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Show II ii tsSct Payson and Spanish Fork Satisfied. ; ( Plan for Big Irrigation Sys- , Jj,J jjj tern Will Meet With No d I t , J ' jiJl 'l All Arc Anxious to Havo the Govcrn-r. Govcrn-r. !, ;! ;;!! ' merit Develop the Water Supply J"!" -ijjl ' ' and Build Tunnel. 1 i .. j! ' SjB,J1? oni)ositlon f"om any quarter 3 .j" i jj Kg ecn anticipated In connection J j i 'Ji with Utah's larger irrigation pro-1 pro-1 i'j , ,; jeet. In which the Arid Land Rec- ' ' j lrimation Fund Commission o Utah Is J 1 ' , I so deply interested, that opposition 1 ' i.r" would douhllcss havo heen lnnkorl for Hk ' ! i among' tlio citizens of Peyson and Span- H I ' ,' j! Fork, for the reason that the farm- Hl $ , J rj ers of those communities are claiming ! ( j j prior rights to the waters of the Straw- J lit1 , hcrry river. A meeting held at Peyson Hl ( I' !j m j "Wednesday evening, to consider the ' ' greater project developed the fact, 1 ' . : however, that the people of that com- ) 'I'll munily, like those of every other com- Hj j j, !j 1 1 inunlty where a meeting has heen held, Hr I !(' ' recognize the advantages to he derived Hl ?l from the very higness of the scheme , , !' and arc rea"dy and anxious1 to give it H( j . ' i their heartiest support. H)r . i) "! Fullv -100 people attended the Peyson H ; j meeting and a brass band welcomed the Vl' l' representatives of the Reclamation Hk commission who were on hand to ex- Hr I 1 , i plain the reclamation project. Among Hj i ! ' those who took part in the meeting K!' were representative citizens of Spring ' Lake, Santaquln, Goshen. Benjamin, ( I Payson, Lake Shore and Salem. i j - ; Plan in Detail. f -jl j Slate Engineer Doremus described in Ht iMj detail the plan of reclamation which f jfl! the Government purposes carrying out V) ' : Hi and pictured jhe many advantages that Wj j i would result. Attorney F. S. Richards, W; legal adviser of the State commission, Hi, followed with a description of the op- i ,Li eratlon of the National irrigation law HJ ' 'j jj and told of the need for organization of 'Jli the water-users in order to deal with 'I ) the matter in a business-like, practical jj Hj WQy Short talks In favor of the pro- , ect were made by Hyrum Lemmon and i ' li ' 1 A vote of thanks was given Messrs, 1 . j Doremus and Richards for their attend- Vl , jl ance and a strong resolution favoring Hf ( ' 'j I 'j : organization of the water-users for the 01 ' ? purpose of co-operating with the Gov- H'v 1 ''j1 crnment was passed without dissent. ' v That the citizens of Payson and Span- ' Is I r l i ,3h Forlc are to quite an extent, al- V ' vry though indirectly, responsible for the In- I '' ' 'j?, ceptlon of the Greater Utah reclama- Hl i Ji tion scheme is a matter of history not ' ; 'i generally known. Dui-ing the last sov- ' y cral years of comparative drouth In ,; 1 L that region the farmers have been hi- 3 ; vestigatlpg verj' earnestly the po3sI- 4 1 1 , !, f bllitles of diverting additional water to j ' ' 1 their Irrigation canals. In pursuing I' j 1 ! ' these InvestigationH they hit ujwn the 1 jl'ii' . scheme of going across the range and l 'V-jf I capturing the waters of the Strawberry 1 - ' I river, Avhich it was proposed to lm- Hk. ;' pound In a reservoir to be formed by Hj ' 1 constructing a dam across the lower i , ' ! entl of Straivberrj' valley. An appro- , ,ji '' I i priatlon of $1500 to aid In defraying the j t J ' , I expense of making the survey of the K TLr proposed reservoir, to determine thc r:', A ' l:Ji practicability of the plan, was made by j' B i j the last Legislature; the remainder of tf l) ! f the expense, amounting to about ?700, HjV J" ! having been assumed by the fanners. ' j 1 ' :! ! Sui-veys and Gauges. , j, 1 1( The survey thus arranged for was - a J I'm. .made last fall by State Engineer Do- H.' remus. Gauglngs of the Strawberry H''i " I '1; river were also taken during "the year. r if; 1L was found that the amount of water , I available was too small, as compared , with the aiea of the reservoir site, to Hll ' ' j make Usis scheme