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Show THE BOX ELDER Story of the Bear River Valley (Continued) NEWS, Col-lmsto- hollow'. This called for a great expenditure of money, and, in the face of the depleted condition of the companys treasury, this problem was by no means a small one. However, the idea was worked out, the details of which have been presented to the court and approved, and the matter of placing this important irrigating ditch up- a business basis is assured. This Hammond canal has been a matter in which the builders and farmers alike have suffered a good deal of inconvenience, but there is no denying the fact that through the construction of the canal, lands on the east side have greatly appreciated in value, and room has been made for a population that a few years ago would never have been dreamed of. Compared with the inconvenience suffered by those on the west side, the east side has escaped luckily. on er shade trees, meadoAVS, houses, factories and all the pharaphernalia of human industry, Avealth and happiness. Extracts of Report of B. L. & R. W. W. & I. Co. The project is not a neAv one. The vast body of arable land lying along both sides of the Bear river, just north of the Great Salt Lake, has attracted attention from the time of the earliest settlement of this country. Here is the largest irrigable body of untilled land in all the mountain country. Bear river is the largest riAer in the thousand-milstretch from Denver to Sacramento. The diversion of this noble stream and the distribution of its waters upon the vast fertile plain on both sides of its banks was a consummation fondly looked forAvard to by President Brigham Young, even in the days Avhen the Great Salt Lake basin e sparsely settled. A someAvhat systematic effort in the same direction was made about twenty years ago by the Walker brothers, the Kahns, and other leading merchants and bankers of Salt Lake City. At that time the Union Pacific road Avas building, and they drove to Corinne, Avhere they proceeded to make entries upon government laud in that vicinity. A survey Avas made with a view to estimating the cost of taking the Avater out of Bear river. Finding that the project called for an enor-moAvas who had been diin charge of the canal since rectly the company took hold of it, was out inspecting the line, in company with Engineer Doremus, of Salt Lake City, and Mr. Israel Ilun-sakeThey had passed the place where the break occurred, when Mr. Hammond was reminded that, as a precautionary measure, he ought to see that the supply gates near the power house were properly set; so he went back to look after this matter, and that was the A last seen of him that night. search the next morning discovered his lifeless remains at the bottom of the spillway below the gate, and the supposition is that while walking upon the frame work of the headgate he slipped and fell onto the rocks below. R. Hammond, r. Things looked bad for the east side after that, until lion. John D. Peters, cashier of the First National bank of Brigham City, who, by the way, had been very active in the matter of financing the immense proposition, was appointed receiver-o- f the canal and the HamMr. Peters first lands. mond work was to devise Avays and means to repair the break which, up to this time, had refused to respond to any ordinary treatment. In connection with Mr. A. F. Doremus, formerly state engineer, plans were perfected for a concrete tunnel and flume across the Extracts from Tribune. The storage system in contemplation for the new Croton acque-due- t for New York City, and for which they propose to build a masonry dam twice as high as the highest existing dam in all the world, will not equal the Bear It Lake reservoir in capacity. means that all the country along the course of Bear river, from where it enters Idaho, northward to Soda Springs, and back almost to Salt Lake City, shall never want for w'ater; that the supply shall be forever without limit ; that the water shall no longer run in deep channels far below the level of the land, to be utterly Avasted. but it shall be stored, controlled and distributed for use over hundreds of square miles of earth by a system of artificial conduits, all under as perfect regulation as the water Avorks of any city. It means the duplication of the valley of the Euphrates or of the Nile, in their great daAs, on the banks of Bear river beloAv Bear Lake. With the completion of these mammoth Avorks assured, one may w'ell speak ardently of the good results to folloAv. I have studied it and contemplated it until I am lost in reverence of the beneficence it is to be. It Avill carry blessings everywhere and perpetually. It will touch land only to fructify it. It w'ill come to a mans house but to 17 beautify its surroundings with all green and growing things. It will bring to the toAvns of this arid region the possibilities of limitless It will scatter groAVth. all up an down this valley. It av ill resurrect dead toAvns and give birth to new ones. Like the Avand of the good genii, it Avill do good to all and harm to none. It Avill replace long stretches of sand and parched naked ground, Avith farms, vineyards, orchards, Avater-poAv- lands directly west of Brigham City. On July 4th, a year ago, a calamity occurred that practically put the Hammond canal out of commission. The Hume which carries the water across Happy Hollow, a short distance north of went out, and it developed, in the work that took place immediately thereafter, that it was a most serious affair. Engineers did not agree upon the best method of reconstruction at this particular point, and the ideas that were put into operation did not pan out. As a result the farmers were out of water the rest of that year and were compelled to keep their orchards and farm products alive by adopting strenuous measures, such as hauling water, digging wells, etc. Then, to make matters wori in the fall of last war, Mr. Datus SEPTEMBER 16, 1908. u expenditure, they organized a lobby and besieged congress during the following sessions, appeal for a special act them to buy all the govland under the proposed the government price of $2.50 per acre. One house of congress, passed the bill but it failed to be concurred in by