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Show VOL. 1. ' BURTNER, UTAH, MONDAY, JULY 4, 1910 NO. 1. THE BIG DIVERSION CANAL A Good Piece of Work Built by the Farmers ' The new canal which is to take the place of the old diversion dam has been completed after several weeks of strenuous labor. Work was begun on May 24, and for a while 225 teams were employed. Nearly everybody who had a team turned in on the work and the result is a job which the farmers may well feel proud of. The canal is about three miles long and extends up the south side of the river from the old diversion dam. In several places an old river channel has been utilized, but in three places extensive cuts had to be made across points that ran across the line of the canal. Much of it is through solid clay, so there will be little danger of the banks washing out. At the present head of the canal a dam has been built across the river to divert the water into the canal. It is 450 feet long, 200 feet wide at the bottom and 20 at the top. It is only about 10 feet above the river bed, with a slope of four to one on the front and two to one on the back, so there is little danger dang-er of its being washed out. About a half a mile below the dam a spillway and headgate was put in to turn 'back the surplus water into the river. It was intended intend-ed to be only a temporary arrangement arrange-ment and it was believed it would hold until a new spillway was cut through a narrow ridge seperating a bend of the river from an old river bed just north of the dam. The farmers were so anxious to get the water back on their land that some chances were taken on the spillway holding. However, three days after the water was turned into the new canal and before be-fore the water had reached the head of the old canal, the spillway washed out. The force of the stream cut a deep channel through the bank where the spillway stood, the dirt being composed of fine silt. To take care of the water so that a new channel could be made for the canal past the spillway flumes have been placed in the clay bank of the canal above the spillway where there is no danger that they will be washed out. It is very difficult to make a dam hold owing to the quicksands and silty character of the soil. The earth when wet runs like melted sugar, so that if the water once succeeds in getting through a dam it quickly sweeps the whole structure struc-ture away. The plan is, therefore, to extend the canal about two miles above the dam so that the water can be taken directly from the river without with-out the necessity of building any dam whatever. This will forever do away with all danger of any dam going out. It will, however, result in the loss of a valuable water power privilege to the water company, com-pany, unless they can construct a spillway from the canal to the site of their old diversion dam. However, How-ever, the farmers are more interested inter-ested in securing a plentiful and uninterrupted supply of water for their land rather than enabling the company to obtain a water power. The new canal certainly seems to guarantee this uninterrupted supply of water. The work on the canal was divided divid-ed into several sections. The lower end was in charge of Irwin Jeffries and a large gang. W. R. Black and his gang had the big point above Jeffries' section. H. E. Maxfield had charge of the upper end of the canal and Lon Billings put in the dam. The work was hard, the surroundings sur-roundings very disagreeable and dusty and it was very trying on both men and horses. Everyone concerned is entitled to credit for a good job done tinder trying circumstances. cir-cumstances. o A CO-OPERATIVE CREAMERY. From 2000 to 2400 pounds of cream are shipped from Oasis to Salt Lake eveiy week. This represents repre-sents the output from the farms within six or eight miles of Oasis. This cream is shipped away and the people of this section have to ship in their butter. This is a very anomalous anom-alous condition. If Salt Lake butter makers can ship in cream from Millard Mil-lard County and ship back butter at a profit, why can't the farmers of Millard County make a bigger profit by keeping their cream at home and converting it Into butter themselves? We are a great believer in cooperation, co-operation, and we don't believe any class can profit so much by it as the farmers. Manufacturers combine com-bine to their mutual advantage; wage earners combine to keep their wages up, but the farmers who are the largest class of producers in the country seem to be very slow about working together. The result is the farmer gets squeezed the hardest between the combinations which buy his products and those which sell him his necessities. But farmers elsewhere are beginning to realize the 'benefits of co-operation. They have organized many buying and selling agencies so as to keep profits. Many co-operative cheese factories and creameries have been established in the middle west. If the farmers around Oasis would work together they could just as well have a co-operative creamery which would not only take all the cream now shipped to Salt Lake, but Increase the demand for cream to the general benefit of the farmers. The farmers would not only get the market price for their cream but would make the profit on the butter which is now appropriated by the Salt Lake butter makers. H. F. Wright had a creamery last year at Hinckley but the creameries at Salt Lake City froze him out by paying a higher price for cream than he could afford. But with a creamery in which the farmers themselves were partners they could not be froze out for they would have the profits on the butter but-ter in proportion to the amount of cream supplied. There may be some difficulties in the way of which we do not know, but it looks to us as if there was no reason why a co-opeerative co-opeerative creamery could not be made