practicable. The Hc.f , ' ,1 ,' ' I water to be obtained from the 'one H ct. I stream would cover the reservoir to H; ' .1 the depth of only about two feet, which Hjl '0 would render the loss by evaporation H if very large in proportion to the'amount HH 1 ; 1 of water stored. H I jl 1 But In pursuing the investigations y i : 'l which resulted in this Hndlng, State 1 Mi Engineer Doremus conceived the ffi ' ' , 1 larger scheme, which Involves the bj j :j building of a canal to tap all of the i 1. I headwater streams of the Duchesne Bi ' 1 1 rU-er at the proper elevation to carry , J them Into the Strawberry valley reser- H't ,i j ' voir, the water thus obtained to be I brought to the valley on this side of the Hfil) It range, through a tunnel three and a Kl j j half miles in length, as originally Hl 1 1 ii j planned for the Strawberry river M 1 1 1 ' scheme alone. The tunnel is the really Ei j" , Important part of either project so far BV ji 1 . j ' I' as the expense is concerned, and the 1 cost of building it would be but little t , J 'i)! more tor the larger project, than for the Ir . . j 1 smaller one. The Stale Engineer was HL j j .'A quick to appreciate the superior eco- Bf; r , j nomic value of the greater project, es- V I il'i pecially when coupled with the Bear jf : j river project from the north, by means l j 1 , - J J j o which he Haw the possibility of not 1 'jjj 1 only providing the farmers of three i ,M j great valleys with an abundance of L I ,1 1 (I water, but also of reclaiming in Utah's 1',' I !, three greatest valleys thousands of ; i J 1 acres of lands which had hitherto been Hfj S considered at too high an elevation to H'i 1 '.) ' 3 ' I admit of water being carried' to them. H H1" I Tilings Are Rejected. Hri l iNj, I The project of the Payson and Span- i 'jl, I jl 1Kb Fork citizens was not altogether Kr, jJ Jt I abandoned by them, however. On HfJ Ifc it 1 January 2o last tilings were made in" Hj I ,1 l i their iplerest on the Strawberry val- i Jl, ! ley reservoir and site and on the wa- ' " t j; ters of the Strawberry river. The M- 4, . Ij - lngs were rejected by the State En- k j 13 gincer on the ground that they were al- 1 most entirely within the Uintah Indian ' ' 1 1 1 reservation, where the State of Utah Ka! i '' I ft1 luta not jllrIfldictlon. An appeal from i ! 'IM ' this ruling was taken in the District ;!l . Court of U10 Fourth Judicial district, Ht ' 'j I jr,i j: and the hearing of the case Is set for 'l. , j ' .' today at Heber City. A continuance of Hlru ' j l) i1 this hearing will be secured by the Hl in. j; State Engineer if possible 1 tj t ; j Anxious to Help. 'M ' "While the relators in the case ara 1 I j, anxious to have their right? la iho. ipremises settled by a court decision, It ' Is not their Intention to attempt to block the Government irrigation project, pro-ject, on the other hand, as shown by llhe meeting in Payson Wednesday night, they are. anxious to help tho project along and would no doubt sign over to the Government any rights they might secure the moment (he big project is nasurcd. But the farmers of that region want additional water and they want It at the earliest poelsble moment. The rights they are contending contend-ing Xor are desired only to fortify. their position In the possible hut now happily lmprobnble event that the Government Gchcme should not bo carried Into execution. exe-cution. In attendance at the Payson meeting was a delegation of Spanish Fork citizens citi-zens sent there to ascertain when tho representatives of tho State commission could address a meeting in their city. Messrs. Doremus and Richards agreed to meet with them on Monday. June 20. The members of the commission, it la needless to say, arc highly gratified on account of the unanimous support of the Irrigation project given by the people peo-ple of every part of the afTected district, dis-trict, from Southern Utah county Jo the northern limits of tho Cache valley, val-ley, while the activity of the Government Govern-ment in carrying on the preliminary field work Insures that there is to be no unnecessary delay anywhere. |