The silver state. [volume] (Unionville, Nev.) 1870-1903, 1902-08-02
PRACTICAL WATER STORAGE
Work Which Is Being Done by LoveIock De-
velopment Company.
(From the Lovelock Tribune

= In another week or two the Lovelock
Land and Development Company will
have completed it's reservoir down the
valley and will be ready to store water
This is an important enterprise that has
been inaugurated by some of our re-
preventative people and it's assured sue
cess means much in the development and
trade of this valley. The work has been
going quietly on for some months al
most unbeknown to some of our readers.
1t is fitting that an undertaking which
must prove such an important factor in
the history of our State should receive
some notice. A representative of the
Tribune the other day rode down the val
ley in company with Superintendent Stok-
er and took a look around the work and
by the courtesy of Secretary Noteware
is enabled to give some figures that will
be Of interest.
This is the first attempt at storing wa
ter in this valley. With one or two small
exceptions in the Sierras it is the first
undertaking of this kind in the State
The undertaking will be watched with in
terest and upon its success will depend
the future of the valley If this company
demonstrates that it is practical to store
water for irrigation purposes on an econ
omical basis then we need not wait for
government aid. And there is no doubt
that the Lovelock Land and Development
Company is on the right track and has
hit upon the sure plan for the reclama-
tion of its large property in the lower
end of the valley.
This company was incorporated Novem-
ber Z. 1900, with a capital stock of fifty
thousand dollars in one dollar shares.
all fully paid up. At that time 1t had
a few thousand acres and though it's
holdings have been vastly increased the
capital stock remains the same How
ever, II is a close corporation and no
stock is to be had. The owners place a
present value of five hundred thousand
dollars on their stock This represents a
total expenditure for land and improve
ments of about ninety thousand dollars.
1t Is handsome increase for an invest
ment OF two years and the property has
by no means reached it's full value. Land
down there some day will easily be worth
forty or fifty dollars an acre.
thousand acres. OF this eight thousand
,acres In patented land. and ten thousand
acres is held under option from the rail-
road company
This land is the low tule bottoms Of
the shores OF the Humboldt lake In the
early days this land was all flooded in
swamp. There have been many plans
for fits reclamation. Some believed that
II was not worth reclaiming, but develop
ment has shown that IT is about the most
fertile land In the State
II was the first plan of the company to
build n dyke and keep the water from
the river from flooding the swamp land
To this end they constructed a long levee
about eight miles running from the lower
end of the Rodgers ranch to the lake
shore This levee was about mile from
the foot hills. and last year In the food
in February the river held by this dyke
was veritable lake.
II was only another step to reason out
that IL the water could thus be dyked off
IL would require only a cross dyke TO
make reservoir. For centuries water
had been stored In the lake all summer.
and there was no reason why 1t could not
be stored a mile or two further up the
valley and made to serve for irrigation.
So this spring the work of building the
first cross levee was begun. 1t has been
a dry year and this has been favorable
to construction. This levee begins near
the headgate OF the tule ditch, the COM
pany's main canal and runs southeast
tn n
sis little over mile In length.
The side levee running up the valley
for a mile and a half has been strength
ened. Two New Era graders belonging
10 the company have been kept going for
some time and the banks are rising rap
idly to the desired height When twenty
twenty or thirty horses are attached to
one of those bly, machines they move a
10, of that loose dirt In a day.
OF course, II depends on the height of
the levee how much water can be stored
The company expects to store at the be-
ginning eighteen hundred acre feet The
average height of the levee will be about
four feet. The water will stand at the
waste gate about eight feet high. The
reservoir covers about eight hundred
acres
The waste gate Is where the skill and
ingenuity OF the builders are found.
Those who have put in dams and head
gates In this loose soil will know how
difficult such an undertaking is. Super
intendent Stoker made a model and his
plan was approved and the work COM
menced 1t is the opinion of everyone
who has seen the work that the waste
gate Is put there to stay.
In its construction about thirty thous-
and feet of lumber has been used and