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Show : PRIVATE SCHEMES NEATLY BLOCKED General Land Office Locates Federal Townsite on tlie Shoshono Reserve. SOUND DEATH KNELL OF SPECULATORS' PLANS ; Site Is in Most Fertile Section of Reservation, and Has Brilliant Future. Special to Tho Tribune. CHEYENNE, Wyo., Aug. 13. Shoshono Sho-shono reservation private townsito schemes have been sandbagged by the general land office, which has set aside the northeast quarter of section 34, township 4 cast, range 1 oast, of the Wind River meridian, for townsite purposes, pur-poses, and which will practically douato lots to persons desiring to settle and make improvements in the new town. The Federal townsite is located in the center of tho richest section of tho )ortion of the reservation which is to o thrown open for settlement, and is the approximate center of all interests in the west central section of the State. It is on tho graded extension of tho Wyoming & Northwcstorn railway from Shoshone to Lander, and is believed to be the .point at which the prospective Northwestern transcontinental line will swing westward, also the junction of the transcontinental line and the Lander Lan-der Btub line, The setting aside of this townsite by tho general land office rings the death knell of Shoshoni. and confronts Lander Lan-der with a formidable rival for tho honor of being the metropolis of central cen-tral Wyoming. Shoshoni was built with the expectation that it would bo tho supply point of tho settlers taking homesteads in the Shoshono reservation. reserva-tion. The town is in an inhospitable sand desert, productive of sagebrush and alkali, and is dependent on wells for its water supply. The Government townsito combines the advantages of fertilo surroundings, a splendid water supply, and proximity to tho reservation reserva-tion homesteads, and no sano person, in view of these conditions, will consider con-sider for a moment Bottling at Shoshoni, Sho-shoni, thirty miles nwav. Already the exodus from Shoshoni has begun, and it is only a question of timo until the town is nothing but a siding by tho Northwestern, if it even attains to that dignity. Center of Farming District. That the Federal townsite will bo the center of the farmiug district, which will result from the settlement of the reservation, can not be doubted, as a large por cent of the persons who drew homesteads in tho Government lottery are preparing to file on claims in tha't vicinity. Hans Berlin of Laramie, who drew claim No. 1, will locato just east of the Fcdoral townsite; Edwin S. Buck of Basin, Wyo., who drew No, 2, will locato just north of tho townsite; Thom-aB Thom-aB Fly of Fairplay, Colo., who. drew No. 3, will locato lust west of the townsite. These three claims, with an Indian allotment al-lotment which covcm a portion of the land adjacent to the townsito on tho south, will practically surround the new town. John IT. McPherson of Central Lake, Mich., who drew No. 4, has announced an-nounced that he will not uso his right, which will give William Bruning or Cheyenne, who drew No. 5, fourth choice of a location. Bruning can locate lo-cate a fortj'-acre tract of land which adjoins tho townsite on tho south, between be-tween the Indian allotment and Berlin's Ber-lin's claim, but it is believed that he will prefer to locate adjacent to tho claims of Buck or Fly. Other holders of early numbers will locate as' closely to the town as possible. The point selected by the general land office for the townsite is in iho center of a rolling country, at an alti-tudo alti-tudo of about oOOU feet, and surrounded by a very rich, loamy soil. The adjacent adja-cent lands can bo watered at an expense of from $5 to $10 an acre, tho lay of the land and the geological formation being such that water can bo brought from the Big Wind iivor in ditches requiring re-quiring no other implements in their excavation than shovels, plows and scrapers. The Federal townsite is nearly twenty twen-ty mile3 from the nearest point of tho irrigation system which was surve3'cd by the Slate, and which was recently transferred to tho Wyoming Central Irrigation Ir-rigation cohipany, with the'understand-ing the'understand-ing that the lands lying under the system sys-tem were to be reclaimed at a cost of $20 an acre. The Stale appropriated the entire flow of the Big Wind river for the Wyoming Central project, and this fact caused sonic apprehension among the settlers who proposed to locate lo-cate near the Federal townsite, who feared that they could not secure water for the reclamation of their homesteads. home-steads. Thcv have been assured bv the general laud office that the Wyoming Wyo-ming Central scheme will not be permitted per-mitted to interfere with their water supply, and will go ahead and locate. Tho Foderal townsite will be thrown open for settlement August 15, the day preceding that upon which the holders of the first 125 privileges in the land office will be required to file their claims. Any person who is aualified as an American citizoh may locate a lot in tho townsito without initial cost. Later, when all of tho lots have been assigned and the new town, as yefc unnamed, has been incorporated, tho cost of tho expense of. locating and establishing es-tablishing tho town will be pro rated among the lot holders, with a reasonable reason-able addition, and tho revenue thus derived, de-rived, after all expenses have been paid, will be set aside as a fund for the construction of a waterworks system, or for some other municipal improvement. |
