OCR Text |
Show OQDENITES IN RAILROAD PROJECT I A statement was obtained last night from the promoters of a gigantic ir- i rigation, water power and railroad project which Is now under contom-'platlon contom-'platlon In the east-central part of, I'tah which will Invoho the expondl- I turo of many millions of dollars In the Immediate future provided the plana of the investigators and promotere ' "pan out" according to expectations, i Two Ogden men, S. Abbott Magin-nis Magin-nis and R. m Pope axe Identified with the enterprise, tho former to havo oharge of much of tho legal ' business, and the latter to be ajo- ciatod with tho organization work on account of his Intimato knowledge of the district Involved F W. Short of Chicago, as vice president and gen-eral gen-eral manager. Is at tho head of the company, which Is Incorporated under j the namo of tho Provo & Eastern I Utah Railway company, capitalized at I 510.000,000. Tho proposition Includes tho con- I structlon of a railroad from Spring- ' vlllo, Utah, to Steamboat SprlngB, Colo., by way of Jenson, Uintah countv and forming a connecting link of 300 miles with the present terminus of the Moffat road A gigantic gigan-tic dam will also be constructed In ' the Green river near Split mountain , to furnish water storage for Irrigating Irrigat-ing 400 000 acres of benoh land north, east of Jenson and to operate a big hwlro-electrlc plant to cost $15,000,- I noo. j The estimated cost of bho railroad , Is $10,000,000 and approximately $15 . ' 000,000 for the Irrigation Bystem mak- ' lng a total of $40,000,000 when the 'combined enterprisoes shall have been completed as now planned Mr Short, who represents the east- i ern capitalists back of the scheme Is ! stopping at the Reed hotel, arranging the Immediate affairs of the company ' "It Is estimated," said Mr Short, todny. "that in ense the project is successfulh worked out the Irrigated area of Utah will bo doubled , the population of tho state will bo greatly , increased, a new direct transcontinental transconti-nental railway line will enter Salt Lake and tho Uintah basin country, one of Utah's richest sections will bogln a now era of development and progression It is conceded that the great benefits that would accrue to Utah through theso changes can hardly bo estimated "The financial interests behind the I railroad project were in no way affiliated af-filiated with those that are conduct- lng the destinies of the Moffat road, ho said that when tho line was com- pleted to Steamboat Springs It would connect with the Moffat road at that point and also with a new line that uill be constructed by the Harrlman Interests from Laramie either to Steamboat Springs by wav of Hahn's Peak or from Laramie direct to Hay-den Hay-den This would form two eastern outlets from the new road's terminal Diotance of Line. "If the Hahn's Peak or Hayden line were used the new road would decrease de-crease the dlslance of the Harrlman transcontinental route by 168 miles By using the Moffat road it would lessen the direct distance by rail between be-tween Denver and Salt Lake by 200 miles. "From Springvlllc to Jensen over the proposed course is a distance of US miles. The promoters declare that surveys havo been going on quietly for months and aie now practically prac-tically completed The Moffat road extends as far as Steamboat Springs, 214 miles west of Denver. The link between Steamboat Springs and Jensen Jen-sen Is about 134 miles. According to local railroad men, the construction of the proposed road to Jensen and from there on to Steamboat Springs can be easily accomplished. "If the new road Is completed It will stretch through a country which, on account of physical obstacles, has not been tapped In any way by either the Denver & Rio Grande road through Green River or the Union Pacific through Zvanston and Laramie, Wyo Besides securing the traffic of this section, which offers new industries and resources, the road would secure the fruits of wide development, settlement set-tlement and their attendant freight aiid passenger traffic. Further, the transcontinental traffic that would ?o by way of the new road would form an Important factor, "The irrigation part of the project is to be known as tho Split Mountain Moun-tain Irrigation project, according to Mr Short and his dam will be constructed con-structed on the-Green river in Split Mountain canyon. At the point of construction tlhe canyon Is ooO feet broad The dam, says Mr. ShorL will be 1500 feet wide at the top and S00 feet wide at tho bottom, at a height of 350 feet. "Two years ago. tho promoters filed on the waters of the Green river and obtained right to 10.000 second feet of water The canyon walls, he says, extend ld00 feet above the water, forming In connection with the widening wid-ening of tho canyon a natural rescr-o!r rescr-o!r that can be made to hold 2,250.-000 2,250.-000 aero feet of water, or half the annual runoff of Green river at that point. "By the usual system of syphons, canals, ditches and pumps, the water from this great reservoir will be distributed dis-tributed over the large area embraced In tho Irrigation plan. This area Includes In-cludes tho territory through which the Green river flows, from a point where It crosses the state line as far south as the confluence of the Green, tho Duchesne and the White rivers; the eastern part of Ibe Uintah basin, and 70,000 acres In Colorado, along the state line as far south as White river riv-er Tho total area is given as 400.-000 400.-000 acres, for which. It is declared, application for segregation has been made under the Carey act Great Area Tapped. "About 430.000 acres of land along tho route of tho proposed railroad already al-ready are under cultivation This, then, would bring tho total area of irrigated ir-rigated lands tapped by th? road close to 1,000.000 acres. It Is held probable that other irrigation projects In the Uinta country will be launched, adding add-ing their strength to Uie development of eastern Utah. It is known that the physical outline of that aectlon makes a number of feasible reclamation Schemes easily poslble. "The third scheme of the big project proj-ect is to make the reservoir and dam serve a dual purpose. Tho first Is i i , ... - ' - --- - --it-ut I- i" to construct a bi hdyro-electrlc power pow-er plant, using the reservoir wator3 10 obtain power It is declared bj the promoters that this plant will hae a capacity of from 250.000 to 300,000 horsepower It is the Intention Inten-tion to transmit this power by proper lines over the whole nrea embraced i ntho project to tributary terrltorj and possibly to larger cities close to Salt Lake It Is declared that a sufficiently suf-ficiently wide market Is already in slsht to warrant tho hydro-electric scheme and the construction of the plant" co I |