Show 0 U U N 0 R 0 U N L WATERS OF UTAH U an WW undeveloped resources for irrigation in this state As reported upon by the united states government I 1 correspondence the rho advocate washington D C may alay 25 i A statement just made public by the united states geological survey indicates that in the western pora para atlon of an important amount of irrigation may be accomplished by the local utilization 0 of underground water supplies that have heretofore remained unproductive the statement includes specifically the th results of a recent geological examination by the surrey survey of box elder older county and a L portion of at thoele county in utah and of at email small areas in southern idaho in portions of or which there Is good promise of obtaining water at moderate cost tor for use in irrigation the region now comprising tom th tha state of utah was almost unknown before 1833 except from the indefinite reports of the traders and trap era ers who occasionally made expeditions into it in that year captain bonneville conducted an excursion to great salt lake lako la in the interest of fur traders and hia his notes were later published by NV ashington irving in 1842 captain captala fremont Frera ont explored the utah region he and his party being the first white men to ball a boat on great salt lake in 1847 the mormons settled at the present site of salt lake city and two yeara years later captain stansbury made a comprehensive o study of the lak and its environs the rush to california opened a road through the country the route usually taken being around the north end of the lake but not until the completion of the upton UP ion pacific and central pacifier railroads was communication with the outside world ren aced easy from the first settlement of this arid state irrigation was adopted the water nater of the mount in str streams canis and springs was led upon the parched but rich soil boil and the land became dotted with productive communities muni ties each supporting an agricultural population proportionate in size to the stream or spring by which it was na sustained in many of these communities de development practically ceased when all of the northal stream flow had bad been appropriated pria ted but in recent years etim ul bitted cited by the urgent need resulting from the tho constantly increasing population the he have persistently crowded back the limits of the desert and reclaimed more and more of the waste land this agricultural ri expansion Is 1 being accomplished by the construction of res errors to conserve the flood waters that formerly ran to waste by the improvement of irrigation methods whereby the duty of 0 the water Is in reared rc aRed by the application of dry farming methods to large tracts that he lie near the mountains and are favored with more rainfall than most of the desert and to a small extent by the development ot of underground supplies by means of artesian wella wells or pumping plants the united states geological survey has made a ser 1 of at investigations of the underground water resources ure of the western half of the state in which numerous shallow tracts exist the reports based on a these show that an important amount of irrl tallon ration could be accomplished by the utilization of underground supplies that have hitherto remained unproductive duc tive tte and they outline in some detail methods for the economic development of these supplies without question when the agricultural ari cultural possibilities of at western utah shall have boon beon fully realized u maly small tracts aggregating a very considerable total acreage will be successfully irrigated with water ater pumped from wells in july 1911 at the request of representative howell owell II the examination of bodeker Box eker elder county a part of toselo county and certain small areas in southern idaho was undertaken by everet everett carpenter of the united states geological survey who makes the following preliminary statement I 1 boxelder Dox Box elder and rocele 1 counties which lie ito la the northwest portion of the state and together cover about twelve thousand square miles include extensive alkali desert and mountainous areas that can not be cultivated but they also contain large tracts of rich eoll soil that require only the application of water to make them produce bounteous crops these counties llo almost entirely in the groat great basin and include most of great salt lake west vest and southwest of the lake at an elevation only a 0 few feet above it stretches a great barren boggy alkali flat known aa an salt latke desert this monotonous waste Is ed and worthless for either agriculture or grazing but north and south of the flat and lako lake are I lv io o mountain ranges separating br broad open valleys that contain araci land at some time in its past tory this v uban lion vaas as much more henad than at present and contzen contz contained ln a v ut inland sea that covered moat most of the territory occupied by the two cod counties titles the tope tops ot of the highest ranges forming farming peninsulas or chains of rocky lalands during this period quantities of sand clay and gravel were washed from the neighboring mountains and spread