Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1892-02-05
COL. ALEX. CAMPBELL
WRITES ANOTHER VERY INTERESTING LETTER
FROM AUSTRALIA.
He DssT lies Some Immense Irrigation Schemes
and Their Worth-A Red Hot Christmas.
Wednesdays Always Halt-HoEdays,
An Old Steamboat
ADELAIDE, SOUTH AUSTRALIA, ,
December 2snd, 1891. (

YOUR readers will pardon me.
In my last letter ! promised TO give
You report OF the greatest irrigation
scheme in this Southern Hemisphere.
On the 9th of November, in company OF
some friends, we left Adelaide by rail
for Morgan, a point on the Murray
river lO5 miles distant. There we found
The steamboat Pearl, on which we took
passage for Mildura, some four hun
dred or more miles up the river The
Chaffey Brothers are Canadians bv
birth. but for some years they worked
irrigation schemes in Southern Caiifor-
MIA Some five or six years ago they
came 70 Australia and bought, and in
part cot a grant OF $50, 900 acres Of land
from South Australia, and a like amount
from the Government of Victoria. The
body Of land in Australia is located at
Remark, and that in Victoria at Nal
dura-both tracts fronting on the Muir
raw river. They are q little over two
hundred miles apart.
Machinery Of the latest improved
kind and very large has been placed in
pOsitiOn for pumping. All the ma
Chinery was imported from England.
Water for use in the low water season
is pumped into reservoirs called Billa-
bOugsn in this country. They are,
however, nothing more than bayOus or
IagOOnS near the river, such as we have
In the States The land devoted TO this
grand Irrigation scheme is comparative
ly level and q large section has been
cleared at considerable expense. The
land IS fertile when you get water on IL,
and all kinds OF fruits and vegetables
grow 90 perfection. 10 is q pleasant
sight 10 see on this apparently arid sur
face, long rows of orange, lemons,
apricot, cherry, peach, ounce, cur
rents, gOOseberrieS aud vegetables
OF all kinds growing luxuriautly. 10 is
the intention Of the Chatfey Brothers
10 erect large canning establishments
az Remark and NiIdura. A good
market can be found i'm the colonies for
all the fruits they can produce for
q few years TO come, and any surplus
will find ready market In England,
where it can be transported at small
cost. Although these irrigation Colo
MES were only commenced some four
years ago, there is now az Remark some
six hundred inhabitants aud at Mildura
something over four thousand. Both
towns are well built and evidence of re-
inement and luxury are TO be seen. A
large hotel or coffee palace has been
erected sc Mildura and is filed 20 its
utmost capacity with visitors from
England and elsewhere. Carriages and
coachmen are kept by the company
10 convey visitors free all over the
grounds, who wish 70 see for themselves
the Improvements and working Of this
large tract Of country. The two tracts
embrace about forty miles square. The
settlers az Remark and Mildura are OF
the best type, many families coming out
from England TO engage in this fruit
growing business. When the water Is
laid on the land, the company sell il for
500 per acre-say one hundred dollars
ia our money. The production Of fruit
is fabulous and sometimes one crop viii
pay the whole cost OF the land. Now
that such a tide of emigration has set
in from Great Britain 10 will be but a
few years till both tracts Of country are
fully occupied and vast amount or
splendid fruit produced. Remark, In
ny opinion, is the best situated, al
though Mildura has vastly exceeded it
in population. The Darling river pOurs
into the Murray some twenty miles
above Remark, and as the river is
muddy, the silt or mud deposited on tue
land will be q constant tertll-
izer, and the lands will not
exhaust as the will az Mil
dura where the river water is compare.
lively clear. Then Remark is nearer
market and centres Of population. The
Murray, the only river of any magEI-
tude in Australia, is navigate ABOUT
fifteen hundred miles from the sea. The
river is about the size and width or
Red river and its banks very much the
same. though they do not cave. Inc
river was OverllOwiug its banks at many
points during our trip, and the water
running among the timber, reminded
me very much OF Red river. The coun-
try is very lonely, and the river crook
ed as a rams hOrnS-a few residences
ON the banks and some very large sheep
stations-on several OF these stations
100. 600 TO 10000 sheep are Shorn an
nuslly. Some forty thousand bales OF
WOO. averaging between three and -FOUR
hundred pounds, comes down Ihe VI
ray annually.
me steamboat Pearl, i'm which we
made the "trip, is undoubtedly the only
steamboat i'm the world at this date CON
structed as she Is. Fulton in his hrSt
ATTEMPT i'm the application Of steam GER
tainlv did not build such uondeScrlPt
vessel. The fare was good enough ana
state rooms comfortable, but Such
miserably constructed steamboat i
never saw. The machinery and boilers
we're ND I'm front aud everything was SO
hot Won could not find place where
Won could remain long with comfort.
ASH was guest of the steamer c0uIu
not fulIy express my opinion, although
the Cautain, or skipper, as they caII
csntaips here, asked me what l thought
of his Yankee steamer / remarked
that had never seen one Ike her' anu
would be better able 10 Judge alter
7 saw her move up the river.
most heartily wished my old friends
~a5tains feathers and Campbell, OF the
Natcbez and Lee, were with me TO see
mis- fearfully aud wonderfully con-
structed boati Il was the second trip
inc boat was about 70 make, ana LeI
CaDtain was quite proud OF her. her
bTiIders never could have seen an ONO
or Mississippi river steamer cue va
built at Mildura, on the Dan rs Oh tue
Murray. and her machinery brought out
from England. / am also Satisheu Jhe
DaoDIe in England who built the ma
cbi6ery never saw an Ohio river OoaI-
This steamer illustrated clearly the ne
cessity for people Of this day ana gen
Grafton seeing the latest improvement,
in nm mechanical works, This Htt."
.,,a,..o,- .bat ,vould not carry one nun