Omaha daily bee., 1884-06-05

pass Irom puDllc TO private cOnITol' Inc
Union Pacific railroad company
has already disposed Of thou
sands of acres Of this land in
Wyoming for range purposes. The COM
pany has made n wise rule in refusing TO
sell to any one individual or association
exclusive water rights. A purchaser can
secure land only on one side of q stream,
which prevents a monopoly of the most
essential element of the business.
| With actual ownership in land will
come more advanced methods for the
care and protection of stock. Winter
feeding with sheltar must be provided.
The annual saving in young and old
stock, the prevention of loss through
cold, hunger and thirst during severe
winters, would soon repay the extra cost
of securing hay and construction of sheds.
1t would Danish the annual anxiety as to
winter losses, improve the quality of beef
and bring the business down to a settled
basis.
The reclamation of the arid regions of
Wyoming and Colorado, which has been
noted from time to time in THE BEE, is
one Of the most important public
works ever undertaken by private
enterprise. Irrigation has already
proved an unqualified success in
Utah, Montana, and in some parts
of Colorado. Though q very heavy
item of expense in farm management
the certainty of a crop is beyond the va
carries of mountain weather. Gone of
the largest undertakings of this kind" "
says the Cheyenne Leader, ''is that now
being projected under the auspices of the
Wyoming d~epelopment company whose
place of operations in the Northern parts
Laramie county and the country
watered by the Sabille. This plan
of development consists OF a ditch
which will reclaim 60, 900 acres of land
which are now unfit for grazing purposes
The soil of the large tract reclaimed is a
dark loan, and only requires water to
make it of sufficient fertility for agricul-
tural purposes. This ditch which was
commenced last fall, taps the Big Lara
mic river in the foot hills of the Laramie
mountains, and is of no small proportion,
being twenty-five feet wide on its bot
tom. After leaving the Laramie it passes
through a tunnel three quarters of a mile
long which has been excavated 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
| |la p1,a Graaa 10 pfi1iual and
composes the ditch for a distance
of fifteen miles to the mouth, where
it empties into the Sabille. Using the
channel of this latter stream for a dis
lance o 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
be found in Wyoming. The exact termi-
nation of the ditch has not yet been fully
decided upon but it will not be less than
fifty miles long and will eventually empty
into Laramie river. About four hundred
men and several hundred mules are now
engaged in the enterprise. The force OF
workmen is being rapidly increased, as it
is the intention of the contractor to have
the ditch completed by winter. The
heaviest part of the work is now finished
and the remaining distance will be rapid
ly covered. The cost of the undertaking
will not fall short of a half million dollars
of which the tunnel will cost %one-fourth.'
The surveyors of the Union Pacific
have completed the survey of a line o
railroad from Valparaiso to Red Cloud
in Webster county. The line is said to b.
the best In some respects ever %surveyedil
the west. Besides passing through
rich and fertile section of the state tn,
grade is unusually light. Following in
structions from headquarters the ligh
grade was obtained by very careful sur
YES of the route, which is a pretty goot
indication that the Union Pacific intend
to tap that part of that state. The Rec
Cloud Chief, which has closely watched
the surveyors, concludes that the Uniol
Pacific folks are desirous of e~ncroachinl
upon the territory:.of the B. 81 NJ, ant
for that reason propose to pay them bacl
in their own coin for building into thei
their territory as they have frequentl,
done of late. This being cue of the bes
B. & M. towns in southern Nebraska, TIL
U. P. have, we believe, concluded t.
build a road to Red Cloud from Valpa
raiso that would damage the B. & M. to
great s%sextent In many ways, making
much shorter route for one thing, ant
probably cut freight rates down consider
able, a consumationdevoutly to be wished
for. The future prospe cts for Red Cloue
seem to be good, and if the Burr Oal
road should also be extended TO Rec
Cloud, and on to Kearney, as it will M
doubt, should the U.P. put in their con.
%templated road from Omaha, Red Clout
is certainly destined to be a city of n,
little Importance.
A few weeks ago several well know
NebraskanS, residents of Crete an,
Omaha, quietly organized a land and cat
tie company, filed their incorporation
papers and went to work without any