£1,000,000 Water Scheme.

Te Aroha News, Volume XXVII, Issue 4382, 6 March 1909, Page 3

£1,000,000 Water Scheme.

HOW 3,000,000 ACRES IN CANADA ARE BEING IRRIGATED. The wonderful progress which is being made in the vast irrigation scheme undeitaken by the Canadian Pacific Railway Company in Southern Alberta was described the other day by Mr J. S. Dennis, who, after having had charge of the scheme, had just arrived in London. “ The vast area of three million acres is included in the block to be irrigated,” said Mr Dennis. “ The land lies along the main line of the Canadian-Pacific Railway for 150 miles east and west of Calgary, and 20 miles north and south of the line. “ The main canal connected with the Bow River was started in 1905 at a point about two miles below the city of Calgary. It is 10ft. deep, 120 ft. wide at the water line, and 62ft. wide at the bottom. “ This canal delivers the water to a reservoir three miles long, half a mile wide, and 40ft. deep. From this the water is takeh out in three secondary canals, and carried to the different districts which are being irrigated. So far as the work has progressed, there are now 1,100 miles of ditches completed. “ The men engaged on the work number over 1000, in addition lo 200 engineers. Outside the distributing canals there are hundreds of headgates, weirs, and bridges, all of which are being erected and maintained by the railway company. “ The ultimate expenditure on the undertaking is estimated at over £1,000,600.”

Mr Dennis predicted that there would soon be a dense settlement located on the irrigated territory. Last year the Canadian-Pacific Railway had sold 298,000 acres of land in excess of the previous year, while during the last six months of 1908 the company was selling land at the rate of 5000 acres per week.