Tombstone epitaph., 1888-02-25

connection with dams, we tunne led one of the bluffs and have water passage through sufficiently large to carry any freshet that will ever occur. The water is Con1uCted 100 feet away from the dam, consequently there is no danger of any undermining ever taking place. At the head of the tunnel two large gates are placed, for the purpose of lowering at the time when the storage of water commen- ces. They are so well arranged that in case of cloud burst or freshets the rising of the gates will lower this enormous volume of water in sufficient time to pre- vent an overflow.
 Immediately above the canyon is a large valley, embracing some ten or ff- teen hundred acres. The present dam is only 90 feet high and the water storage area is 500 acres, with an average depth of 25 feet. This however is not the capacity of the reservoir. With com paratively little expense it can be doub- led or even tripled. We find that as we fill up the land with water very much less is required, and we expect to see the time when we can irrigate ten to fifteen thousand acres of alfalfa lands with not much more water than is being used now"
 CAPACITY OF THE DAM
 "The present capacity is considered equal to about five thousand acres, but still, as each year passes and these dry plains are irrigated, the valley is filled up with water, and every year less is re- quired. For instance, at one of my camps had to sink fifty feet for water, and within a week after irrigating a tract of land that was half or three quar- ters of mile away, the water rose in that we'll within eight feet of the surface and there it has remained up to this day. This consider one of the most valuable points in the irrigation system. The first water you pour upon your land is to all appearances wasted. That is to say, it requires great deal more water to irri. gate an acre of land than nature ever in. tended. For instance, the first year of my experience put four feet of water on the land. Not knowing what was going on, this was very discouraging to me, and thought should need a stor. age capacity of from twenty to fifty times as much as I had, but when l came to examine the sloughs, and this well, saw it was filling up the whole country, and this very water that thought was going to waste was finally to be great point in in irrigation, especially for alfalfa.
 "The water from this reservoir is con ducted in canal down our main valley which is twenty miles long by about five miles wide, and there it is distributed over the plains. As our business is en- tirely the raising of live stock, particu- : larly cattle, we do very little in grain, though we raise very fine quality oi grain, sufficient for our own use. Our principal aim is to secure hay enough for the feeding of beeves and poor stock dur ing the winter season. Alfalfa is the principal hay we raise. The lands that the Government few years ago would not allow to be surveyed, as they were not considered valuable enough to pay for the expenses of surveying, which can be proven by reference to the govern. ment map or the early days of the sur veys of Nevada, are returning our com pany four tons ot alfalfa to the acre. The value of this alfalfa to us can hardly be estimated, especially in such season as this. was offered SI5 ton for all the hay could spare in the stack, for the purpose of feeding starving cattle. Hay has been shipped from Reno to the ranges at an expense to the stock owners of at least $2o per ton. Its value can be readily understood when it is known that perhaps one ton of hay will pull through season like this three or four animals"
 "What is the extent of your present ranch"
 'We are only in our infancy regarding this line of business; last year was the first year we obtained crop. We have very nearly fifteen hundred acres of land under cultivation, mostly alfalfa. A very small portion of this, however, was cut last year. We cut 2,ooo tons of alfalfa and are feeding it to 1000 head of stock. We shall increase thls amount of hay to about 4,ooo tons this coming season, and each year we will increase the acreage of alfalfa about five hundred acres, and will not stop until we have arrived at the limit of our reservoir"
 "Will this system of caring for stock pay? Is there not too much expense at tached to it?'
 "There was time, under the old sys- :em of carrying on cattle business on the ranges, that they could afford to loose one-half of the stock and still make money, but that day is over The range