a success. o A NEW AMUSEMENT HALL A Commodious Building Opened at Burtner Burtner's new amusement hall was opened to the public on Tuesday, Tues-day, the 21st. It had been arranged to have some speaking and music in the afternoon, but the crowd was so late coming that the afternoon was given over to the children. They spent several hours dancing and playing and enjoyed themselves them-selves to the limit. In the evening the older dancers took possession of the hall and it was filled to its utmost capacity. It was after 2 o'clock when the tired but satisfied crowd dispersed. Ice cream and cooling drinks were served in the basement during the afternoon and evening and the refreshment re-freshment tables were well patronized. patro-nized. The occasion was celebrated not only by every one in Burtner, but also by a large number of people from the neighboring settlements. Among those present were Milton Moody, John Styler and family and Bishop Skeems and wife from Oasis; Bishop Damron and wife from Deseret; Earl Bishop and wife and L.R. Cropper, Jr. and wife from Hinckley. There were also a large number of young people from the west side. The new hall is a monument to the enterprise and unity of the people of Burtner. It is a frame building 40x70 feet on a substantial substan-tial concrete foundation. The upper up-per part is one big hall with a lofty ceiling and well lighted. The sides are wainscoted for some distance above the floor, which is of matched maple and an ideal floor for dancing. The 'basement is not yet finished off, but will be divided into three large class rooms and a hall. The building cost about $G00O, of which $1000 was donated by the L.D.S. society, the balance being subscribed by the people of the community. The hall will be used for Sunday services and meetings of all kinds, and will be a sort of social center for the people of Burtner. Burt-ner. The growth of the town had made a more commodious building a necessity, the school house being altogether too small. We believe the new hall will prove a good investment, in-vestment, as it will not only fill a long-felt want for the Burtner people, peo-ple, but will furnish means of attracting at-tracting people to Burtner from surrounding sur-rounding places. o THE COMMERCIAL CLUB. Eurtner is in line with other progressive pro-gressive towns in having a commercial com-mercial club. Its officers are Hyrum E. Knight, President; N. S. Bishop, Vice-President; John Estub, Secretary; Secre-tary; S. W. Eccles, Treasurer. It has a membership of about thirty of the community and is first In every movement that will ad-vane ad-vane the interests of Eurtner. It was largely through the encouragement encourage-ment the club gave that the Chronicle Chro-nicle has been established and it hopes to give the club material aid in advancing the Interests of Eurtner. lllarcl to ig An Inland Empire Will Find Utah has many fertile valleys which have been redeemed from the desert and made to bloom like the rose, At first the narrower valleys val-leys were settled. Here water could be easily diverted from the mountain mount-ain streams on to the rich land adjoining ad-joining without the expense of big dams and great reservoirs. So it was in these narrow valleys or bench lands at the mouth of mountain mount-ain streams where the settlers first began to gather, and where villages grew into populous and thriving towns and cities. With the increase of population and the ability of the people to undertake larger enterprises, enter-prises, the wider valleys and the water from larger streams began to be utilized. But it is only since the passage of the Carey Act which made available by the state millions mil-lions of acres of desert land that it has been possible to begin the reclamation re-clamation of those great tracts of land which can be converted into fruitful farms only by the expenditure expendi-ture of a large amount of money. Millard' County has been one of the sections of the state to receive the benefit of this later method of TWO EARLY BUILDERS IN THE DELTA AREA were Bowling and Stephenson, engaged in construction construc-tion of the Dunsmore Hotel when this picture was taken. At left is Mr. Bowling, who later left for Pioche, Ner.. Fred Stephenson, bro- reclamation. Like other counties its first settlements were at the mouth of valleys from which issued a pure and sparkling mountain stream. And so every valley had a settlement of more or less importance. im-portance. But for forty for fifty miles between the mountains on the east and those on the west stretched a wide and level plain nearly a hundred miles long with only a crop of sage brush, grease wood and other desert vegetation. Through it ran the Sevier river between be-tween high banks. In the '80's a few pioneers settled along the river, built a little dam and canals and put under cultivation a constantly increasing number of desert acres. But the dam would go out and the small reservoir would not supply enough water to keep the crops going in a dry season, so there were many disappointments. With the construction of an immense im-mense reservoir twenty-five miles up in the mountains to impound the waters of the Sevier river and its tributaries all this has been changed. An immense area of desert des-ert land in Millard County has been made available for cultivation. No other such great tract of rich and irrigable land is to be found in Utah. Its condition is ideal for irrigation. irri-gation. It extends for miles as level as a floor and with a gentle slope that permits of its being watered without washing the earth or requiring re-quiring any grading. The soil is deep and rich, made up of the wash of centuries from the mountain sides and river beds. While there is much land to the west and a-round a-round Sevier Lake that can never be brought under cultivation the area that can and will be converted into rich farms is larger than is to be found in any other section of Utah. We hear much of Idaho lands and the stream of emigration seems to be headed largely toward the northwest. But here in Millard County are several hundred thousand thous-and acres of land that has many advantages over that of Idaho or any other state. 