Show T THE NA NATIONS WORK B BY C H FORBES LINDSAY Y I WOOING THE WASTE I Of o fl the numerous organizations or that r rig i engaged f in the nations nation work there them themis the theIs Is none which will contribute more to the tilts material development 11 of this tho th out eon courtry try than the tho reclamation service Ne Nf hett row few fo persons have any IHK hll a nebulous conception of J the wont projects and of ot this bu bureau bureau reau It hats has not rot yet et competed Us its It fourth year of or existence and ns Its It art nr of or the intense and anil reU nt t man m n who had rather show you u a thing done deny than talk about the th doing of 01 u ti uThen Then again a iu what makes the Ul unini Ia observer J s gasp gasI with t is al almost almost almost most commonplace to tho Uw men who handiwork It is and their clip ehl f a t l R It as not half haIr had bad badIn hadin In III the HIP past whatever f t might have hae drawn dl of or the future rutur Am Amp lea Ica necessarily contained a great brt space occupying of o tit v whole holt canvas anas and representing lepro tin th major part of oC our sixteen states Mates tatt s Cud pud territories Now however a vast vastly vastly i iI ly I different vIsta opens up in the west Yielding YI to the wizard touch of our hy In hydraulic engineers these those 1 wt s are arl fast faM becoming garden areas Ira Irand lid ud sites of eager ager industry In tl As sno i is I is 1 s the tho Hi land is rendered l habitable ay a aen even en la iii anticipation of it our restless nd nel ambitious population sends p rl piu iu JU rs to te people it i Take an illustration furnished y on nn f t 1 field ld engineers engineer In Tn the spring It I II I he h rod and nd a companion drove across UI the desolate tract of sagebrush In i it t Idaho of which acrus will trill xv ill IK hp redeemed by b the pro po project pot iet t There was not a human bf ing nor i 1 habitation within thirty miles of or art rv r pot where r they earned camped for t H r t ig tt but with characteristic cocksure cock ur onO confluence of Americans which t Js is f s by the event they nr reed then n and there to populate that howl Ilg wilderness and amI actually ar drew w wt t ari since approved u pro d by In th the denar par parr r of a town to rise rile on II tile the a u as nes tie s of 1 campfire fire Now ow this was not idl III Idin 1 fItl r lag hiff but the deliberate dell fate project of ur teal men wen accustomed to a nIeve f th tl on of or their plans Today To lay yi y c t nay traverse c the th route followed by b those engineers and make malt the journey Journ in a railroad coach On tn Un way vay 3 you OU slum pass three throe new tofI more than 1 O busine hu inN and nd supporting three newspapers n w pers eis 15 and anu three banks Ey Ev Evry dry rJ eight ht i Gores Seres included in that project the lE Stirl Joka has n a dwelling upon it a ant and antei ei ere little more mor than a year ear ago URO a O tilt lire I tt enjoyed sole ole possession of the lesert 3 are arc now no brawny bran Americans thing to make the tle land laud a good Food terou t of o itself Rut But these impatient settlers r ea t tA tY A s Y vt iy rAa Aa r rs Y i s 3 wM Sit of r o the he lu 9 heat dom dean demin in the ate hi M y wy i t x d f a tP t ra y A y rates Gale o a unit onI tin till vanguard of the future lallon of or this section Water AVater ater has tas as not nt It i iet yet et been supplied to a acre text ext spring the government will hold i R pu pm U lit Ik sale Ip of the lots embraced in r the s have hate been laic lait oa ou oaI ouI I I won this thi a i The Tbt foregoing Is a typical t instance ot or oti orth i ih tn immediate effect c fC et of our irrigation projects th after atc r results ar a beyond h yond i I T x P PAt V tit At Ml v f z 4 Pi PiM VII 4 J M M z G rd E Ef t G f 11 1 I 9 i f 9 JY r r rr M I able ctrl fc revert smile rr alE r i a F f e yi W ySl jT r r k d dJ rf 1 J p i y 9 i n I i VIi v aN t rn c ct cI l b t I I a Cement wheal canol on Casson Carl on rn IV Jcl c ct cr cr t I I I r I I I I I Ion o r JY Y W dab he diversion sion of of Me river v M canal from il bed Jed to ro irrigation ore canal tonal the thc power powe of or calculation but we have hac already aln some som foretaste of o them There are today stretches retches s of land not a soll tary a aTe acre Te hero and there but hundreds of thousands of them producing an annual annual annual nual crops worth woth 1000 per pel acre on holdings which a n few years eara ago ugo were overtaxed by an assessment or 73 T i cents an acre During the th past years cars local enterprise has wre ted from the desert de ert a area of acres equal to that of o the th state of o Massachusetts Irrigation canals long enough nough to em embrace embrace brace the earth in a double girdle have bare been built at an outlay of Each year this territory formerly bar barren barren barren ren and amI uninhabited be it understood yields a harvest valued at store snore than and supports rr i f prosperous people Sam Js is the largest lar est landowner lUl of the great American merican desert He de determined determined e with the opening of the twentieth century to put this vast ast property to profitable account and the passage pa of the tho national irrigation act of June Junt 