Omaha daily bee., 1897-01-23

mcnt. Il FroRoses to construct canal
| twenty-nverl miles long which Will irrigato
$4,000 acres OF land. and will eNpend up
ward OF 100000 in the work. The company
viii send colonists from ohio. Indiana and
Illinois to settle upon the land as soon as
| 1t is prepared for cultivation. The survey OF
the h. d VI. railway extension into the Big
Horn Basin crosses the tract selected by this
company.
BuEF&Lo BILLS CANAL.
The Cody canal is the largest enterprise
In Wyoming contemplated under the act.
! The entire Cody canal project embraces 100,
600 acres of land In Big Horn county which
Is to be watered by canals taken from the
Shoshone river, The application which has
been made and allowed embraces 26.00O acres
of land on the south side of the river. Upon
the completion of the irrigation works re-
claiming this body further applications will
be made for "a 900 acres of land on the south
side Of the river, and 100000 acres on the
north side. To complete the entire enter
prise will require an expenditure Of $750,00O.
During the present season the company has
completed its canal head-gates and built
fifteen miles of canal thirty-siX feet in
width and carrying four feet of water. Up
wards of 100000 has been expended on this
work, which has been performed with view
OF making extensions to the other large
bodies of land which the company intends
reclaiming. During the season 500 acres
have been planted and cultivated, the town
of Cody has been established, preparations
made for the erection of Touring mills and
saw mills and for other improvements. The
active work of colonization will be COM
menced early during the coming season and
an experienced land agent has been ap-
pointed to take charge OF this branch of the
work. The Cody Canal company will hold
meeting in January to determine whether
or not to prosecute the work of reclaiming
the 100000 acres on the north side of the
Shoshone river during the year 1897. The
Cody Canal company is composed OF Omaha
and New York capitalists, the head of the
company being Hon. William f. Cody, better
known as Buffalo Bill"
The experience of the state during the year
under the act shows that, in spite of dis
couraging delays, over 100000 acres have
been selected and practical steps taken by
reliable and responsible companies to irri-
gate and reclaim these lands All of the
companies stand ready to continue the work
commenced and carry it to completion during
the coming year. 1t remains to be seen
whether colonsts can be secured to settle
upon these lands and make successful the
enterprises into which so much capital will
have been placed and thus justify the ex-
pectations of the trainers of the act and of
the state officials who are endeavoring to
make 1t a success.
State Engineer Mead, in a recent address
before the American Society of Irrigation
Engineers sums up his opinion of the law
in the following words:
THE superiority of this law to any pre-
existing statute is unquestloned. 1t requires
both settlement and reclamation of land. 1t
tends to secure the building of better works
and insures their sale to settlers on reason
able terms. 1t protects canal companies
against controversies with farmers, because
the state fixes the selling price of the prop
erty before work begins, and only sells the
land to settlers willing to pay this. 1t pro-
tects the public against speculative owner
shin of either land ONLY actual
cultivators can afford to cultivate these
lands, since each owner must help to pay
for the operation and maintenance of the
canal which provides water, whether he uses
his land or not. 1t is too early to forecast
what is to come of this act. In Wyoming
II has secured the construction of the second
largest canal in the state, and the largest
undertaking in the past ten years The pro-
jects inaugurated since its passage would
have slumbered indefinitely under the pub
lie land laws, and no one thinks of building
works of any magnitude, except under its