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Show Deserts on Salt Lake Route Rapidly Become Rich Farms THE territory traversed by the Salt Lake Routo in Utah has seen many changes during the past year and .what whs known as the desert country Is . being rapldly transformcd into farms by irrigation and dry fanning. The greatest changes aro iu Millard county, whero about 27,000 acres of Irrigated Irri-gated land have been sold the past year. H.000 of which waa cultivated for the first time with good succcs. and the coming year will show a handfonio increase in-crease in the cultivated area. Tho new-town new-town of Delta, which Is the center of this land, la coming to the front rapidly and tho class and character of farmers, together to-gether with the improvements they are putting In on their farms. Insures tho success of this new community. Activity has also been shown at the Sevier Ttlver Land & Water comrAiy's project at Lynnd, where a. large reservoir reser-voir is under construction, which will serve about "0.000 acres of land. Thi3 is a Carey act. proposition. Beaver county 1s also showing a lot of improvement and indications now are that VJo.OOO acres of irrigated land lying botween Mllford unci Bea.ver will be on j tho market tho coming year. Iron County Awake. Iron county has shown the most improvement im-provement along dry farming lines. Here thousands of acrca have been taken up under the enlarged homestead act and the cntrymen to a large extent are carrying out their development work In good faith, and the results obtained the first season from the virgin soil have not been disappointing. disap-pointing. Twenty thousand acres of irrigated ir-rigated land near New Castle, eleven miles from Beryl station on the Salt Lake Iloutc, were put. on tho market during the aummrr. and water will be delivered to the land next spring. Ke-sultH Ke-sultH obtained by irrigation on this tract indlcato that this section will bR one of the hcavk-st grain and aUulfa producers in tho state. . "While the fruitgrowers in Washington Washing-ton county are located a long way from railroad facilities, tfhls season several cars of choice Dixie peaches, apricots, pears, grapes, olc. wcro hauled from Ilurrlcano and shipped out from Lund to Salt Lake and other markets, and with the road work being dono by the stale In this section during the winter the shipments next season will bo several times greater than the output this year. Auto trucks will probably be used to carry the fruit and produce to tho railroad station at. Lund, and the experience this vear with the wagon haul has demonstrated demon-strated this Hectlon can get its products to market and lay them down In first-class first-class shape. Acreage Is Increasing. The older communities Utah. Tooele and Juab counties aro growing rapidly and the acreage of farming lands, horticultural, horti-cultural, dry farming, etc.. Is rapidly increasing. in-creasing. , , Considerable activity along farming lines has been aroused in the vicinity of Las Vegas. Nev.. where artesian flowing wells will soon transform the desert into green pastures. Tho paat year has probably been the best in the history of the Salt Lako Itouto, the water troubles in Meadow Valley wash, Nov., liavlnc been eliminated elim-inated and confldonce in the line having been re-established. Through business, both freight and passenger, has been heavy. It was hoped that the new daylight day-light trains between Salt Lake City and Los Angeles would be reinstated about. January 1, but latest advices are that these trains will bo put back Into service early In April. In time to take care of tho heavy local and eastern travel to tho most popular southern coast of California, which Is dally growing In attraction to Utah and to citizens of other states. Rich Moapa Territory. The St. Thomas branch, which extenda from Moapa on the main line in Nevada to St. Thomas, also In Nevada, a distance of 21.62 milts. Is the most important of the branch linea completed during tho year. This branch opened the ptoduc-tlvo ptoduc-tlvo Muddy valley whore such semi-tropical fruits and vegetables figs, pomegranate--, almonds, cantaloupes, dates, asparagus and tettuco are grown successfully. success-fully. The produce mentioned had been known for Us excellence for some time, but until the Salt Lake Route made It possible to market It quickly, it wan not grown In paying quantities. Cantaloupes of the Moapa district are especially rought. thrlr cxcellont qunllty being recognized on the. Atlantic coast, whither some shipments have been made. By a now irrigation project that 1? to be started start-ed In 1313 there will be 15,000 additional acres rendered productive in the Muddy valley Another Important branch line of the road has been built In Utah during the year. It is not a pui"1 of the Salt Lake ttoulr, but was constructed by former Senator W. A. Clark, president of the company, nnd is to connect the rich Ophlr mines with the main line of the railroad. It Ik S.5 miles in length and mRkeK possible possi-ble tho development of several mining propertioH fhal would otherv.if have remained re-mained Idle. Branches Good Feeders- ThU line and the St. Thomas branch me now utilized fe- both freight and pas-frr-ger s -!. An an e-.airp'e of the amount of good done by the Ophlr branch road, the Ophir Kill Consolidated Mining company has completed extensive improvements im-provements at Its mill, doubling tho capacity ca-pacity of the plant and employing about 100 men In its operation. New steel Is being laid on the Provo branch, a distance of 12 miles, from Salt Lake City to Lynndyl, permitting much faster time and better service there. Eight and a half mllea of that branch was changed durlmr tho year In Order to reduce the "grado, an entirely new track being built that dlstanco between Payson and York. Pioche Railroad. The Prince Railroad company has completed com-pleted eight miles of track from Pioche, Nov.. to tho Prince Consolidated Mining company's property, thus facilitating the shipping of ore from that camp. A number num-ber of bid properties have been reopened and tomii now ones developed through tht branch lines constructed along the Salt Lake Route, tho output from the mining properties along the road having increased in-creased about ?n per cent during tho year of mi'' Tracks will bo laid from tho main lino of tho road to Spanish Fork and also to Payson to sugar factories that arc now being built by the Utah-Idaho Sugar company. In keeping with its line improvements the company has received during tho year six new Pacific type oil-burning engines for the passenger train service. An order hau also been placed for G0Q new steel underframo modern box cara, which will bo delivered ca.rly In tho new year. Stoam shovel at; -work near Nolan, Utah, on the Dcnvor & "Rio Grande railroad. Donblo track work from Helper to Kyunc. |