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Show MUSE PRDJEI'J HEARTILY INDORSED Commercial CIuli Governors Are Home From Excursion Into Millard County. XmV UTAH'S GKEATKST IRRIGATION PROPOSITION Empire of 50.000 Acres of Arid Lands to Be Reclaimed by Sevier Company. Utah's great reclamation project, throujih which oO.UOfl acres in .Millard county arc to bo reclaimed by the er h'iver Land and Water company, will receive an unqualified indorsement from the board of coventors of the Commercial club at. the next nieettne of that, body, and the men who arc promoting pro-moting the enterprise have the moral support of tho bijjeest business organization organi-zation and many of the bicccst business busi-ness and financial men- of the sta,le of Utah. The indorsement of the Commercial club will come through the report to be made by the committee which returned re-turned from an inspection of the project pro-ject Thursday morning and the moral support for the project comes from the individual members of the committee, who are financiers, land and irrigation experts ami successful business men. .Most of all. however, the project depends de-pends on the support of the settlers who will occupy and improve the tract within with-in the next few years by taking advantage ad-vantage of the opportunity to gel some of the verv best agricultural land in the entire west. Granary of Utah. The Commercial club conuninittee and a few others who visited the tract Wednesdnv went at the. invitation of .Sevier River Land and Water company, leaving .Salt Lake Tuesday evening and spending all dav Wednesday on the tract. So casual examination was this, although the time was limited, for the party covered seventy-three miles in automobiles in the day. penetrating almost al-most everv part of t lie irregular tract, fortv miles long, and varying from one mile to twenty miles in width, which, within the next few vears. is to be transformed from a valley of sagebrush into the grannrv of Utah. The trip included in-cluded an inspection of the lines for the big canals and laterals to the reservoir reser-voir sites and a ride through the broad, level vallev of fertile soil, onlv awaiting await-ing the diversion of the Hood waters of the Sevier river to Iransform it into valuable farm land. The return trio was made across the higher bench lands, which are classed bv horticultural experts ex-perts as the equal of any fruit lands in the entire west. For the party of seventeen business men. the trip was one of unallovcd pleasure and diversion as well as one of the best possible demonstrations ot Utah 's agricultural resources. The Salt Lake men were hospitablv entertained bv the officials of the land company and of the Salt Lake Unutc and nothing noth-ing was lacking that would tend to make Ihe trip eujovable from every point of view. In Special Pullman. Leaving Salt Lake at .S o'clock, the party was provided with a special Mill-man' Mill-man' car. while Governor Sprv and Dr. D. II. Calder of Prnvo were guests of II. IC. Van llouson, division superintendent superinten-dent of the railroad, who accompanied the parlv with his private ear. The cars were dropped from the train at Lvnndvl and a perfect spring day greeted greet-ed Ihe visitors when thev were called earlv Wednesday morning. Shortly after aft-er breakfast. I lie most interesting "niise" through the desert began, with the three large automobiles al-readv al-readv providod. The route lav first across" the townsite of Lvnndvl and then along the river to Leamington, seven miles distant. I'rom Leamington the route lav along the course of the canal to Oak CM v. where a sight of the farms of the earlv settlers, some of which had been under cultivation for fortv vears. demonstrated what irrigation irriga-tion and care would do for such soil as is found over the extent of the great vallev. Then the route led out across the benches until the southern end of the tract could be sighted. The return was made along tho upper benches, which will be under water from the high line canal to be built by the company. com-pany. , One of the interesting features of the trip was a short slop at Oak Citv. where some of the visitors' picked fullblown full-blown blossoms from the apricot, trees as thev walked through the orchard of Simon Walker, which produced more than .fLOOO an acre in 100!). At various points along the road the parlv halted to look at 1 he .inanv lest, pits that had been dug to test and demonstrate the character of (he soil. On these occasions. Dr. K. Y). liall. the experiment farm expert of the Agri; cultural collece, talked iiiiorestingly of t lie character of the soil, which, he said, is second to none in the state, and. presenting a wide range, offers conditions con-ditions for the raising of anv crop known .in the state. In describing the land. Dr. Ball emphasized the statement that the entire trad bv no means should be classed as all fruit land, although man v tracts are pcrfcctlv adapted for fruits. He said that other sections present pre-sent perfect qualifications for the raising rais-ing of hnv, grain, sugar beefs and vegetables vege-tables and. instead of specializing, the vallev would be self supporting in overv wav through its capabilities for the production of all the products needed for a large and thriving community. Governor Spry's Interest. Covernor William Spry was especially interested in the fruit lands on the benches at the sides of the valley which, he believes to be the equal in soil qualitv. location and protection of any fruit lands in the state. In expressing this belief, the governor urged that the high line canal be constructed so as to bring these bench Iraets within the irrigated area. Alex McPhcrson, agricultural agri-cultural expert for the company, acted as guide for one automobile, while Kl-mer Kl-mer Forshav. chief engineer, was .spokesman for another and Lvitleton Price, president of the company, accompanied ac-companied the third division. The descriptions given bv these men who arc giving their tune, talents and fortunes to