, 1884-05-29
BIG ENTERPRISE.
Which Will Reclaim Thousands of
Acres of Land.
Irrigation Being Carried on in a
Wholesale Fashion.
A Ditch That Will be Sixty Miles in
Length.

Next to stock raising, the industry of
the greatest magnitude now being pushed
forward in Wyoming, and one from which
incalculable benefits will result, is that of
irrigation. One after another neighbor-
ing states and territories have expert
mented in this line, until to-day the sue
cess of their endeavOrs astonish even their
most sanguine supporters. Wyoming's
soil can compare favorably with any in the
world for agricultural purposes, with the
application of the necessary amount of
moisture. While this has long been
known, it has only been within the last
few years that steps have been taken to
render Wyoming an agricultural as well as
a stock raising country. But since the
start has been made, this enterprise is rap
idly increasing in magnitude until its ac-
complishments bid fair to rival those gifts
older neighbors.
The largest undertaking of this kind
now being %prospected in the territory, is
that under the auspices of the Wyoming
Development company, whose place of
operations is in the northern part O Lara-
ME county, and in the country watered by
the Sabille. This plan of development
consists Of a ditch which will reclaim co.
600 acres of land which are now onlyft for
grazing purposes. The soil of the large
tract to be reclaimed is a dark loan and
only requires water to make it of Sufficient
fertility for all agricultural purposes. This
ditch, which was commenced last fall,
taps the Big Laramie river in the foot
hills of the Laramie mountains and is of
no small proportions, being twenty-five
feet wide on its bottom. After leaving
the Laramie it passes through a tunnel
three-quarters of a mile long which has
been e~xcavated through the almost solid
rock of one of Laramie's towering hills,
and continues its course TO the Blue Grass
creek, into which it empties. Here the
natural channel of the Blue Grass is
utilized and composes the ditch for a dis
lance of fifteen miles to its mouth, where
it empties into the Sabille. Using the
channel of this latter stream for a dis
lance of one and a half miles, a dam is
erected across it and from this point the
ditch proper again commences and winds
its course over hills and through valleys of
as fine a stretch of country as can be
found in Wyoming. The exact termina-
ton of the ditch has not been yet fully
decided upon but it will not be less than
fifty miles long and will eventually empty
into the Laramie river. To carry out this
immense undertaking requires a great
number of employees, and the point of
activity. About four hundred men and
several hundred mules are now engaged
in the enterprise under the direction of
the contractor, Mr.. W. c. Bradbury.
Three or four camps are established,
where the workmen live in tents-some of
them having with them their families.
These camps are regularly laid out in
streets and surrounded as they are with
numbers of wagons, mules, horses, etc.
make an old soldier think of war
times To feed this large number of
men provisions are freighted from Chey-
enne while beef is procured throughout
the adjoining country. A beef and a
half Il day is about the average consump-
ton, not to speak of bacon, ham, and
other eatablcs. The force of workmen is
being rapidly increased, as it is the ihten-
ton of the contractor to have the ditch
completed By winter. The heaviest part
of the work is now finished and the re-
naming distance will be rapidly covered.
The cost of the undertaking will not fall
short of a half million dollars, of which
the tunnel will cost one-fourth.