7 K esources Where Thousands Homes. In the first place its soil is deeper. deep-er. It ranges from fifty to one hundred hund-red and fifty feet in depth and is practically inexhaustable. The climate cli-mate of Millard County is more equable. The winters are not so cold nor the summers so hot. Millard Mil-lard County has practically a home market for everything It produces. Only a little over 100 miles from Salt Lake City, its dairy products, poultry, eggs, livestock, fruit, hay and grain find a ready market In that city. The mining camps of Nevada Ne-vada and Southern Utah have also been a near and ready market for the farmers of Millard. A large amount of hay and livestock has also been shipped to Los Angeles. Its accessability to market is one of its best features, for the farmer does not have to give up so large a share of his profits to pay for long railway transportation. The possibilities for a great diversity di-versity of crops is also one of the advantages offered by Millard County. It is especially adapted to raising alfalfa. In fact this has been the main crop, especially on the new lands along the Sevier river. 4 I ' i w Si. 4&u : S 1 1 4 st W ther of George Stephenson, who supplied this old-time picture, August Aug-ust Miller, early Delta furniture dealer, and Dr. Stockham. The picture pic-ture was probably taken in 1911. as the hotel was completed in 1912. The upper story was bedrooms and This has been not because it was the only crop or the most profitable profit-able crop, but because it was sure. When a stand had once been started start-ed the crop only needed to be harvested har-vested each summer. It required less labor han any other crop. But the soil is equally adapted to all kinds of grain, and oats, wheat, rye and barley have produced a-bundant a-bundant and profitable crops. It is well adopted to stock raising and dairying and this is destined to be one of the leading industries of the county. From 2000 to 2500 pounds of cream are now being shipped from Oasis to the creamery in Salt Lake every week. Experts from the Agricultural College who have analyzed the soil say that Millard County is especially espec-ially adapted to the raising of sugar beets. It has just the right elements to bring the sugar beet to perfection, perfec-tion, while the continuous warm and sunny weather through the growing season helps to give It a large percentage of saccharine. Some farmers from near Greeley, Colorado, a great potato producing section, who recently visited Millard believe it is as well adapted to potato raising as their native state. They have made extensive purchases pur-chases of land near Burtner and will prove their faith by going into po tato raising. On the eastern side of the valley on the bench lands at Oak City and Holden fine fruit is grown. While the heavier lands around Burtner may not be as well adapted for some kinds of fruits as the lighter bench lands, it would seem as if apples, pears, plums, cherries and small fruits could be profitably grown. We do not see why it is not as well adapted to apple raising as Cache County. It would certainly seem as if the climate was more favorable. Experiment and investigation investi-gation can only determine all the agricultural possibilities .that ,lie dormant in the soil of Millard County. Another advantage it possesses is its water for domestic purposes. This comes from a water bearing strata about 200 feet below the surface. It is a lithia water absolutely abso-lutely free from all organic substances, sub-stances, clear, cold and healthful. Drive wells are sunk and a flow of water guaranteed for $200. The water comes to within 10 or 20 feet of the surface. A cement tank or well is placed at the top of the pipe so that from four to eight feet of water is always available in the tank. Millard County lands are cheap. Rich land with an abundance of water, from two to ten miles from the railway, with all the advantages advan-tages of a home market and an ideal climate can be had for from $15 to $60 per acre. When one reads of the blighting frosts of this spring that damaged crops in the middle west and south to the extent of five hundred million dollars, the prostrating heat the east is suffering suffer-ing from now, the cyclones, blizzards bliz-zards and pests with which the eastern and middle western farmer is periodically afflicted one cannot help but 'believe that if these people peo-ple only knew of the advantages Millard County has to offer thousands thous-ands of them would come to Utah. Not that we have not some troubles trou-bles of our own. In the beginning of big enterprises there are always difficulties to be overcome. .Our trouble just now is to secure permanent perm-anent control of our water supply. The big reservoir will always supply sup-ply an abundance of water in the dryest season. Every land owner is assured all the water he requires. But our smaller diversion dams, spillways, headgates, and canals must be strengthened so as to make it absolutely sure that the water will not break through and leave the farmer without water for several weeks at a critical period. Man cannot alter climate or head off a cyclone or 'blizzard, but he can build dams, canals, and head-gates head-gates that will withstand everything every-thing but a visitation of God, which dosen't come once in a hundred 1 If iU . -J the ground floor was occupied by the Hub Mercantile Company, operated op-erated bf John E. Steele, Deltan since 1910. This building burned to the ground in 1930. It was located lo-cated a