The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1895-03-16

day, bringing with him official reports
from the general manager, chief en-
gineer and other officials of the COM
pany for presentation to the local
members Of the board of directors.
These statements make a splendid
showing and convey the encouraging
information that the great irrigation
enterprise. inaugurated and being
carried out by the company, is rapidly
assuming the splendid proportions in
tended by the promoters and organic
ers OF the company, whose operations
are confined to the Snake valley, in the
western part of the county of Willard.
Within the next few weeks the reser-
voir and part of the canal system will
be completed and ready for the de-
livery Of water for irrigation purposes
to the settlers who have taken ad-
vantage of the opportunities open be-
fore them and made selections of land
under the systems of the company.
This enterprise represents the invest
ment OF large sum of money and the
start has but been made upon the
many propositions adopted by the
board of directors, for it is intended to
install in the near future power and
manufacturing plants, business insti-
/ tut1ons, schools and other necessary
adjuncts to a successful and thriving
community. Every condition is favor
able for the Inauguration of these
enterprises and the members of the
company are farsighted enough to
realize the Importance of an early
move.
Snake valley is situated in the west
ern part of Willard county between
the Snake range on the west and the
Confusion range on the east. It is a
1 hp9ntifn1 about
/ fifteen miles wide by fifty miles long.
/ The climate is very desirable, being
neither too hot in summer nor dis
( agreeably cold in the winter. The tips
of the lofty mountains on the west are
covered with perpetual SHOWS, yet
there is comparatively little snow in
the valley in the winter, consequently
the wagon roads are excellent during
the entire year. Up TO the present
time the water for irrigation purposes
has been entirely insufficient, owing to
the fact that there has been no means
of saving the great flow from the
mountains, which is unceasing dur
ing the entire year. In 1892 steps were
taken to secure a natural reservoir
site located at the south end of the
valley and in the year following a
company was formed by some of the
business men of Utah, being dncor-
porated under the. laws of the terri
small scale shortly after the organi-
cation of the company but in the early
part OF 1894 a number of well known
eastern capitalists saw into the future
far enough to grasp the importance of
the enterprise and invested some of
their idle holdings in the stock of the
company and work began in very
earnest. Today the Snake Valley Land
and Water company has practically
completed its reservoir which has a
capacity sufficient to furnish water
for the reclamation of some
according to estimates made by
civil and hydraulic engineers. The
reservoir site is an ideal one, being
surrounded with high, precipitous
mountains, and the water being held
at depth of from 20 to As feet, behind
a dam 200 feet wide and IS feet in
height, constructed Of earth and stone,
with a masonry facing. On account of
the great depth the evaporation and
percolation will be very meagre.
The valley has a gentle slope to the
north, just sufficient to make irrigation
easy. The soil is rich, deep and highly
productive, being now covered with
white sage, clover sage and ordinary
Sagebrush, with here and there a rab-
bit-brush or grease-wood. There are
several farms in the valley that have
been titled for twenty years without
the aid of fertilizing agents, although
now producing as heavy and fine crops
as when first cultivated. 1t is a dem
onstrated fact that all kinds of cereals,
fruits and vegetables can be easily
produced in Snake valley with great
profit, as the land is highly produc-
tive, there being no minerals in the
soil. 1t might be truthfully said that
there is not an acre of bad land in the
entire valley. Timber is found in great
abundance both for fuel and saving
In the Jeff Davis range, only a few
miles distant from the townsite re-
Gently laid out, are found large tracts
of timber lands with millions of feet
of red pine, balsam, fir and other val
liable saw timber. Although these
mountains are high they are easy of
access.
Speaking of the future prospects of
the valley, President Melville last
evening said: 1--WE have market for
all we can produce, as we are only
twenty-five miles from Osceola, the
great gold camp of eastern Nevada.
Within a radius of fifty miles there
are from twenty-five to fifty good
mines, employing men and teams, and
this great district will create a good
market for our products for a century
to come. There is a good summer and
winter range for stock and sheep in
close proximity to the base of opera
tons of the Snake Valley Land and
Water company. Already settlers are
fiocking in and several large colonies
will arrive at the townsite within the
next three weeks BY the time the
people are ready for the water the
company will be in a position to fur
nish ample for all needs
A force of workmen is now engaged
in finishing up the dam of the reser-
voir by riprapping it, while another
with teams is making rapid progress
with the construction of the four
miles of canal on the west side of the
valley, which will be finished up this
spring. Experts who have made
careful examination of the reservoir
and dam of the company have no hest
fancy in pronouncing them the most
modern in the west. There are no
breaks in the dam, the discharge being
through 221-foot tunnel driven
through the solid rock. This tunnel
was completed at great expense and is
a splendid piece of workmanship. 1t is
of sufficient height to enable a 6-foot
man to walk through without STOPPING
and will discharge directly into the
canals.
The engineering corps CT the COM
pany has recently finished the laying
out of the townsite of Westfall. which
is hereafter to be the headquarters of
the company and form the hub of one
of the greatest irrigation enterprises
in the west. The town laid out with
wide streets and blocks $50 feet square.
All OF the streets take the various
points of the compass and the present
townsite is half mile square.
General Mana ger Holloway, of the
company, has been in Texas for sew
IL