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Show IB PROJEGT THAT WILL COST $15,0110,000 j j Largest Irrigation Enterprise f j in World to Be Developed ! ' in Idaho. h: : EMBRACES IMMENSE j ..; ENGINEERING PROBLEMS J; Great Body of Water Will Bo Ml' Carried Across Canyon j Tj 1200 Feet, i Special to The Tribune. , ' BOISE, Idaho, Auc 11. With the J 1 Eecrefiation of 510,000 acres of land 1 west of the Little Salmon river, and in ; . Owyhco county, Idaho, which sereca- 'I f lion was prnnted hy tlic state land . board on Monday, the greatest irrifra- ;f tion project in the world by privato . . : capital was inaugurated and a project ' U larger than all those now under way t '. hy the government of the United t This project will necessitate the ex- ! ponditure of $15,000,000. will mean the l construction or' 0.000 miles of main and lateral canals, the building of great if: storage resorvoirs at the head waters J of ono of the greatest rivers in America, 1 1 - and the seventh largest river in the i world. It likewise means the eanying ,r of a groat stream of water across a ft canyon that is 1.200 feet across and A I 540 deop. It likewise means ongineer- i ing problems that, when completed, will ) j be among the wonders of the world. It y j means the construction of the greatest 5 I syphon in the world, a syphon built of J J eight steel pipos that are seven feet j) if in diameter. IL j' 3 1 It is a gigantic proposition and one I' "Y iLj ' in which Ft ah capitalists, along with R ?l j I large capitalists in the East, will put '3b tlicir money and push the project to ; ; ft completion.' Those interested in the i :. i $ scheme are Frank II. Buhl, of Sharon, " ' j the Kuhu Bros., of Pittsburg, ' ' Gcorqe A. Baird and tho jUilncr cor- ,' poration of Salt Lake. Mr. Buhl is the ! ; ( pioneer of irrigation in Idaho. He is j one of the financiers of tho country, J '4 j) who has had faith in the Gem stato '. j' and in tho development of the West, ) and to him is duo the face that 2,000.- ) fj' 000 acres in Idaho arc under Curey land T' : . project, and that, thousands of people j 1 r : havo been enabled to secure homes l Jf J , at a nominal cost. With him arc tho '! a i Tvuhn brothers, of Pittsburg! who pinned Wl ' their faith to the arid West and have ' i largely aided in its development. And , associated with these gentlemen is tho I' Miluer corporation of Salt Lake. ; JF -1,000 Miles of Canals. cars ago. in 1903, tho South V'jl n j Side project or Twin Falls irrigation 'iISl fiehemo was inaugurated. Tho original I segregation contained 240,000 acres. The 'l'. men who financed the project, and un- I c ,, y der whose direction it was carried out, i u were Frank II. Buhl and L. P. Kimber- ' f ; ley, of Sharon, Pa., and S. P. Milner, of l' :t Y ij. Salt Lake. Four hundred thousand dol- i jr lars was invested. 2ow upon this j f project thore are 4,000 miles of main i i canals, sub-laterals and ditches exclu- j . sive of tho small ditches made by farmers. It is an empire in itself and , t ( is now populated by a wonderfully i Ml , thrifty class of people, who have home's I U 1 and conveniences that would be tho If envy of any farmer in the East. , ?ifw5 Early in tho spring of the present '. h year Messrs. Buhl, tho Milner corpora- j if tion and George A. Baird, tho latter jli 1 the manager of the Kimbcrlcy estate, ijll , filed an application with tho Idaho m j , v state land board asking for tho segroga- flV j ! " tion of approximately 600,000 acres of If J ' laud under the Carey land act. which l. jgi - they would practicalry increase later to i! 800,000 acres situated west of Littlo v ji I I Salmon river in Owyhee county. At i A i tn0 saine me ne Kuhns, of Pittsburg, j ; fijed their application for the same ter-; ter-; : 1 1 ' I . ' ritory, and both parties put engineers in the field. On Monday the first ,1'f 1 named parties appeared here before the ! ;s j - state laud board and were granted a 5 tfJi-j - segregation under tho Carey net of 540,- vxi-1 000 acres. f