| Show BEAR RIVER SOILS SURVEY continued from page two bottom having been formerly as late as aa the early seventies in fact part ot of the bed of great salt lal I ake ice it Is very level and very poorly drained it la Is dep depolite osite in the lake from sediment carried down by the streams and contains an excessive amount ot of alkali botn in soil and sub soli soil on some parts of the type where there Is considerable overflow ot of the bear river during the spring a rank growth of sedge flourishes the only value of the type consists in this sedge which is cut for winter teed feed and in the grazing it affords SALT LAKE SA SANDY LOMA LOAM the salt lake sandy loam oam consists of 6 feet of sandy loam usually coarse in texture and generally fled with either fine sandy loam sand fine sand or light loam the type as mapped in this area shows considerable variation in texture this soil Is found in what was form orly erly the bottom of great salt lake and was deposited in the lake by sediment 1 arid and wash from the mountains and river it Is excessively salty and la Is of no value except in a limited way for grazing in spring and summer MEADOW meadow Is ia a type of but small extent in the area surveyed and consists of from two to three feet of loam abam containing in the surface foot considerable muck underlain with gravelly loam or gravel the type is located in small areas north and southwest of brigham is low lying poorly drained tree free from alkali and is used both for pasturage and the production of hay BINGHAM STONY LOAM the bingham stony loam is an unimportant type of little or no agricultural value found at the base of the mountains along the east side of the ahe valley it Is used along with the mountains tor for grazing purposes HARDPAN A few small areas of hardpan were found northwest of willard and northwest of corinne Corl but there Is no general distribution of it in the valley it was noticed in fact in only two borings bolings at 2 or 3 feet below the surface and consisted of one or two inches of soil ce aie edid idid together viseth with carbonate quite often small particles of hardpan the size of fine gravel I 1 or oare coarse and sand s were found but these seemed to occur loose in the soil and not in compact layers WATER SUPPLY FOR irrigation the bear Be arRiver I 1 river canal Is the most extensive and important factor in the irrigation of dear bear river valley lands it cover practically all the irrigable land between dear bear river and the mountains on the west side of the valley and extends from the northern end of the valley south to and beyond corinne Corl this canal was built in the late eighties and early nineties by foreign sa capital pital but owing to financial and other difficulties it was not at first a success it Is said to have cost approximately to complete it it Is now successfully operated by the present owning company the capacity of the canal at the intake is second feet and it irrigates at present about acres A permanent water right costs 25 an acre but does not carry with it any ownership or stock in the canal the annual water rental is 1 an acre which amount Is paid whether the water is actually used or not for this sum the irrigator Irrl gator is allowed water at the rate of i 1 second foot foo t per SO 80 acres which is equivalent to about 34 acre inches per season some of the higher lying and better drained land can use this amount safely elyo but much of the he level and lower lying land ought not to have so eo much water applied to it as it Is more economical to use less water than Is actually paid for than to raise the underground der ground water too near the surface in 1903 and 1901 another canal was built on an the east side of bear 1 river called the east side canal and from this branch canal was built along the mountain slope on the east side of the valley the east side canal gets its water from the bear river canal at bear river canyon paying the older company a certain rental for the water thus obtained obtain ede the bear river canal however the prid priority rity of right and in years of scant water supply the ease easa side canal must surrender its water to the other company during a season like 1904 however there Is sufficient water for all concerned boxelder Box Dox elder creek the next I 1 important stream for irrigation purposes in the area surveyed irrigates the delta on which the city of brigham Is located as well As as some of the surrounding lower lying meadow and hay land the entire creek Is used and much more water could be profitably ably utilized were it obtainable the discharge of the creek varies greatly from spring till tall fall but as a rule does not 0 fall below a ce certain ertain minimum in any year the source of the creek Is a few miles up box elder canyon the average minimum discharge Is said to be about 21 24 second feet and with this about 2500 acres are irrigated which is an allowance of 1 second toot foot per ae acres res the creek Is divided among the irrigators Irrl gators in such a manner that all share the surplus or deficiency fici ency a certain fraction of the flow being directed to its proportional amount of land the present tors hold the water by priority and a share which means the privilege of using a certain fraction of the stream for a certain number of hours per week sometimes sells for as ap much as shares on a sixteenth part of the creek have beep been sold for that price alce and a share on an eighth part or larger fraction of the stream would of course cost more there are a num berof other ler streams that are used all along the slope of the wasatch mountain range and all originating but a short ls tance back in the mountains some of these are piped down the mountain slopes and all are distributed among the land owners in the manner in which box elder creek Is apportioned the water of these streams Is of excellent qu quality aliby not only for irrigation but for domestic use as well some small areas in the northern part of the valley are dry farmed Us bally to wheat and in seasons as favorable as 1904 good crops are dry farmed wheat yields from rom 10 to 30 bushels bus helsper per acre to be continued |
