Irrigation season, or whether they have learned the wise lesson of water economy and are in no danger of drowning out their crops which nscd water, but -will be as surely In jured by too much water as by too llttU. Water Used Tabulated. Tha chief trouble of ths water cleric at the main office is to make his water summary balance. A definite amount of water Is reported by telephone to have entered the head of the main canal or canals. Portions of this are diverted and redlverted at specific points, and In accurately measured quantities. Some of It flows in open sandy and rocky-sided ditches; some In newly patented steel flumes; 'some In concrete canals along dangerous sidehllls; some through rock-paved open ditches; some Is dropped Into hid den -concrete or tarred-wood syphons. Invisible until It has crossed to the opposite side of the deep valley; and some of It Is carried by wooden flumes to the highest point on the final Irri gation unit. A small percentage of water loss can be charged to evaporation and seep age. If this percentage is very large tha loss must be traced. All of the headzates, both large and small, are under lock, and it Is a punishable of fense to steal water on a reclamation project. But ss one of the superin tendents expressed to m. "If there Is any hog In a man, irri gation will bring It out." Another of the reclamation officials commented that aome persons still per sist In thinking that water la free A. r V ft is w-4 , ft cc. .: substance and that many preacher like man, who never knowingly did a wrong, thinks nothing of stealing water whenever he feels that he will not be caught. It Is possible, also, when there Is a water discrepancy, that the ditch rider is not dolnjr his full duty and has not accurately read some of the many small weir gauges that he must report on each day. Ixss Results In BeKlnning-. turlng the first year of the use' of the open Irrigation ditch, a large seep age loss may be expected. Along one section, of a main Tleton project canal, for example, tue water loss last year was abnormally large. The loss was checked up from each end, hut the exact point could not bo located. After a time the observant reclamation men discovered, at the bottom of a hill several miles away, a new cold-water spring. But this only confirmed sus picions and did not solve the problem. After a timei however, several fissures were discovered In the rock sides and bottom of the ditch, and the openings were filled with concrete. The spring disappeared. The most-wrltten-about features of the Tleton project are the engineering wonders. Irrigation .has been prac ticed on land within the boundaries of the project for more than, St) years, but the former low-selling pries of unlr rlgated land proves that there was lit tle thought that it would ever be re claimed. The land is rolling, with high hills on either side, and the streams that have their headwaters In the Casecade Mountains to the west have worn deep canyons. The en gineering problems were most difficult. The main canal of the project diverts water from the Upper Tleton River, but In order to pay back the water taken from the Naches River, of which the Tleton is a chief tributary. It was necessary for the Reclamation Service to provide a storage reservoir. The storage reservoir site was found at Bumping Lake, far up toward the summit of the Cascade Mountains, and in a primitively wild spot where a bear may frequently be seen within gun shot. Indeed one of the freighters who recently made the Bumping Lake trip reports having seen four bears at one time. - Construction difficulties were not confined to work on the large dam. where all materials must - be hauled for long distances over difficult roads. Twelve miles of the main canal Is excavated along the steep sides of a canyon, more than 600 feet above the river and the level of the valley at the lower end. This canal is formed by a large half-oval concrete flume, which Winds serpent-like along the precipi tous side of tha mountain. Flume Built Strongly. This flume was constructed in short units and. these heavy forms were hsuled up the hillside hy means of tramlines and aerial cables. Barring accident, this flume is practically ever hvMlng. ' So strong is it constructed. Wonder Wrought by Water on Near-Desert .Lands is seen on Reclamation Work in South Central Washington. I 73 ,j ft v . - m a 'e 1 .5 PS""-- L 1 Mr "ft".. :: SAW A, too, that when a two-ton boulder re cently shot 200 feet down the precipice onto It, the body of the canal was not damaged. One of the most Interesting features of this part of the project is the more than two miles of tunnel through EUROPE LEADS AMERICA IN CONSERVING TIMBER Experts Say Taxation Should Be Removed From Our Virgin Forest. Lands; 1 Avert Fire Menace Among Growing Trees. CAPTAIN JOHN B. WRIGHT, of Kansas City, and William U. Barnes, of St. Louis, have. Just left Taris for America, after pass ing several dayB here in a study of the systems of management of French forests, says tho Paris edition of the New York Herald. Captain White is a member of the United States Conservation Commission and chairman of the executive committee of the Con servation Congress. Mr. Barnes Is sec retary of the Missouri Forestry Com mission and editor of tho Lumberman. The tour, which was semi-official, embraced a considerable portion Of Eu rope. Captain White and . Mr. Barnes