Show thousands of acres of land are to be reclaimed r z rano nov june 17 with the opening of tho truckee carson canal below reno today the first ot the irrigation systems constructed by tho government under the reclamation act a new area was opened tor nevada and the entire west 1 the main canal runs from derby past of the truckle river to a colel ten miles above on the carson river a distance of thirty one miles A peculiar feature of the first few miles of the canal Is that earth cm bank mentS are left in their natural condition while abo rock work Is almost invariably cemented this is on account of the tact that government engineer taylor tears percolation more than erosion silt will till the interstices of sand and loam but would be carried through rock where the walls and bottom of the ditch are cemented and this condition prevails for miles the bottom narrows to fen feet on account of the tact that there will be little friction and ret ardal of the waters it is estimated that tho flow will pass as easily through this medium as where the walls are twenty feet apart at the bottom and are composed ot barth one of the chief difficulties that the government engineers will have lo 10 contend with is the wind which carries in front of it and its trail a whirl of sand on a stormy day the desert sand drifts constantly into the ditch so rapidly that it threatens the usefulness of the canal it not cleaned out every few weeks the only remedy that has been found for this evil Is a series of fences to hold back the powdered silica three tunnels are on the line of the ditch in addition to a tunnel spillway these are lined with cement and were difficult of construction on account of squeezing ground A large amount of thorough and searching hydrographic work was done in nevada before and after the passage of the reclamation act this work consisted in measurement of the discharge of the principal streams of the state together with that of their various trib to determine the character and extent of the supply 0 water upon which to base estimates for the work that Is now being carried on drain or waste ditches form an important part of the irrigation system the cost of these together with a concrete diversion dam on tho carson river and other structures will approximate halt a million dollars tho initial irrigation system will DO used to distribute water over about fifty thousand acres of land during the next two years the system will bo extended to cover acres more this will increase the total distributing system to a length of 1200 miles arrangements are now being made to construct a regulating dam at the mouth of lake tahoe As a larger area of land Is brought under irrigation and the demand tor water increases five or six other dams on the river and its tributaries tributa ries will bo constructed and tour reservoirs will bo built on the carson river one of the reservoirs will be eighteen miles in length and will have ft surface area of acres tho entire irrigation system as projected will not be completed for nine or ten years and will cost about nine million dollars after the initial work Is finished and the first section of land Is placed under irrigation the balance of the project will bo carried out with the proceeds of tho sale of government land adjacent to tho ditches and tho gale of water to the settlers who are expected to tako up the land the method of obtaining tho government land in tho newly irrigated area will be simple the charge has been fixed by tho secretary of the interior at a maximum of twenty six dollars an acre this sum will not represent the purchase price to the land but a perpetual title to the watce the land itself will be a homestead applications for the land are now being mado to the land in carson city tha water right of twenty six dollars an acre will be payable in ten equal in stal ments and title will not lapse until two payments have been passed which will give the homesteader the opportunity of passing over a hard year the government will charge no interest on deferred payments but will probably offer an incentive tor prompt settlements the charge of twenty six dollars an acre is set to cover all costs of constructing ting the irrigation system and maintain it for a period of years if it is found that tho charge was set too high the last payments will not be required in any event there will be no additional charge at the conclusion of ten years the plant will be turned over to the water users association that is to bo organized after a plan to be endorsed by the secretary of the interior tho government will continue to hold the title to the sources of supply and will remain in a position to straighten out affairs it mismanagement ever results on the part of the water users association the government is sparing no expense to build the system so that it will need no extensive repairs and for this reason has erected rock and walls where mere earth would have sufficed for a few years the soil of the great carson plain Is of almost unknown depth and was deposited by water courses in ancient days the constituents are varied owing to the many points from which they were brought there are not enough stones in the entire plain to baili the foundation of a house in addition to ease of cultivation and great depth the soil possesses remarkable fertility |