out on tho the bottom of at the sea the flood waters that pour into the valleys aror time to time penetrate and saturate to a certain level the porous cand and gravel thus accumulated ti which in consequence contain cantata more or less ground water the most favorable areas for irrigating ri with well atter are not aa as a rule on tho the upper parts of the slopes chero the water level Is tar far below the surface nor on the low tracts where the ground water la Is so near the surface that injurious amounts of alkali have accumulated but in the intermediate zones in which the depth to water la Is not great and the water la Is in general of excellent quality flowing wells that supply sufficient clont water for irrigating ri email small tracts have been obtained near malad ida and near willard in boxelder Box elder county and erda and in thoele county utah one small flow has also been found in paris park valley at kelton ar artesian water has been boen obtained but its quality renders it unfit for irrigation especially on the alkali soil that exists in this locality pumping tor for irrigation la Is practicable for considerable areas of land where the ground water lies within fifty feet of the surface eur face and proba bily ly in certain favored localities here it la Is somewhat deeper at some points where the yield is sufficient the lift ni mod odero erite an and mad the soil good the ground water may perhaps bo be pumped tor for ordinary irrigation but with small supplies and costly fuel pumping for this kind of irrigation will be too expensive tho the most advantageous use 00 0 water ater la is ti to irrigate small fiel d n on dry farms and to supplement thi tho creams and the rainfall utilized by dry farming farni ing methods the tho I 1 spring ratna 1 cease lu ta june and the stream flow Is greatly diminished soon afterward with the result that both the irrigated and the dry farm coups i are likely to suffer before they thoy mature by thi application of ground vater water bagar beets could be carried to full growth and alfalfa brought to tg second cc cond or thid thi d cuttings A part of this need can be b supplied with flood water stored in reservoirs but it will be necessary in many places to use ground water ater water can be pumped for aks or months in advance of using and stored in earh reservoirs where only a part dart of the anatel ate t Is thus provided a higher cost c can n be borne than where the whole supply must be pumped dumped pumping has not been fairly tested in louelder Lox Box elder and tooele thoele counties at brigham there are two small pumping plants one using gasoline and the other electric power the latter Is operated at a cost of about 2 60 per aci acio 6 foot for power in park valley two small plants using gasoline power are operated at a cost of four to five dollars per acre fool foot for fuel but this cost could bo be reduced in plants of somewhat larger capacity promising loc localities alitta for obtaining ground water for irrigation outside of the arte artesian basins are the vicinity of brigham Drig ham park valley volley and the slope east of the pilot mountains near brigham and willard Wll lard where fruit is to the principal crop and where power Is cheaper than elsewhere in county water can be lifted a greater distance than at other places less water Is needed for an orchard han for most field crops and the value of the fruit permits a greater cost in irrigating in this locality the discharge from boxelder Box elder and willard creeks can perhaps be mart made to do a double duty by using th tha adream witter on an the higher parta parts of the alluvial slopes and pumping the overflow on the lower land where the water level la to near the surface over a large part of pr rk valley ground water occur our nt at blight slight depths and gasoline tor for fuel can be shipped 1 rau rail to kelton thirteen miles from park valley the loose gravelly gra elly maters near the surface la Is partly saturated with katr derived from the mountain emam and from fron the seepage on lands it is pro babi of sufficient quantity to auprly water for email small felda but not to irrigate large roas as believed by some demons these surface deposits are underlain to the depths thus lar ar reached in drilling by dense fine fino grained gitary beds that yield little water the most profitable use MI be in supplementary irrl galbin 0 of certain crops that require n artier ter to bring them to maturity orchards bardt gardens shade tree trees and rs mr bo grown to some soine extent urd ard life on the dry firms there by be bo made more pleas plea aint int and profitable on tho the lower slopes eau of the pilot mountains a row of at springs indicates that the ground water lu is hear bear the surface ny no attempt haa has yet been mide to develop this water but it la Is thought that a moderate area just west of he the springs can be brought under cultivation and watered Nat ered with the underground supply full reports on the investigation will be published for free distribution by the united states geological suney a AS soon as practicable an announcement will be made through the press aa as eoon soon as the report is ready tor for distribution |