brought letters of Introduction to for estry experts and Ambassadors, Minis ters and Consuls, from . Philander C. Knox, the Secretary of State; James Wilson, Secretary of Agriculture; H. S. Graves. Chief Forester of the United States; Gifford Plnchot, formerly Chief Forester, and It, S. Hadley. Governor of Missouri. England, Belgium, Austria. Hungary and Switzerland were visited before France was reached. Unfortunately the time at their disposal was so limited that Captain White and, Mr. Barnes were forced to make a very hurried study of conditions In France. How ever, they found the systems here simi lar to those in other Continental coun. tries. On their return to the United States they will submit reports to the Governor of Missouri and the Conser vation Congresl. Some Recommendations. "The United States has much to learn from Europe regarding the con servation of' natural resources," said Captain White to a Herald correspond ent at the Hotel Regina. "Wo shall recommend the adoption of methods of the nature of those which have been in suocpKSful operation here for many years. The taxation of American for ests is a hardship which discourages the planting and cultivation of trees, 11 ' Wis which the water is carried. The lower tunnel is three-quarters of a mile long. It is a most surprising and a novel spectacle, this great spring of water bursting from the side of the moun tain, apparently coming from no where,. The upper end of the tunnel is high Ifiough for a tall man to walk through, but It narrows funnel-like and the lower end is entirely filled with water even when only one-third of tho head is flowing. Settlers have gathered on tha Ticton project from all parts of the United States and from all kinds of previous occupation. For example, there are many former professional people. One dltchrider says, for instance, that he supplies water to three former minis ters; another fixes and locks the head gate that supplies the ranch of tha nun who was formerly general freight agent for a great railway system. An other water user gained notoriety as the cashier of the bank' in Northfield. Minn- which was raided by Jesse James and his gang, the raid resulting In the capture of the Younger brothers. A colony of -school teachers who be lieve In Government reclamation ara here, as well as a man who for 26 years was a proofreader on an influential publication of New York City. Land on the Tleton project Is selling at prices ranging from $75 to 260 and more an acre, not Including the Gov ernment water right of 193 an acre, which is payable in ten equal install ments without interest. It should be explained that the Government was pe titioned to carry the water to the high est point of each 40-acre unit of land, and the cost of the construction of these sub-laterals has been included in the total water right charge. It has been roughly estimated that this extra work done for the settler has added about 13 per acre to the water right charge. Alfalfa Is one of the big crops on the project, the yield being five to eight tons to the acre. The section Is also thought to be exceptionally fa vorable for the production of Winter apples. Other fruits, all kinds of ber ries, hops, grains and root crops grow prollflcally. The fertility of the Tie ton section Is insured by the fact that this area is a part of tha great Yakima Valley, sections of which are among the richest and most highly developed portions of the entire West, which val ley will be described more in detail in another article. and with Its abolishment a long step forward would be taken. "In Austria a landowner Is relieved of taxation for 20 years provided he grows trees on his property. The ta is imposed only when he starts cutting and begins to receive a return on hie Investment, and even then It is onlj nominal. In Switzerland forests, what ever their age, are always exempt front taxation. "We need relief and encouragement of this character In the United States, Our contention is that, when only on crop of timber is produced In a genera tion, it is unfair and unwise to levy s tax annually, for 30 or 40 years, on timber lands. We believe timber should be treated like corn or wheat or any other crop that it should be free from taxation until it Is cut." "The subject of forestry preservation should be removed entirely from th sphere of politics," said Mr. Barnes, "The United States should handle It ai a business proposition, as is done in France, Germany and most of the other European countries. In Germany the first demand made upon the forests if for firewood. The nation has found that it is cheaper to Import timber for telegraph and telephone posts from Russia than to chop down its own trees by wholesale. Zurich Owns Sawmills. "The Slwald forest, in Switzerland, hae been cultivated for more than a thousand years. The city of Zurich owns it and operates a sawmill. Tha municipality's profit, over and above the expenses of maintenance and re planting. Is $25,000 a year. "Not only should the United States encourage forestry development by re moving the taxation from virgin forest lands, but It should adopt more strin gent measures for the protection of its forests against fire. In Washington, Oregon and other pine-producing states In America probably as much timber has been burned as has been cut. We have been afforded an object lesson in our travels about Eurojjc."