Heppner gazette. [volume] (Heppner, Morrow County, Or.) 1892-1912, 1903-03-05
FIRST irrigation WORK
Government Selects Tract on
Butter Greek.
SURVEY NOW UNDER WAY
Tract Containing 100000 Acres
has been Withdrawn Ex-
cePt for III H,mesteaders.

Washington, Feb. 27.-Representative
Moody has secured the withdraw from
entry, save under the homestead law, of
200, 900 acres lying along Butter Greek,
in UmatiIla and Morrow Counties in
| Eastern Oregon, with a view to its
| reclamation, under the National irriga
tion act, passed last session. I'm
mediatelv on Mr.. Moody's return to
Washington, at the beginning of the
present session, be had an expert irliga
ton engineer directed through the
Geological Survey to examine the arid
lands along the south hank of the Colum-
bia from Wal!ula, Wash, to a poin4
near Willows, in Gillian County, Or.
with the view of recaiming, if possible,
stretch Of country along the Columbia
between these two points for from ten
10 Is miles back from the river.
II was hoped thatit might be possible
by building a canal from Snake River,
in the neighborhood OF Riparia, Wash.
not only to reclaim the arid flats around
Wallula, but also the sage plains along
the northern portionsa Of Umatill and
Morrow Counties.
Upon a careful examination the
engineer reported, that, in order to get
water enough out of Snake River TO
cover any considerable portion of the
public lands in these plains, the lengh
of the canal required would necessitate
an expense that would not be warranted
for the limited amount of public lands
there available, as much of this territory
is in private ownership.
The g gineer was then dlrec'e ed to ex-
anime all sections in thet vicinity where
there was any considerable amCrnt Of |
arid public lands and report on the prac |
ticabilty Of recaimlng with the waters |
of the Umatila and tributary streams !
along that spur of the Blue Mountains |
His report on this latter vestigation |
results in the order just issued by the
Secretary Ct the Inte ior, withdrawing
from settlement townships and t north
range ~ east; townships > and north,
range % east; township north, range
% east; townships 8 and north, range
25 and 26, living in the immediate
vicinity OF the town Of Galloway.
1t is the purpose of the Geological Sur
vey to build dam on the Umatilla
River at a point short distance below
Pendleton, and, by ditch approximate
ly 80 miles long, convey the water in
southwesterly direction to the head OF
Butter Creek Valley. On the route the
line of canal passes through several
natural depressIons, which it is proposed
shall, by means OF earth dams. be con-
verted into storage reservoirs. The
limited volume OF water in the river to
some extent. governs the area that can
be reclaimed, but it Is roughly estimated
that the 200, ,00G acres now withdrawn.
which is fertile, but dry, can be readily
made productive at so, o., at the out
,ide, $l2, per acre.
Already J. q. Camp, a department
irrigation expert, has been sent TO the
Tithdrawn lands, upon which there is
very little settlement, and in a few davs
Will be joined by j. w. Ross. Together.
hey will survey the proposed route OF
anal to determine the best location.
md will formulate plans for dammirg