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Show LAND FOR THE LANDLESS. How Easy to Secure a Good Home in , Idaho. Washington, Aug. 20. The valleys of the Wood rivers in southern central Idaho, according to the irrigation bureiu of the department of agriculture, hold forth attractive opportunities to farmers who want to take up fertile, but dry land, . and by the construction of small storage reservoirs, utilize the waste waters of the Wood rivers for irrigation purposes. The amount of land not already under cultivation, but which is susceptible of reclamation -at a moderate cost, is not such as to attract speculators, for Dut a few thousand acres, distributed through the valleys of Big and Little Wood rivers are available. The soil is. of such con-stiti'ence, con-stiti'ence, and the climate of such character char-acter as to insure success to enterprising : individuals. I A special report upon the use of water from the Wood rivers has been written ! by Jay D. Stannard, one of the irrigation i experts, who spent the summer of 1-"-in the Wood river country. He found there, as in many other arid regions, that a vast quantity of water is going "o waste each year during the season of spring freshets, with the customary dry spell later on. when the streams are depleted. de-pleted. Big Wood river not only has its flood water and low water periods, but there are months when the channel in tho lower section is entirely dry. except for pools of stagnant water" Above its junction junc-tion with Silver Creek the Little Wood river is subject to the same variations, since its supply, too, is derived from melting melt-ing snows. Below its junction with Silver Sil-ver creek, however, the supply is drawn almost entirely from that stream, whose source is in large springs. The fluctuation fluctua-tion in the flow of these springs is net great, the influence of the creek on the lower Little Wood river being to make its flow more constant. Various Systems in Vogue. Both Bis; and Little Wood rivers in their upper courses flow through comparatively com-paratively large valleys of fine land, much of which is still unreclaimed, while i he middle courses rf both arc through broken lava, where land suitable for cultivation cul-tivation is very limited. Much of the land in the upper valley of the Little Wood is irrigated by means of community ditches. One party in the upper valley of the Big Wood rixe.- rents and distributes distri-butes water to others who have no share in the ownership of the canal. Most ot the Pitches from Big Wood. Silver creek and Little Wood river below Silver creek are the property of the owners of the land irrigated. The waters of Little Wood river and its tributaries are nominally distributed under the decree of the courts by a water master, appointed bv the court. The waters of Big Wood ' river, t with the exception of a few of the smaller tributaries, are not controlled by any system of distribution; each irrigator ir-rigator may go to the stream and take what water he chooses if the natural collections coll-ections will permit. Opportunities For Development. Between the towns of Ketchum and Bcllevue on Big Wood river lies a fertile valley well adapted to the growth of alfalfa, grain, potatoes and the hardier fruits. This valley is about twenty miles long, and averages . about one mile in width. About one-half of this area still awaits development. Below Bellevuo where the valley widens out hi to a triangle tri-angle of some twelve to fourteen miles on a side is a tract containing 30.000 or SO.flOfl acres, of which less than one-fourth is irrigated. Below Camas creek the river fiows through a Country more or less covered with lava, the irrigated land of this section being found in small isolated tracts lying adjacent to the stream, j North of Shoshone some eight to ten miles lies a large body of land of great promise containing several thousand acres, and along tne lower course of the I river on the north side nm tnrcro oms that would develop under irrigation into splendid ranches. Along Little Wood river, northeast of Carey. Is a tract- of several thousand acres still unreclaimed, while east of Shoshone and south of Little Wood river along its lower course ore large tracts that are susceptible of irrigation. It is believer! that more than 50.000 acres could be reclaimed, provided an ample water supply could be assured. Plenty of Water If Controlled. The natural water supply of the last two or three seasons has been notably insufficient for the, irrigation of the lands along Wood -riveri "'which are at present under irrigation. This is due largely to the uneven distribution, the natural supply being greatly in ' excess of the needs in the. early part of the season and becoming deficient after July 1. The proper conservation of the waste waters of the spring, and the prevention of seepage seep-age would not only insure an ample supply sup-ply for the area at present under cultivation, cul-tivation, tbut would permit of the reclamation recla-mation of new areas in the Wood river valleys. ' Splendid Reservoir Site Available. There are a number of excellent sites for storage reservoirs on Wood rivers. . About three-fourths of a mile above the junction of Camas creek with Big Wood river, the creek passes through a gap in the rock. The walls are pearly vertical for about Co feet and are a little less than 400 feet apart at the top. Just above this gap the valley widens out. forming a basin containing 120 acres. It is estimated esti-mated that a dam 60 feet high would back up the water in this natural basin for a distance of four or five miles and produce a reservoir having a capacity of 12,000 acre feet. A reservoir located there would relieve the situation throughout through-out the entire valley of the Big and Little Lit-tle Wood rivers, except that portion of Little Wood valley above the junction of Little Wood and Silver creek. Another site is located on Little. Wood river twelve miles above Carey, where it is estimated a 30-foot dam. backing up water over an area of 1.000 acres, to a depth of fifteen feet, would irisure crops on the lands in the valley of the upper Little Wood that are now cultivated, and permit the reclamation of new land. Twenty-three miles above Hailey, on the Big Wood river, is located another reservoir site. A dam constructed at that point, to a height of 60 feet, and WO feet across at the top. would store an immense amount of water in the basin ba-sin above, and at such levels that it could be used to advantage, in irrigating the lands along the upper course of the j river. I A company of irrigators on the lower j Big Wood are now constructing two reservoirs res-ervoirs ten and twelve miies north of ' Shoshone, the retaining dams being 10 i and 19 feet respectively. Thoio reser-I reser-I voirs are to be filled by a ditch from the Big Wood, the ditch to be fifteen miles long. The estimated cost of damn and ditch is about $10,000. Outlook Is Promising. The feasibility of applying to new: lands a large portion of the waters made available by judicious storage is shown by the fact that the fertile, but now dry lands are so located as to be readily irrigated from reservoirs constructed con-structed on the sites above indicated. The total capacity of the jrroup of reservoirs suggested is about 9.000 acres. If it be assumed that 10,000 acre-feet is required to complete the irrigation of the area j that is already cultivated, the remain-I ing 25.000 acre-feet would permit the reclamation recla-mation of 5.000 or 6,000 acres of new land. |