As soon as the grant, was allowed ?AA telegrams were sent to J. G-. White & ' j Co., 2ew York, one of thG largest firms '.. : ftl i of engineers in the world, to take ; . II ( charge of all engineering and survey Ifl i features of tho enterprise, and they 'i "vv-ill do so at once. Tho title of tho '. ; B company has not been definitely de-- de-- la cided upon, but as it includes tho same ' f parties who projected tho south side l. if ' )' i deal at Twin Falls it goes without " saying, that tho new organization will t 11 ' . J push the project to the finish. UM . WiU Cost 515,000,000. vt The project is an extension of the yT 'ji ' I Twin lalls south side enterprise, and C . ' will cost $15,000,000. Tho water to ir- I .1 ! rigate these lands will bo taken from i I S f ' tne Snake river at the Milner dam, j! A ' and will flow through the high line i. 4 vri canal a distance-of eighty-two miles to k ri : t the Salmon river, whore it will bo I jj ' ( carried across Salmon River canyon, if Jf' 1 which, at tho point of crossing, is i200 f H 'J 1. ' -foot across and 540 feet in depth, and IUf i I involving gigantic engineering prob- 2 ' V lems, as the stream of water will bo ' ) a.larga ono, carrying from 5000 to 8000 ijL r. 2 cubic feot per second, all of which it - i'i will bo required to irrigate tho lands W J K upon the west side of tho Salmon river, a: t J and will necessitate the building of ,i jf r ' u canals and various distributing laterals 2: i . .'; of n total length of 0000 miles, thus IT t. i Ftf making it the greatest irrigation , ' s fe ' project in the world constructed by 3 i 1 jl privato capital. : . (j To carrj- this big stream of water j !A; j , across the Salmon Itivcr canyon a ' i . V great shaft will bo sunk through the iiJ. ; j i ;t i solid rod: on each side of the canyon ' iffi W V, down to a point where tho canvon is i ' 1? 3 ' narrowest. Here a concrete bridge will j t'l be constnicted across the canyon, and : . y , on this will be carried eight steel pipes t I seven feet in diameter. S.yphons, . . if j I they will be, and the largest syphons ' ff I ' in the world. Down this shaft and , ; J 8 through these groat syphons tho water -jli '. will flow, and will be forced up tho .51 ! ? f: shaft on the west side of the canvon. . ; I I The project will develop a number of f w. ' '. I storage reservoirs on tho territory west , J t' A ft . i of the Salmon river for tho storage of 7 ll if - water, from which distribution will bo ( iufSl mado as needed. 1 I 'I If 1 Many Eetcrvoirs. rl I'lfflr- There will be two chief reservoirs. t Wa ' and possibly more, on tho lands weBt of '. im the Salmon river. li'i At hcadlaud3 o tllc Snake rivor ijl ( thero will be two resorvoirs, this in Wyoming, near the Yellowstone park. The Swau Lake reservoir will contain 1,500,000 aero feet of water. This will mean the building of enormous dams, as tho Snake river proper is supplied sup-plied by water from tho mountains approximating 30,000 square miles of territory, which runs in floods. This flood is an enormous river when tho crest is reached, and it runs from April 15 to July 15. Afterward the river drops to its minimum, so that to in-croaso in-croaso tho maximum later on tho flood waters will bo held back in reservoirs reser-voirs at tho headwaters, so that when tho flood ebbs tho overflow or headwaters head-waters of the flood will bo carried to tho reservoirs in the territory to be irrigated ir-rigated hundreds of miles away. The interests who are developing tho various Twin Palls enterprises wonting with tho Government will have water storago facilities which will enable them to control approximately the entire en-tire flow of tho Snako river. Tho .new project will bo 350 miles long from tho intako at Milner dam to tho west side of tho projoct, west of tho Salmon river. Taken in its entirotj', it is tho greatest great-est irrigation project of modern times, and nothing liko it has over been attempted at-tempted by privato cnterpriso in the history of tho world. |