IRRIGATION IN AMERICA.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 623, 28 September 1909, Page 5

IRRIGATION IN AMERICA.

■'. : : PIERCING'.; A MOUNTAIN.,'. •/. ' (By TclcftroDli.- -Prefls Ajißoclntlun.-Gnprrlchii ' / • ■ '.''"■. London, September 201 President. Taft, at Montrose, in Colorado, opened tho Gunnison tunnel, which was cut , six ■ miles through the mountain, in order to' convey water to irrigate Uncompahsro'Valley. , . ■ A hundred and fifty thousand acres will bo made iivailablq for. fruit culturb by the work,' which cost four- million dollars .(JE80O,O0O). GREAT UNDERTAKINGS: PRICES AND SPECULATION. '; ■ • ''• r A -t , 3?0I t . of iP i, ! eot - or F -H.-Newell, of the Ur. led States Reclamation Service,-shows that there are:in process of development lrripation projects involving 3,150,250 acres. Tho-largest' '.single.irrigation enterprise in course ■ ofi constructioirm point of acreage/is that of tho North Biv«r, in Nebraska and Wyoming, comprising 400,000 acres; a close second is thoFayette : Boise prnjeot of Idaho, 1 consist-: ing_ of .372,000 acres. Of them all, however, nono is more interesting than the. Salt Rivei Proposal in' Arizona. This great task, which Is to 06 completed in 1910, involves the , con. .strnction of a dam 28ift.: high, and the- formation of. a reservoir 25 siiuare miles in extent; the: dam will' require 240,000 barrels of oement,' In Coloratto tho TJnconipahgr* project where tb.o' tunnel six miles long has just been opened, is estimated to render fertile 160,000 acres. ■.■:•■■ ■•■. -' ■,'.;' . ■'.'■:■-■■: : • -; ,"■ Irrigatod lands- in the United -States bring prices which range from £10 to- £SO, for unimproved lands per acre, to JC4OO an acre for improved favmsi tho last-named price being secured in Eastern- Washinston fof .. fruitcrowing. ■: Tho inoreasing demand iii: arid lands for. irrigation purposes, and the certainty of their eventually, becoming- an "object for speculation, when they are, most needed, have moved' Commissioner - Aennett, of-tho General liand-..OfEcc,:.to .urge tho '< withdrawal from settlement of lands that .ultimately-arc likely to be reclaimed. .■■:' ; ;'• >\;, ■- ;•■■ 1....', . ..-;.. "