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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 21, 1916)
Par EiVilen Eat Qryoniart Rourvd-Up Souvenir Edition Fmd'f ton, Oregon, Thursday, September 21, 1916 Twenty-Four Pare tiiii!iiEnuiiHMiunnitntMiiMMiu?iiiMtiii'iMMiicrMifMi?tiMHMMtiiUMtiiitiiftMiitiMirttriinti)intnitirnr!fTirfMiiiitifnMii(cfi IRRIGATION PROJECTS IN UMATILLA COUNTY A. Kcuhhwu. It iilonuutcr 0 5 Now that the circuit court diT(v in the m.it'.er of the adjudica tion of the relative right .f the various claimant to the waters of the Cmatilla river and it tributaries has been signed hy Judge Phelps a word should be said in regard to this important piece of work. The settlement of the water ntrhls on this river sste.m constitutes probably th largest ple-e of work of this kind ever attempted In the state of Ore iron, and the results are noteworthy as it represents a forward step both In the determination of water rights as well as in the distribution work resulting therefrom A maximum amount of water per acre is fixed for the four classes of land defined In the decree and upon the watermaster devolves the task of determining the water duty or need under the maximum. He also must determine under which classification each piece of land comes. Thu It is seen that It has not been attempted to make an iron-clad rule In the. amount of water alloted to the land but one that chances to meet conditions. Its flexibility is its outstanding feiture. rt definitely fixes the. present Tested water rights and as conditions chance in the future it automati cally changes these rights to meet n?w conditions, and at the same time takes care of future development. It is an inducement to the rancher to improve his irrigation system and yet gives him sufficient time in which to make such improvements so as not to work a hard ship upon him. It provides a maximum water delivery which is used during the development pertod and automatically reduces the water allotment as the land improves under cultivation and as systrms of Irrigation Improve. "I ; ! Success is often attained through a aeries of failures, or to put It another way; If a man profits by hi mistakes he will eventually master them and become successful. This might weli be applied to the development of the Irrigation project in this county, to the government's Hermiston project, the Furnish project and the Western Ind and Irrigation Company' pro ject, for they certainly have been objected to all the experiments and mitaJtea that could be experienced in project development In this locality. The fact that they now begin to show unmistakable signs of success only emphasize the enormity of the mis takes) made and the lack of knowledge of condition for these projects are entirely feasable, and practical when the land is bandied properly. Let as contemplate a few of the Project troubles and the remedies ap plied. Now, there is the old question of land values. When water was made available for the sage brush land of the projects most of the land was held In private hands and the owners seeing; vision of suddenly ac quired wealth, became the wildest of be bought for 125 to $75 per acre. ThU does not include water rights which cost around 170 Der acre on! long-time payments and either at a low rate of Interest on the two Carey Act projects or no Interest charges as with the government project. Linked with high land prices as the two worst evils of project development was the lack of knowledge of develop ment procedure. They would mob a man down there now for some of the experiments or mistakes made In the past. For Instance, a man with 40 acres to reclaim could proceed to clear off the bnsh and pile It and burn it. Then he would plow op his cleaned off land real nicely. To the unltl ated let me whisper that this Is one awful crime, for soon a wind storm would hit that particular territory and the top six or seven inches of soil, the most valuable, would be wafted to the leeward ranches and cover up some hard working rancher's young alfalfa stand or strawberry patch, or make large glistening dunes of sand In a young apple orchard. That used to be a regular occurence and then the owner of said cleared forty would 5. Then sred to rye and alfalfa. S. Then note that a wind storm is threatening, (Snd storms are apt to occur here any day in the year.) 7. Then begin to wonder w here ne cessary flood boxes, ditches, etc., are to be placed to irrigate the land. S. Then watch the wind begin to whip away top soli, seed and all. S. Then frantically slap in a num ber of poorly constructed irrigation ditches, without drops or other ne cessary accessories, in your haste to check damage from the winds. 10. Then begin to irrigate it after a fashion, wildly endeavoring to wet the knolls and hummocks while the depressions are being erodded with gullies. (Strange but until now you had thought this job of irrigation comparatively easly and worthy of only minor consideration.) The land had not been properly shaped to get the water to every part of It in a rea sonable length of time. Besides the ditches are too .''mall and inadequate and fill rapidly with blowing sand. 11. By this time you note that your top soil and seed have blown away or if perchance any plants have appeared their roots are waving gayly In the breeze. IS. The season is near Its close. Vou have spent valuable time, labor and money and have nothing to show for it. Your misdirected enthusiasm disappears. 13. In disgust you leave the country and ever after curse it. Close adherence to the following rules bring quick returns 1. First, study the land and decide where ditches, flumes and accessories are to be placed to get water to every part of the tract. The location of these should be staked or marked out by the aid of proper surveys. 