The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1898-11-17
KANSAS NEWS.
The Big Irrigation Company of
Colorado
Which Was to Tap the Arkan-
sas River Dry
WEST OF KANSAS LINE
Will Turn Its Water Back In
to the River.
Had 5 Artificial Lakes and 2
Long Canals.
WEST OF KANSAS LINE


the water from the Arkansas river that
for a year past it was expected would
be stored away in five reservoirs three
miles above La Junta, Colorado.
It will be remembered that the citI-
zens of Wichita and this city last win
ter solicited subscriptions to begin a
lawsuit testing the right Of Colorado
ranchmen to take the water from the
Arkansas river.
The history of the case Is that the
state land board has declared off the
sale of II, 900 acres of land in the Arkan-
sas valley to the Great Plains Water
company. After several weeks OF ad-
Vertising the board decided that. be-
cause of the strong opposition to the
sale that has developed, it would be
best to call the sale off, at least until
another meeting of the board could be
held and the matter gone over again.
When the irrigation company applied
for the land the entire land board Wis
tied the land, and after returning, de-
cided that the state could do no better
than sell the land, and accordingly it's
sale was advertised at the minimum
price Of $3.50 per acre.
The first advertisement brought forth
many protests, and they have been COM
ing in ever since. 1t has been this pres
sure brought to bear on the board from
the outside that determined them to cali
the sale off until the matter could be
more thoroughly investigated The
board is still of the opinion that the
land is not even worth the minimum
price, but it is not DESTROYS to act
against the public opinion in the mat
ter
A special meeting of the board has
been called for tomorrow afternoon.
when the matter will be, If possible, fin
ally determined. T. G. Henry, who has
been one of the principal DIRECTORS to
the sale of the land, has been invited
to be present, and Platt Rogers, the at
torney for the company, will also be on
70 h ctr -
The meeting will be an open one.
UP to the present time over 81, 600, 900
have been used in developing the
scheme and had the sale of the - 900
acres of land which the company wants
been closed, another large ditch would
be put in. The company has control
of large and valuable reservoirs, ca
pable of irrigating more land than the
bitches at the present time cover. This
system of reservoirs is the only one ca
pable of irrigating the II, 900 acres in
question, and if it is not sold to the
company 1t is the opinion of the land
board that it will never be possible to
reclaim it as the land lies many feet
above the water line Of the Arkansas
river.
The land would be valuable to the
company but the men at the head of the
enterprise realize the fact that it is
worth very little to anybody else, and
rather than pay over $3.50 an acre for
it, will let 1t go and run the water into
Kansas.
The water which the company uses,
and which is stored in five reservoirs,
the Nee Sopah, Nee Gronda, Nee No
she, Nee Skah and King, is taken from
the Arkansas river at a, point three
miles above La Junta and carried a. dis
lance of so miles through the Fort Lyon.
Kicking Bird and Amity canals to the
reservoirs. The five reservoirs are re-
markable for their safety of construc-
ton. They are built in natural de-
pressions and with great engineering
skill. In all the total capacity of these
five artificial lakes is in acre feet 264,-
827.60, and in cubic feet II, 525, 7O2, 94S.
The canals of the system are Fort Ly-
on, Kicking Bird, Satanic, Comanche,
Pawnee, Anity, and Buffalo. These
canals have a combined length of 81
miles and have a total flow of 5,05S
cubic feet per second.
The great system of irrigation would
have reclaimed 100000 acres of land
which could never have been cultivated
without the aid of irrigation furnished
by the company.