The silver blade. (Rathdrum, Idaho) 1895-1903, 1900-02-10
WANT ASSURANCE
Land Owners at Mass Meeting DoaBttaa Dat
Land can - Irrigated

! Win ClClZenS OF hatnQruM anu
farmers from the prairie on Tuesday
evening, the date set for the riaass-
meeting called to meet M. d. G.
Corbin and other members OF the
Spokane Valley Irrigating Company.
Mr.. Colbin was introduced by Dr..
Wenz. There was NO formal speech
making. The matter of irflgating
the prairie was talked over Informally,
Mr.. 0orbin doing most OF the talking
IN explaining the TERMS Ut contracts
Which had been previously drawn Up
and presented to the land owners by
the committee. One contract pro-
vided Tor wholly monetary consldera-
tiun, while the other contained an
agreement to give half Of the land
placed under the ditch. Roth con-
tracts provided FOR a rental fee for
the maintenance Of the ditch.
At the conclusion OF the explana-
tlon Of the contracts, there was call
for the Views Ut the farmers present.
Mr.. s. D. L. Ross of Post Falls, sald
he had had SOME experience In irriga-
tioa in Montana, from which he was
uf the opinion that the Rathdfum
prairie could not be irrigated. While
much OF the land In Montana was
very gtavelly, there was yet clay sub.
soil lying Q or 3 feet below the surface
which caught the water, and in his
opinion, enabling the irrigation OF
this class OF land. There was no SUBJ
soil on Rathdrum prairiei nothing but
loose gravel for a. depth of several
hundred feet, through which the
water would be lost.
Mr.. A. w. Post was also OF the
opinion that the prairie could not be-
Irrigated because OF the lonseness Of
the gravel subs0il. He detailed his
attempts at irrigating with small ir-
rigating ditch on his land in the out
skirts of town. While some portions
Of it could be irrigated, large part
could not be. The water would run
but short distance before sinking.
Messrs. Borthwick and Crenshaw
also feared the prairie could not be
successfully irrigated. Mr.. Berth
wick said that while is cellar ii filled
with water would, perhaps, hold it,
yet, If one boulder was taken from the
bottom the water would run out
through the hole inside of two hours.
A tale was also told of we'll having
been sunk within 20 feet OF the water
of Occur d'Alene lake. No water had
been found. A cut was then made
and the waters OF the lake turned into
the we'll, which ran right through the
bottom without filling the we'll to the
depth Of foot.
i Rev. r. J. Purcell said he was yer,
much interested In the irrigation OIL
the prairie. He was firmly Of the
opinion that the prairie could be ir
riyated. His remarks were listened
to attentively because of the state.
ment that he had personal knowledge
of the attempt to irrigate the lan(
lower down the valley from the dltci
, taken out of Liberty lake. That wa
an enterprise Of the same company
, He was present when the water wa
first turned into this Liberty lax
, ditch. It had taken hut two hours
for the water to run through its entir
length. Some ri his Pensioners .ha(
used the water for irrigation. Tn
:. water had reached the land too lat
in the season, but the crops upol
which it had been used, showed
large yield over those which had nc
been watered. In fact one large Gel
OF grain which had not been irrigate
was a failure and had not been cut
y That which had been watered yielde
= a fair crop. He was of the oplniO
that the soil of the land laying unde
the Liberty lake ditch was much moi
gravelly than that on the Rathdrul
= prairie. 1t did not appear to c0ntai
l. nearly so much loan. He malntaine
n that the Liberty lake ditch was SUI
II cess and he believed the ditch fro
s. Fish lake would be also.
: The sense of the meeting was that
= the farmers could be assured that tt
- land could be irrigated there would
T. no difficulty about signing the CO.
x tracts presented by the company.
= was admitted that the water could
~ delivered npon the land by a dit
d. carrying a large volume of water; b
p it was maintained that when til
er water was placed in small later
bitches to be spread over the land,