block south of the Delta railroad station. years. This can and will be done. The task is neither difficult nor expensive. The value of one crop failure through lack of water would pay the cost of dams and head-gates head-gates that would be absolutely safe. And two or three of the bountiful boun-tiful harvests that always follow a regular and plentiful water supply sup-ply would make the farmer forget that he ever had a failure. "Back to the land" is a growing cry from the crowded cities of the east. The factory worker and the denizen of the tenement is hearing the cry and heeding it. Millard County offers its broad and fertile acres, perfect climate and good markets to these seekers after land. Why go so far beyond the reach of railways and a community life when you can make your home in the centre of a great and well settled set-tled state with railways, cities and all the advantages of a long established estab-lished community? Find out about Millard County, come and see us. Make your home with us and help us build up another great and prosperous pros-perous community in this heavin blest land of smiling skies, lofty mountains, fertile plains, and rich harvest fields. o During the past month John E. Steele of the Hub Mercantile and Produce Co. has been one of the busiest men in the community. He has been furnishing hay and grain for the different camps engaged in constructing the new canal and it has kept him busy from early morning morn-ing until late at night. o Lewis Koch has leased Day's Interest In-terest in the hollow cement block company and will run the plant himself. Concrete is the most durable dur-able and popular material for foundations foun-dations and walls, and if you are thinking of building you should let Mr. Koch figure on concrete blocks fur at least part of your structure. Mr. Koch has 120 acres of the best sand and gravel close to town to supply part of his raw material. The Water-Users' Association An Organization to Protect the Rights of the Farmer The water users of Millard County Coun-ty who have taken up land under the Carey Act have organized themselves into the Burtner-Carey Act Water Users Association. The officers of the association are Jerome Je-rome Tracy, President; C.T. Bunker, Secretary-Treasurer; Executive Committee, A. Ackerman, S. T. Farmer, Jerome Tracy, Chas. Connelly, Con-nelly, Albert Watts. M. S. Mclnnlch is attorney for the association. The purpose of the organization is to look after the interests of all water users and see that the water company com-pany carries out its contract with the water users and State Land Board. The membership fee Is one dollar. The final meeting for consultation consulta-tion and adoption of by-laws was held at A. Ackerman's farm on Saturday night. There was a big attendance, some hot talks were made and it was nearly daylight when the meeting broke up. The owners of about 15,000 acres of land have joined the association and it is expected that every water user under the Carey Act will join. If the farmers will stick together they can bring about any condition they desire. The following are the by-laws adopted by the association. Constitution and By-Laws We, the undersigned, having purchased pur-chased water rights for irrigation purposes on Carey Act lands in Millard Mil-lard county, Utah, hereby associate ourselves together in the form of an organization, said organization shall be known as the Burtner Carey Act Water Users' Association, and we pledge ourselves to its support sup-port for the following purposes: .1 To create a closer bond of union between the water users of said Carey Act lands. II For the mutual benefit of all Carey Act water users who may become members of such organization. organi-zation. Ill To afford protection equally to its members and defend them in their legal rights. IV The Burtner Carey Act Water Users' Association shall be composed com-posed of bona fide owners of water rights on Carey Act lands in Millard county, Utah, who shall sign or cause to be signed these articles and pay membership fee and shall have the following officers selected from its members and duly elected by such members. A president, whose duty shall be to preside at all meetings and to decide all tie votes. V A secretary, whose duties shall be to keep minutes of all meetings and attend to the correspondence of the association. VI A treasurer, whose duty sail be to collect and care for all funds belonging to the association and shall give bond not to exceed $300, to be approved by the executive committee. VII An executive committee of five members, whose duty shall be to consider all grievances and present all matters of importance to the members of the association at regular regu-lar meeting, or special meeting if they consider the latter necessary. VIII Eleven members shall constitute a quorum for the purpose of transacting trans-acting business. IX All members shall pay a membership mem-bership fee of one dollar, and shall be subject to an assessment according accord-ing to acreage to defray the expenses ex-penses of said association. X All grievances shall be reported to the executive committee in writing writ-ing and receive prompt consideration. consider-ation. XI Any member of this association who may be found to be disloyal to its principles and purposes may be expelled by a majority vote at regular or special meeting after thorough Investigation and said member has ample opportunity for self vindication. XII By-laws and rules of the association associa-tion may be amended by a two-thirds two-thirds vote of the members present at regular or special meeting, same to be read at one regular meeting before being passed upon. XIII Officers shall be elected in December De-cember of each year at fu-st meeting meet-ing and take office on January 1st. XIV Regular meetings to be held on the first Saturday of each mcnth. |