Show MAKING BIG PROGRESS Snake Valley Irrigation Enterprise Enter-prise Assuming Proportions THE RESERVOIR A CANAL BOTH AUK NOW EARLY COMPLETED COMPLET-ED AND READY FOR USE Indian Commissioners have Xot ns Yct Taken Lp the Questions They Are to Solve There is Too Much Snow For the Old Gentlemen and Gcntcn1cn it Looks as Thougrh Their Visit Will Not Result Satiilaetorlly President James A I Melville of the Snake Valley Land and Water company I com-pany came up from the south yesterday yester-day bringing with him official reports from the general manager chief engineer en-gineer and other officials of the company com-pany for presentation to the local members of the board of directors I These statements make a splendid showing and convey the encouraging I information that the great irrigation I enterprise inaugurated and being carried out by the company is rapidly assuming the splendid proportions intended in-tended by the promoters and organizers organiz-ers of the company whose operations are confined to the Snake valley in the western part of the county of Mlllard Within the next few weeks the reservoir reser-voir and part of the canal system will be completed and ready for the delivery de-livery of water for irrigation purposes to the settlers who have taken advantage ad-vantage of the opportunities open before be-fore them and made selections of land under the systems of the company This enterprise represents the Investment Invest-ment of a large sum of money and the start has but been made upon the many propositions adopted by the board of directors for i is intended to install in the near future power and manufacturing plants business institutions tutions schools and other necessary adjuncts to a successful and thriving community Every condition is favorable favor-able for the inauguration of these enterprises and the members of the company are farsighted enough to realize the importance of an early move Snake valley Is situated in the western west-ern part of Millard county between the Snake range on the west and the Confusion range on the east I is a beautiful open valley about ten or fifteen miles wide by fifty miles long The climate is very desirable being neither too hot in summer nor disagreeably dis-agreeably cold In the winter The tips of the lofty mountains on the west are covered with perpetual snows yet there Is comparatively little snow in the valley in the winter consequently the wagon roads are excellent during the entire year Up to the present time the water for irrigation purposes has been entirely insufficient owing to the fact that there has been no means of saving the great flow from the mountains which is unceasing during dur-ing the entire year In 1892 steps were taken to secure a natural reservoir site located at the south end of the valley and in the year following a company was formed by some of the business men of Utah being Incorporated Incor-porated under the laws of the territory terri-tory Operations were commenced on a small scale shortly after the organization organi-zation of the company but in the early part of 1S94 a number of well known eastern capitalists saw into the future far enough to grasp the importance of the enterprise and invested come of their idle holdings in the stock of the company and work began in very earnest Today the Snake Valley Land and Water company has practically completed its reservoir which has a capacity sufficient to furnish water for the reclamation of reclamaton something some-thing over 54000 acres of land according to estimates made by civil and hydraulic engineers The reservoir site is an ideal one being surrounded with high precipitous mountains and the water being held at a depth of from 20 to 45 feet behind a dam 200 feet wide and 45 feet in height constructed of earth and stone with a masonry facing On account of the great depth the evaporation and percolation will be very meagre The valley ha a gentle slope to the north just sufficient to make irrigation easy The soil is rich deep and highly productive being now covered with white sage clover sage and ordinary sagebrush with here and there a rab bitbrush or greasewood There are several farms in the valley that have been tilled for twenty years without the aid of fertilizing agents although now producing as heavy and fine crops I as when first cultivated I is a demonstrated dem-onstrated fact that all kinds of cereals I fruits and vegetables can be easily produced in Snake valley with great profit as the land is highly productive produc-tive there being no minerals in the soil I might be truthfully said that there is not an acre of bad land in the entire valley Timber is found in great abundance both for fuel and sawing In the Jeff Davis range only a few miles distant from the townsite recently re-cently laid out are found large tracts of timber lands with millions of feet of red pine balsam fir and other valuable val-uable saw timber Although these mountains are high they are easy of access Speaking of the future prospects of I the valley President Melville last j evening said We have a market for I I all we can produce as we are only twentytwo miles from Osceola the great gold camp of eastern Nevada I Within a radius of fifty miles there I are from twentyfive to fifty good I mines employing men and teams and I I this great district will create a good I market for our products for a century to come There is a good summer and wnlter range for stock and sheep in close proximity to the base of operations opera-tions of the Snake Valley Land and Water company Already settlers are flocking in and several large colonies will arrive at the townsite within the i j next three weeks By the time the j people are ready for the water the I company will be in a position to furnish fur-nish ample for all needs A force of workmen is now engaged In finishing up the dam of the reservoir reser-voir by riprapping i while another with teams is making rapid progress i I with the construction of the four miles of canal on the west side of the valley which will be finished up this spring Experts who have made a careful examination of the reservoir and dam of the company have no hesitancy hesi-tancy in pronouncing them the most modern in the west There are no breaks in the dam the discharge being through a 221foot tunnel driven through the solid rock This tunnel was completed at great expense and is a splendid piece of workmanship I is of sufficient height t enable a 6foot man to walk through without stooping and will dfscharge directly into the canals The engineering corps c fhe company com-pany has recently flnishei the laying out of the tovnslte of Westfall which Is hereafter to be the headquarters of the company and form the hub of one of the greatest irrigation enterprises in the west The town isjald out with wide streets and blocks 380 feet square All of the streets take the various points of the compass and the present townsite is half a mile sQuare General Manager Holloway of the company has been in Texas for several sev-eral weeks past making arrangements for the removal of some twentyflve families from the lone star state to the Snake Valley land and he will arrive here within the next ten days Another colony of welltordo people will leave the southern part of California for Westfall before the first of the month and from all other parts of the west similar pilgrimages are to foe made |