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Show IRRIGATION ALONG THE HUMBOLDT Salt Lake. Oct. 10. Persons inter csled in Irrigation in Utah, and especially es-pecially in the projects along the Sevier river, will do well to watch the progress of the work to be done on the Humboldt river in Neada. according to E. . Porter, district engineer in the great ba6ln for the United States geological survey Mr Porter ha3 just returned from an Inspection In-spection trip through the Humboldt county and is also famll'ar with the i conditions along the Sevier rier and he says the two rivers are almost al-most Identical from the standpoint of utility for Irrigation and power. When si;en in his office in the federal bu'lding yesterday, Mr Porter said: "A movement Is on foot in the state of Nevada to utilize the surplus sur-plus water of the Humboldt river for Irrigation and power developments. develop-ments. The Humboldt river is one of the unique rivers of the arid weal, and conditions along H are In a large ti-86ure parallel to those of the Sevier Se-vier river In Utah. By constructing storage reservoirs on the headwater vtrearas of the river syBtem and securing se-curing the return wates from irrigation, irriga-tion, a vast amount fo arid lands can lie cultivated, thereby making additional addi-tional hoinee for several thousand people. "At the recent session of the Nevada Ne-vada 6tate legislature a new water bill was enacted Into law which follows fol-lows along similar lines to the "Oregon "Ore-gon law " However, the Nevada law pives the state enirineer full power lo decide and adjudicate the water rights of his state. The "Oregon law" allow'B for three men, one of them the state engineer, to act as a beard or commission in deciding the water rights The Nevada water users have taken exception to this feature of the Nevada law and have forced an Injunction against the state engineer, W. M Kearney, In order that the constitutionality of the bill may be tested through the courts JuLt as soon as the case Is settled It is proposed to make a thorough Study of conditions along the Hum-I Hum-I oldt river. The Humboldt rlor is conceded to bo one of the most crooked riv if '. In the west. Furthermore, there are several basins or sinks along the course of the river which allow the fiood waters to accumulate and I spread over larce and shallow urcaj-" urcaj-" All of these conditions have a I tendency to decrease the efficiency I of the stream and allow large losses i botli by seepage and evaporation. In O' der to ascertain just how much tnese losses amount to it Is proposed I thht the state engineer and water uers of the Humboldt river cool co-ol trate with the water resources b"vnch of the United States geologl- j cal survey and Install a series of gbUglng stations along the main ; rlyer and tributaries and equip the s.-me with automatic gates that will record the level of the water surface at all periods of the day and night "Thp problem on the Humboldt rivet is a large one. but one which is worthy of much time and expense lna8muoh as there arc several hun-o'-frd thousand acres of sagebrush land along the river which is susceptible suscep-tible fo Irrigation. The water Is available for the additional area provided pro-vided storage reservoirs are built and that the present large losses along the river be eliminated by straightening straight-ening the river channel and avoidlug ihp natural sinks." oo 1 |