2. Then construct the main supply ditch or flume from the measuring wler to the smoothest land where op erations are to be begun first, pro tecting the banks from wind action with brush or straw covering after seeding same to rye. Contour or head ditches may be extended from time to time as clearing and grading pro gresses. 3. Then make up a number of flood boxes for the gentle slopes and lath boxes for the steepest slopes. 4. Then select an acre strip at the southwest side of your smoothest H I 27 G TO M : hrH XtL' ' LrJ ! v, l i o This soap of Umatilla county shows its diverse resources, including its irrigation districts. diately after an irrigation. 10. Tend the young alfalfa plants carefully, never allowing them to suf fer for luck of moisture. By observing these simple rules al falfa may be seeded any time from March 15 to September 15 and good results will follow. This Mr. Jones, by the way, Is do ing mighty satisfactory work down that way. His services are free to the farmers on the project for the asking and he line out their ditches for them, shows how to construct water boxes, gives levels for grading up their land and also much good helpful ad vice. Although his work is confined to the government project the affects are felt on both the others and fail ures in land reclamation are becom ing scarce. Just consider the use of water for a minute. The idea a year or two ago used to be to get all the water possible and pour it over the land, more with the idea of getting a larger amount than the other fellow than of the ben eficial results to be obtained. Now, they are beginning to realize that what helps the other fellow also helps them and conservation of water through Im proved methods of use and delivery are being talked and put in practice. The case of the Furnish project is Illuminating. A year ago the crudest method of water delivery w-as prac ticed. A ditch walker regulated the amount of water received by each rancher and he seemingly used his own Judgment as to how much to raise the gates, for there were no measur ing devices Installed nor were there systems of rotation. A man received water in a steady flow as long as the water lasted. Tou can imagine that much discontent was manifested am ongst the water-users and a large part of the water supplied was wasted. This season systems of rotation In the use of water were worked out amongst the older ranchers and crude meth ods of water measurement were used. For the most part the ranchers were privileged to arrange the schedules amongst themselves. There were some reluctant to make the change but all were more ttian satisfied af ter giving it a trial and the company is planning on enlarging this rotation scheme before another year and to in stall good measuring devices through out their entire distribution system. You have no conception of the bene fit this one change is and will be to his project. In the first place It gives the rancher time to do some thing besides irrigate; it tends to in creased production of crops by a more even distribution of water over the ranch: it minimizes the danger of over irrigation and lastly It saves wa ter. This means not only a saving of water for somebody else but for all concerned as the summer supply for this project comes from stored water and so if all help save in the use enthusiasts for rapid development by somebody else and peddled their land at prices ranging from $100 up to $200 or more, and numbers of In nocent easterners bit. Of course, this; was an exhorbitant price for such land and buyers of such could nor can hardly expect to get the money spent on their holdings back again. .Home of these purchasers deserve compas sion for their gullabllity but the ma jority of thee early buyers were sim ply small Investors taking a chance at making a few dollars by rises In land values, for they had no Inten tion of ever making a home for them- Ives on the projects and even though some of them did develop their land they were, working for the unearned . Increment, which In this case failed I to show up. I And this Is where the original land cwners fell down In their get-rlch-j quick plans. They should not have angled for this rlasM of Investors be-1 cause ultimately msny had to return1 the land or If In too deep they hung on and howled. A dissatisfied pur chaser makes a poor business adver tisement and soon the projects had the worst kind of a black eye. so black It had a faint odor to It. When a man's pocket book Is hit he begins to do some quick thinking but when It Is a case of figuring out how much he will make with certain given condi tions his think tank machinery gets gummed up with the oil of well liv ing Instead of being lubricated with the sweat of honest toil and It takes htm longer to figure out "vas iss lo " flenr 1t ha staken several years for those with land to dispose of on the projects to determine that land val nes were too high and must come down a peg. Hut down It has come at last: Inflated value are a thing of the past, and now first class land can cuss the country for his own lack of sense, but he would not be the only cusser m that Immediate vicinity. He should have been mobed. Many farmers survived this stage of development and Proceeded with ir rigation matters with both hands, you might say. They would smooth off five or ten acres, seed it, and then from the highest corner of the land would turn loose a good large head of water. What happened? Why, they'd cut channels four feet deep over night through their land or at least wash away all their seed. That Is called the "wild flood" method of irrigation and It Is well named, but row all that is changed. They check their land off into long narrow checks, perfectly level across, and send a stream over It that Just wets it thoroughly and quickly and then the water off, or else they make rows of small furrows a foot or two apart and run tiny streams down each. This latter method Is best for steeper slope. Oh. they have learned considerable down on the Jrojects. The following "Instructions to New Settlers" by I'aul 8. Jones, Irrigation expert on the Hermiston project, gives some idea of the modern method of development, and It works fine. Instruction to Xew Seniors, Tmatll la Protect. in the reclamation of new land on this project for the growing of alfal fa do notake the following course: 1. Tackle the job like a big ranch er Inl putting In a 100-acre tract of wheat In a humid region. 