The Arizona champion., 1886-04-17
Holbrook Happenings,
AN IRRIGATING SCHEME THAT WILL MAKE AN ARID
 DESERT A GARDEN.
INVASION OF THE TOWN BY SIGHT.
 sEERS FROM KANSAS AND ILLINOIS.
Correspondence of the CHAMPION.

who raises two blades of grass, where but one grew before, is .benefactor to his race. If this be so-and no one will dispute it-the enterprising people of Holbrook are entitled to great credit, for they are engaged in turing what has hitherto appeared to be an arid desert into luxuriant gar den.
 For years it has been known that all along the Little Colorado bottom from around the junction of the Rio PueIco with the Little Colorado for distance or some twenty-five miles there is a rich alluvial soil, capable of producing any agricultural pro- ducts, if only properly irrigated. Through the center of this valley runs tha Little Colorado river, a stream that was never known to be dry, but from its low lying banks, the land on either side rises in very gentle slope to the abrupt barriers on it's northern and southern boundaries. From this formation of the ground 1t can easily be understood that any overflow of the river would only cover compara- lively small area of land on either side of the stream, while its continu- ous low-lying banks and sluggish cur rent have seemed to render irrigation, to any great extent, impossible. There was plenty of water in the valley, but the thirsty land seemed to say to the flowing stream in its midst,
 "Thou art so near and yet so far"
 from the parched surface of this rich soil ready to yield forth the fruits oi the field, if it could only be laved by the water within sight.
 A few years ago Mir. F. NJ. Buck discovered that about two miles east | of Holbrook, immediately below the confluence of the Colorado and the Rio Puerco, the valley narrowed and the river passed over bed of sand. stone rock, rising on either side to a sufficient height to make splendid reservoir or basin, if dam of suffi- cient strength could be built across the river to stem the current. Nature seems to have framed the place to aid mans handiwork in spreading water over the millions of acres of rich soil that stretched away below.
 It is needless here to speak of the diffcultie which surrounded even the commencement of such an enterprise, but a comp pany was incorporated, named the Holbrook Irrigating, Ca, nal, Dam and Bridge Company, with the following gentlemen asincorpora- tors: Messrs. Pedro Montana, A. L. Stivcrs, B. M. Terrett, David Rope and r. M. Buck, and work was begun.
 When l went 10 see 1t the other day in company with the indefatigable secretary of the undertaking, l found the enterprise approaching compile, tion. About eight thousand dollar, have been rlready expended on the dam and canal, and about two thouS ann more will finish the work as far a at present planned, but no doubt { further extension of the system vii be eventually made. Above the dan there IS now a huge lake, which look to the uninitatcd as if II contained water enough to irrigate the valleI ! for thirty miles. From this lake tw, iditches are being made, dive rging tC the northern and southern boHndarie of the valley, where they will rul along under the bluffs on either sid, and be tapped by lateral ditches aun ming down towards the river in tn center of the valley, thus completely irrigating every portion of the land and there IS not one acre of the vas area that IS not ripe for cultivation.
 The present officers of the com pany are: Pedro Montana, president J. M. Higgins, vlcc-piesldent; F. M
 Buck, secretary, and l. T. Luse treasurer. These gentlemen by thei work are conferring upon the countr
 around Holbrook the greatest biessin. that human hands can give to 1t. so by their efforts, what has been hithey , to an arid waste, wall in a few year blossom as a garden, rich with tn . fruits of generous soil, providin , the means of sustenance for hundred of families, who will find happy am r prosperous. homes in this portion ( ? Arizona.
 HoLBRpoK INVADED.
 After the vest bound train ha Dulled ont of. Holbrook near mid