1902 was the first step in carrying out that design The act provides for the t creation of a reclamation service anti and a fund to carry carr on its operations oJ the lat latter latter latter ter to be bt derived from the sale of or public lands l in the semi semiarid arld states end and nd territories for the return to the fund of the cose cost of 01 each project by b the sale of water rights for the holding hal ing of lands for actual settlers under und r the homestead act In small farm tarm units suf sufficient sufficient sufficient to support a family and for the tite ultimate transfer to the tho people of the Irrigation works excepting tho the reser reservoirs r reservoirs Ser Already Alread extensive projects pro projects proJects have been decided upon and York work norkis is In progress or oe half hall of 11 them Those These projects contemplate the reclamation or of acres of or waste at a cost of M less than OO and with o result re resultant U t tant ant increment in land values of some same something thing like UkI Each of these projects presents a po pa cular problem and many of them in involve volve olve marvels mur ls of an engineering skin skill SI and ingenuity In Nevada a river is s lifted up and md canted into ni to a canal Galal fron ron wl ch i 1 is s 9 decanted into a reservoir ref Ve and ro i from that finally finaU ur oft ort tn Ugh augh laterals upon the thirsty land ibid landIn In Colorado the th engineers are divert diverting di rt ing tug the useless flow through the son eon canyon under a mountain to another an another other drainage basin by means mans m ans of a six sixmile tunnel cut through gh the solid soli a arod rock rod rodIn In Wyoming and Idaho storage reser reservoirs reservoirs volra arc are in course of construction In southern southerlY Oregon the tiie lake beds are I being drained and the land afterwards Irrigated In one ole place the the water atar Js s sam another pumped tram com am under ground in another It is forced from the river to land a nl on a ahi higher hi her level Here the stream is IsI b dammed and held in leash between le I there its banks are TO afford It greater freedom i I in the execution of these complex i our engineers haVe hate lu v proved probed i equal to every emergency No Xo I tv t has Jas deterred them nor Ira tins any dan danger danI get ger g r daunted exploration of c th the I Gunnison canyon canon was a case ase in point No t one or at least leest lee t no white while man had ever ewt attempted to follow follo the ilio river times more than half a mile below the Ule time more mor than half u a milo mile blow below the surface of the surrounding country countr pursues a tortuous course through nar narrow narrow narrow row gorges over an extremely rough bed falling at times In precipitous des descent es esC cent C now eddying about rocky obstructions obstructions lions and anon sweeping forward in open stretches stretch A L Fellows of or the reclamation ser service vice Yi c with a companion essayed d this pe perilous p perilous rilous passage They sot forth In a canoe having fastened their th ir instruments instruments ments and provisions en cu an inflated rubber robber r mattress After Atter several veral j days da s they emerged on foot fo by way wax of the Devils Slide having lost everything ee but their lives True to the professional Instinct Mr 11 Fellows had wrapped his notes in oilskins and attached them to o ills his Ill body so that death might not rob the service of the th fruit of his h sacrifice Those notes by affording the data for tor forthe forthe the location of tho the Gunnison tunnel made mad it possible to perfect the project It is impracticable to give gie even a cursory CUtsor account within tho the limits of a brief article of 01 the projects already un under under der del way but we may ma touch on the most Interesting and Important t points of them reserving detailed descriptions for future occasion The n works in Nova dg df were ere the first undertaken by h the government Tho The project contemplates cont tho the irrigation of Forty Mile U desert with the exception of or Death valley the th most barren and desolate on I 1 the tit continent of America The basc basic idea is to raise the waters wates of o the Truckee river into the grit grait gJ t canal which will carry them over oyer into the tho Carson river reservoir r from which they th y will be bt distributed over oyer the land and The first unit was Free Ox o ned I t sur un IJ mer when an exhibition of or the opera operation operation tion Uon of the tho works was given The rhe en cn enormous enormous Coffin gates were closed In a afew afew afew few minutes the bed of QC the Truckee river rivet below the dam was dry P and ana andy fish were eing y h I lessly l sly in it The canal cm cs were Wert opened and md tho the flood which told had been I shut off from its accustomed aN channel N rushed eagerly down the i walls wails of or the artificial dud duct on its wa way to the storage lake I When Ten complete the project will have hac cost more trap but It t will render ronder productive more ins c than t acres of land now absolute absolutely ly worthless and create croote in it E a value ot or at least In the mystic valley f r Salt r rC c 2000 2090 OO work erecting the Roosevelt Roose