Show DEAS OfFERED BY EXPERTS J TO SECURE WATER Commercial Club Discusses Subject of Irrigation UTAH LAKE PROPOSITION Necessary Steps to Secure Assistance As-sistance From Government Address by J C Lambert P S Richards Rich-ards A P Doremus and Paper by Col E P Holmes ThofilIImportant subject of Irrigation Irriga-tion was discussed by the Commercial club at a meeting last evening The speakers were J C Lambcrt Sr who presided Col E F Holmes whose I pap t Mvas readiTtiy jSecrotary Harris Attorney F S Richards i and State Engineer En-gineer A F Doremus The uniform sentiment was that all effort must be concentrated upon tho Utah lake proposition prop-osition and that all conflicting interests inter-ests must be harmonized in order that assistance may be obtained from the Federal Government SHOWED STUDY OF SUBJECT Mr Lambert In talcing the chair spoke of the Importance of the subject sub-ject said It was not popular now to be ignorant concerning Irrigation and that it was the duty of all particularly particu-larly the business men to familiarize I themselves with the subject Ho thought the best work the Commercial club could do was to create pubHc sentiment In favor of promoting the general welfare along this line COL HOLMESS PAPER Col E F Holmes who has taken such a deep interest In this matter was unavoidably absent from the meeting but he had prepared a brief address and this wan read by Secretary Fisher Harris It laid special stress on the necessity of getting together and of doing It promptly It pointed out that the Bear lake project that would benefit ben-efit three States instead of one was under consideration at Washington and that the entire irrigation fund for a number of years might be consumed In working out this and other projects leaving Utah to retrograde because her people failed to work In harmony Speaking of the bcnellta to be con erred on Salt Lake Utah and Tooele counties by converting Utah lake Into a great national reservoir Col Holmes said In part BENEFIT TO UTAH COUNTY Utah county will be specially benefited bucausc there the money will be expended the lands bordering on the lake reclaimed iuid Instead of a marshy front as now cx hits there will be u boulevard with trees and deep water from every bank Boating Boat-Ing yachting and fishing will becomo sources of proilt and pleasure Country places will DO In time established along tho banks of tho lake new pleasure resorts re-sorts opened that will In a measure take tho place of Salt Lake should that loan Us charm because of Its continued decline de-cline Tho employment of men and teams In prosecuting the work tho opening of stone quarries the circulation of largo sums of money the additional water supply sup-ply obtained from beyond tho divide and many other things all of which will tend to mcrcaso the value of every acre of property In that county COST OF WORK It Is true that wo cannot tell exactly what this work will coat the Government but wo do know what It costs per cubic yard to move earth and we cun figure about how many millions of cubic yards It will bo necessary to move and thus ap proximately estimate the cost Now lotus lot-us suppose that the Government were to expend 10CO003 upon the work and that 70u0 acrca of land should be reclaimed then It Is clear that to return this money In ten years aH provided for In the act each acre ot land would have to pay less than fLCO each year for ten years after which there would be no further charge other than tho cost of maintenance ENHANCED VALUE Nov suppose this land without water la worth 110 to 513 1 per acre will It not be worth with water certainly ten and perhaps per-haps twenty times that amount Ucsldos this plan means water every year ami what Is more Important plenty of It for It la ilgurcd that tho holding capacity of the lake so Improved will bo great enough to carry over rout wet to dry seasons ample water for tho needs of tho lands under tho sjyatcm I HELP TO IRRIGATORS The capital stock of all tho live canal companies Is 1 a little over JiCOttiO and It Is thought that thf entire system can be ro built and cstenSed today for a llttlo over onehalf that amount which would bo like Increasing the capital stock that sum and which would provide water for more Innd thun tho present combined uyctoma are i J r 4 II 0 J 1i L J t l S capable of the now land to bo watered paying the additional cost thus leaving tho zmn that has enough water Just as ho Is I today with no more water right than ho has now nnd nothing to pay but with tho advantage of having plenty of water during dry ecaoons as well as wet onctlo and by reason of this Increasing the value of his land and of all other land to tho extent of CO to 10 per cent Suppose now that thnsc local Improvements Improve-ments should cost JlCOCiO 1 nnd that 70CW ncrtS of new land I bo reclaimed It Is plain tho cost per aero would bo Ics than JO or lmn about 2l por Cero for a perpetual water right with plenty of water nsaupd and no further cost than 1 small maintenance charge TO RECLAIM LAND IN TOOELE Col HolmosK Idea IB that much of the land Ju Tooclc county now arid would bo brought under Irrigation by taking out the water from the lake at a much higher level than at present I could be then fed into the lower system through closed pipes or conduits and thus save from 25 to 10 per cent of the valer that IB I now lost by evaporation No one is l to make money out of this project ut the farmers The paper was well received NEED OF CONCENTRATION F S Richards spoke clearly and convincingly con-vincingly on the absolute necessity of concentrating effort on the Utah lake proposition If aid ifl I to be secured from Washington He said l the Irrigation congress that met recently in this city decided that all the balance of the Slate should hold their interests In abeyance till the Utah lake proposition proposi-tion was worked out through Government Govern-ment aid He gave the history of the organization and work of the five canal companies In this county and of all the litigation and trouble that have resulted re-sulted from the conflicting Interests Ho said the loss from drought In Salt i Lake county In the past two years amounts to more than the entire cost of the Government woPk at the lake Icon I-con emplatcd In the present proposition proposi-tion He said that the national irrigation Irriga-tion law was crude and that it could be made to apply to local conditions only by the exercise of the greatest liberality on the part of both tjhe t Gov qrnmeiit and tho people B empha sjzed the absolute need of combination In response to a question he said that I no radical change In tho State irrigation I irriga-tion laws would be necessary IRRIGATED AREA LESSENING Mr Doremus treated tho subject In a general way at first and ln this connection con-nection gave come startling figures He said the State embraced 52000000 acres 9 per cent of this has been sot aside as reservations and S per cent is classified nn mountain and desert Less than 4 per cent of the land of the State Is under irrigation and this must furnish all the revenue and bear all the burden for the entire State The Irrigated Irri-gated portion can be Increased to 10 per cent and Mr Doremus laid great stress upon the Importance of expansion expan-sion He said the Irrigated portion of the State was now decreasing SUCCESS RESTS WITH PEOPLE Speaking of the Utah lake proposition proposi-tion Mr Doremus said tho trouble was that each little company considered Itself an independent Irrigation system sys-tem His idea of an Irrigation systems Is the watershed whore the water Is gathered the river the canals and ditches and the land I Is the reverse of a tree There the water Is gathered up by the root carried up In the trunk and distributed through the branches and leaves He thought there were no legal difficulties In the way of the Utah lake proposition and that Its success rests with the people In Interest The Commercial club will hold another an-other meeting for the further consideration considera-tion of this subject early In January t which meeting the members of the Legislature will be Invited |