2. Hear the brush off the entire area and burn it. 3. Then plow up or disk the entire area. 4. Then make a rough attempt at leveling the surface. land. Clear off the brush from this but do not burn it. Hake it aside into Piles temporarily. 5. On the gentle slopes (a) grade j between contour or head ditches into I strips 30 to 50 ft. wide, level trans versely but with the natural slope of I the land lengthwise. Ijw perma nent levees between the strips over I which a mower may easily pass, are made quickly by means of a rldger. lb) then irrigate the strips by flood ing from suitable flood boxes pjaced in the banks of the head ditch, (c) Then seed immediately to rye (30 to 40 lb, per acre) over levees and all. (d) Then cover litch banks and le vees with brush temporarily. 6. On only the very steepest slopes 'a) Grade by use of fresno and le veler to produce a uniformly smooth surface, (b) Parallel the head ditch with a smaller sub ditch to which water Is supplied through suitable turnouts. In the lower bank of the sub ditch place lath boxes, one for each corrugation or furrow, (c) Beed to rye (30 to 40 lbs. per acre, (d) Then corrugate with furrows 1.5 to 2 ft. apart, a lath box being placed at the upper end of each furrow, (e) Then Irrigate immediately. 7. Then having cleared, graded, seeded and Irrigated one small piece In this way, repeat the process with an other acre strip, then another and an other as rapidly a possible until th whole tract Is thus prepared, in the meantime, however observing care to keep the surface soil sufficiently moist by frequent Irrlgntlon to prevent blow ing until the rye plants form a pro tective covering. I. Then remove the brush previous ly piled upon the ditch bank and le vee and burn. t. As rapidly as the rye attains a height of 4 Inches disk drill In the al falfa (t to 12 lb, per acre) imme- (Continued on Page 19.) t "I'm-lo Dick" Warinner. THE BUCKAROO Reprinted from Pacific Ijiundryman. By Richard Garter Warinner Tighten the cinch and take off the blind I-et 'er buck In front, let 'er buck behind. We'll both go up and come down together. Hut I hope to die If I'll "pull leather." Oh, I live the life of a buckaroo. And I love the scream of the wild curlew, And the coyote's howl la music to me. As I gaze on the stars in the milky way. Awaiting the dawn of another day, As I lie alone, alone, did I say? No! my brocho's with me, my cayuse pet, And he's tethered to me with a lariat. Our Teddy was once a buckaroo, And he could handle a lasso, too; He loved the scent of the wild sage-brush; He loved the silence he loved the hush. Of the boundless range, where the cattle roam. His pony his pal, his saddle his home, He gathered an Inspiration there. Which led to the presidential chair. I never enpect such great renown, Hut I may be marshal of some cow tow n, Or sheriff, or Judge, or something like that. And choke some guy with my lariat. My chaps are worn, and my hair is long, And I'm humming all day some dear old song. Some dear old song which my mother sang. Before I learned all this cow-boy slang. Hefore I knew of the wild, wild west, And I'm thinking of her whom I loved best And I'm wondering should I go home again If she'd welcome a cow-boy of the plain? Put I must tighten my latlgo For I'm off with the morning's first faint glow, Over the sage-brush plains I ride. Like a buccaneer on a rising tide. With new sombrero and silver spurs I'll search the heard for stray "Blick-ears." For I'm off to the Round-l'p, sure, this Fall My broncho and I. Say. I've got the gall. To ride with any old buckaroo, And to show 'em a trick with a lasso, too, I'm not much good at that "bulldog's" stunt. But I'll show 'em a pace at a maverick hunt 'Mongst them beautiful Eastern Oregon girls; I'll show 'em a trick! how my lasso twirls Straight out from the heart of a cow-boy true, They'll go some, if the beat this buckaroo. Then tighten the cinch, take off the blind, Lt 'er buck In front, let 'er buck behind. For neither of us 'II show the "white feather," Hut I hope to die If I pull leather. Dedicated to John F. Kobinson, president of the Pen dleton Commercial Club. We reprint this poem in response to a general demand ur i-viies ui ii among ine inenas oi me autnor ana man to whom It was dedicated. " vV. ; Y ' Jack ItoUnsoa iFllllllllllllllllllHllllllilllllllllllllllllMIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIMtllinillie n" JOO' epoogooaoEaoaoe3oa .Tl 1 1 yg o Are You Going to m I I ?- ',oj If so it will pay you to consult us about your finish hardware. P. & F. Corbin has been the standard for years. We are always pleased to show you our line and quote you prices. Corbin locks denote individuality and insures safety. After the house is completed let us fit you out with Universal Raw and neater or Hot Air Fune Universal Stoves and Ranges have been universally used for cooking and heating for forty years Geo. C. Baer (1? Shelf and Heavy Hardware Co. RENOWN UNIVERSAL 3 2