the other, and so the enterprise was abandoned. tAVO an allowing ernment canal at Avith ITEMS ON BEAR RIVER VALLEY. Settlers of the Bear River Valley have reason to be proud of the fact that neither farming land nor toAvn lot prices have ever been affected by the speculative craze knoAvn as a boom, hence there is no danger of a collapse, as so often occurs AA'here prices have been inflated by speculators. There is no large amount of land noAV offered for sale in the Bear River Valley. So far as we have been able to estimate, the amount of good land for sale here does not exceed tAvo thousand acres, and nearly all of this is either OAvned or by farmers by who wish to reduce their holdings, FURTHER non-residen- ts for the reason that they find the originate here and Axliich, if not same amount of labor, applied to of too long standing, ahvajs find a smaller area of land, Avill procertain relief or permanent cure. Wo refer to asthma and consumpduce larger profits. About eight acres of laud Avith oats or barle.A, tion. We have failed to learn of and a proper rotation Avith alfalfa a case of cither that has originwill often yield larger profits by ated in this climate, but there are careful irrigation and cultivation hundreds of people in Utah avIio than if the same amount of labor can testify to the benefits of this on a larger area climate for those suffering from be expended of land. Some even prefer forty these diseases. We have also numerous medicinal springs Avliose acres of land with, say, a have afforded relief or permin five acres and orchard, potatoes anent cure to many afflicted ones. the remainder or sugar beets, and in alfalfa or grain. The Countys Health. Persons who have traveled exIn the month of July this year tensively through the central and there Aere 8 deaths from all western states, claim that, land causes, reported to the Etate Board is much cheaper here in price, than of Health. The number of cases any Avhere else they have been, of sickness reported Avere as when the yield and price of crops Scarlet fever, 16; whoopare considered, together with the ing cough, 1; chicken pox, 5; turailroad facilities, climate, xvater berculosis, 1. supply, etc. Referring to climate, it is difficult for one Avho has never liv- Smelters in Box Elder Co. ed in a mountain country to un(Continued from page 11) is so derstand that the climate plant. This power enters the transmild, though snow may be seen former house at 6,000 volts, and on the mountain tops during the from there is distributed to the greater part of the year; yet, Ave Avorks as a 450 seldom experience zero weather volt current. The is operplant here. ated entirely by electric power The cool mountain air, during with the exception of the removal the summer nights, can only be of slag, for Avhich work horses are appreciated by those who have ex- employed, but electric haulage is perienced this delightful climate. to be insallcd at an early date in Sunstroke, hydrophobia, cyclones, this department also. and earth quakes have never Water for all requirements is claimed a victim here, so far as obtained from artesian wells, and we have heard. this is pumped into a 25,000 galIn usual seasons Ave have prac- lon tank which supplies the furntically no rain from May to No- ace jackets and other requirevember, thus affording the farmer ments. The plant can boast of a an opportunity to cultivate and finely equipped assay office and harvest his crops without damage laboratory, Avhile a nicely furnin ished club house is an attraction by Avet weather. The rain-fal- l the valleys of Utah is less than enjoyed by the smelter staff and visitors. At the present time the the average for the midh canthe dle states; but company is giving employment to irrigation als supply the water from the a force of from 100 to 125 men, melted snow of the mountain and this will be increased as adpeaks, during that season of the ditions are made to the capacity of year Avhen it is most needed by the plant. OFFICIAL DIRECTORY. the growing crops in the valleys. M. S. Browning, of Ogden, is sometimes and People become sick, president of the Independent they also die, in Utah, otherwise, we would have no room for the inSmelting company; Leroy Eccles of the same place, is but there creasing population, ; Joel Nibley is secretary and not do which two diseases are ten-acr- e Ava-te- fol-Ioav- s: treasurer; J. B. Jensen is manager; and R. II. Vail, formerly with the United States Smelting company is superintendent in charge of the plant; A1 Mitchell is mill foreman and Martin L. Lee is Our space w i 11 not permit of a tailed description of all the workings of this plant, but Ave Avould urge our readers, who can possibly do so, to visit this smelter and vieAV it in actual operation. 300 ACRES ORCHARD. J. M. Jenson, Who Owns Or-chards in Many Lands Has Faith in Box Elder. 60-cyc- one-fift- vice-preside- A GEO. CARTERS STEAM THRESHER SUGAR FACTORY IN BACKGROUND 3,200 bushels of oats were turned out in this run in seven hours. BEET SHEDS GARLAND SUGAR FACTORY. Evidence of the popularity of The Great Bear River Yal- ley as a fruit producing sec- tion is always forthcoming in unlimited quantity; and the evidence is of the first qual- ity, too. Mr. J. M. Jenson, so Avell knoAvn in this county by rea- son of his long residence in Brigham City, throughout the state, and even in Canada and Mexico as a result of his extensive business enter- prises, finds Box Elder coun- ty orchard land a promising investment. He is associated with Mr. A. Il.Snow and the Stacy Orchard Company in 140 acres of apple orchard at Ehvood. Ilis son, Claude, OAvns 140 acres adjoining the company land, 40 which has been set out to apT pies this year and 40 acres, possibly 60 acres, Avill be set out next year. At Point Lookout, J. M. Jenson, Jr., set out 110 acres on his large ranch this year and will increase the acreage next year. This land is all of a splendid character hav- ing been selected with an eye to its fertility and especially to its location Avith respect to drainage facilities. Every bit of the orchard tracts can be drained perfectly. This is a valuable property and is perhaps the most extensive orchard operation in which one man is engaged in Box Elder countv. atreof |