the upbuilding of the state, could not fail to arouse the enthusiasm of the men who were there to observe the iminen.se project for themselves and others. Little by little the magnitude of the project dawned upon the members mem-bers of the partv and. under tho spell of the demonstration, the vast expanse of sagebrush becamp to their minds tho certain base of.au agricultural district of untold possibilities. Looking from the window cf a passing train, a few thousnid acre of devetl bench lands on either side of a river meant nothing noth-ing to the members of the party. Out on the ground, however, it was another story. As the eve traced the course surveved and cleared for the big canals, the "conception of the possibilities broadened to the horizon on either side. Then, as the eve roved from the small acreage of land already irrigated and cultivated, it required no stretch of the j imagination to see the picture, set with green fields and orchards, substituted for the dull gray of the sagebrush, while, looking across the valley to where the townsite of Lynndyl was staked out, Ihe eye unconsciouslv would eonvev lo the mind an image of a thriving little citv as Ihe center of the country. This little bit of prophecy was made more real by the enthusiastic, statements of the soil experts, who spoke with conviction as they described the qualities of the soil. Plenty of Water. The Sevier Land and Water company has acquired its vast acreage through selection of slate lauds and purchase, while the water supph has been acquired ac-quired bv the appropriation of the flood waters of Sevier river, thc purchase pur-chase of a half-interest in the Sevier bridge dam. and the purchase of numerous numer-ous individual water rights. The com-panv com-panv is now preparing to raise and rebuild re-build the Sevier bridge dam lo a height sufficient to impound 2155.000 acre-feel. Lower down, the diverting dam in the river is being constructed at; the point where the main canal will carrv the water out on the tract. From the diversion dam to the mouth of the canvon there is a channel of rodf work and a 210-foot tunnel before the ditch proper, receives the water. Then the main ditch leads to the beds of a chain of small lakes which have been drv for inanv vears. This chain of eight lakes will be used for additional storage for -10.000 acre-feet. There is some difference of opinion as to the number of acres that the companv ultimately ulti-mately will be able to water. There is no doubt, however, that there will be more than enough to water the -7.-000 acres alrcadv selected and ftiturc developments alone will demonstrate the limits of this enterprise. After the automobile ride. Ihe citizens citi-zens of Lyundvl gathered in the waiting wait-ing room of the station to meet Governor Gov-ernor Spry and the other visitors. This meeting was planned as a sort of informal in-formal reception, to afford an opportunity oppor-tunity for meeting the governor, but it imnicdial elv developed into one of the tnest enthusiastic little ' boosters' meetings " that Utah has over seen. Gigantic Project. Governor Sprv spoke of his pleasure in being nble to look over Ihe project, saying that, although time had been insufficient to go into details, he was satisfied from whnt he had seen that it was one of the greatest, projects ever conceived, aud it was the most import-' ant affair of its kind that had come to tvtah. Tin opening of the Uintah reservation, res-ervation, he said, was not to be compared com-pared with the opening of the Lynndyl Lynn-dyl tract, for the reason that tho reservation res-ervation was peopled bv settlers who must later foIvc their problems of irrigation ir-rigation and agriculture while, in Millard Mil-lard couutv, others had provided the water and would also exercise an interest in-terest in the success of the farmers to the extent of doing their experimenting for t hem and affording counsel, example exam-ple and advice to the farmers through the demonstration farms to be maintained. main-tained. Governor Sprv said that this land, ought to increase from its present price of .(30 to anvwhere from $300 to $1500 'an acre in value in the next few veiirt. In building their first irrigation ditches, the governor said, the pioneers could simplv run their furrows from creek lo field, and because of their circumstances circum-stances thev were unable to develop the best lands on the high benches. This, he said, could be done by the men of todav. aud everv effort should be niado to get the water as high as possible. want lo sav that I am heartily in favor of vour movement for. first, i last and all the time, J am for Utah and for anv legitimate enterprise that will develop our great, resources." said the governor. 4T am with von in your project to reclaim this fertile valley and I want to cc you make a success of it, and if there is anything I can dn I want to get in and push for a greater Utah. " What Othors Say. II. L. A. Culmer told of a trip to Shoshone Kails, .Ida., a few years ago where, on the site of what is now a thriving city, there was onlv a single tent. This change, he said, bad come through a movement such as was being carried on al Lynndyl and he predicted like results. Words of commendation and encouragement encour-agement were given bv W. W. Armstrong, Arm-strong, and Joseph M Caine expressed his conviction of the merit of the enterprise en-terprise ami his confidence in its promoters, pro-moters, which had come through long personnl acquaintance. Dr. H. J). Ball said he had visited, iu his capacitv as an agricultural expert, ex-pert, practically every fruit-growing district in the west, and in none were there greater possibilities than in Utah. He said that while no one should get the idea thai the Lvnndvl tract was all fruit land, it should be known that some of the tracts were as good as could be found in the stale, for horticultural horti-cultural purposes. John V. Smith spoke of Hip value of the tract ami the excellence of the soil, and Mr. Price acknowledged the good wishes of the speakers. |