Roosevelt men are arc at velt dam which will be ri the world height by only one other in in and that that also alfa a structure of or the reclamation of or orthe In the construction mation mason service ser ce the Roosevelt dam barrels of ce cement cement The rhe works worris ate arc consumed ment will be co I sixty miles mlles from flay any nn railroad and the i imagined it sw w n cement coment trust t the situation an Ideal o unity to o i milk the government gover m With 1 Ith the assur assurance assurance ance of the monopolist m they the quoted 1 53 9 a barrel and sat down to a aratt watt Ute Hie or order 0 order der de but hopeful sign of If the he times tin the reclamation P people eople t Pl 1 Jf to c e eI CI haust every ver resource before paying I 2 for their cement ment ind allowing I the tho to reap a n 10 0 per percent percent cent profit A of the neighboring country disclosed a ledge of If splendid limestone Just above aboe the dam size ne JP and hills of blue clay cla lay la all aU around The reclamation engineers proposed pro oed to tomake tomake tomake make their own cement and the he erection Er erection c clion tion lion of a mill was authorized Imme Immediately immediately I a howl arose from the baffled trust It protested that the govern government government government ment was interfering with legitimate private enterprise and incidentally it offered of l re to supply the material nt fit half halt the price first firt quoted The erection of the mill was proceeded with and for months it has been turning out 2 20 0 bar barrels barrel barrels rel of excellent cement a n day aa at lt a cost that will wIli ultimately save to the tho th settlers s of Salt River valley vaHey more than 1000 But of greater consequence uee than the monetary gain is the th object t lesson In n political economy econom furnished to other departments of the tho government the th country countr at largo large rge The government wagon road in con connection connection with this project is one ore of the most spectacular pieces of engineering I I work in tho the west More rore than forty fortI miles I of it run r n through the canyon or of orthe the tIU Salt River much of it having been blasted through the solid rock ock i Striking symptoms of 01 the lh altered spirit of or the west the day lay ore re mostly Apaches of Groni lmos f moK mog band Here in their I home they are art cheerfully working t 1 make the land a white mans J t Tonto reservoir r to be bu create e created t j r t the dam will yIH be one ona of the tha largest large a l lakes lakel in the world It wilt f ClI 01 w tame tain enough nough water to cover acres a foot deep Jeep On the site tf t f th thI is a busy bus town of tiC ninab I thriving town mIl d HoS HoSI I vt t It with electric lights fights stores stole schoolhouses and t chur ur its he 9 I When Vh n the th dam is completed a this t ion 10 m t twill will be hI submersed submerged beneath OO 00 fet fre o ov oP oPt oI t I v t ater In northern Wyoming our engineers Ithe i the building the highest t dam flam in the world horld in the crutch of a u narrow narros granite oyon The Shoshone dam llam is a concrete con crete rEtt masonry 1 arch whose rest wi wilt WIll WIlland stand and no feet above the tim timI The Tl e t of which this is a fatur f atur I rill Aill reclaim acres aCle of waste a tf at t a 1 oost of 01 about OOOO The Pathfinder dam dum dam is located at the exact spot she hf I Fremont almost lost hi lib libin in ill attempting the passage p of or the Ii River canyon canon in a boat dam dm i il ilI l I create an lake Ink t I to its IL main purpose will pres pre prevent s vent nt forever fOler the disastrous floods ds or orthe orI orI I tilts tilt North Platte that yearly destroys property valued at many times th tb tot cost i of at the structure In connection nith it this dam is being heing dug an as interstate ea ra ranal nal to follow the old overland traP I through a length of 01 miles lOrm 20 acres In eastern Wyoming anal ana anali i western Nebraska i At the foot of 01 the Black Hills In it I South S uth Dakota a monster alt em fw emi i the highest in the world works isi is liT i in course of ot construction It w will wil iP I to t a i l height of 11 feet pt will be tweet t I feet et wide at the tike top and over a mile r rI length This great dike Is II designed TI to I impound the waters of or the Belle Ben Fourche and form a lake twenty miles la Ia length and five miles in width with witha j I a D depth In many places exceeding fEet C ef This Is but a brief notice noUe of or a few n o othe the t E remarkable projects project in which th the reclamation reel service is 15 engaged an anti t emits mention of several Seral important r such as the operation on tn th Colorado river that in the basin and several sevel others upon whir hili the tIll service has started Up to the present the reclamation r ser service service vice has built miles of 01 main canals some of them as lar large e 1 rivers miles mlles of or distributing canals and miles mile of ditches It ha lies has constructed and Is ope opp operating operating rating miles of telephone l miles ir 1111 of road in canyons involving deep cute cut ut It has excavated etc cubic ubi yards of If material matt and nearly nearl four tour miles or orI tunnel I So 80 |