The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1904-02-27

District for the unfavorable condi-
tons of 1902. @....
It was in Decem Der of 1902, be-
fore sufficient quantity of bonds
could be sold to commence the
work of enlargement. A contract
was entered into with Faris & Kesl
to do the work, and, in simple JUS
tice, it should be stated that the
bonds could not have been sold at
that time were it not for the assis-
lance rendered by Mr.. Faris. The
contractors undertook to begin
work early in January but on ac-
count Of the hard freezing weather
were unable to accomplish anything
of consequence in that mouth. In
February they could not do much,
and the result was that they were
unable to complete the work on con-
tract time. nor had they succeed in
enlargening the Phyllis to any ap-
probable extent when the irrigation
season of 1903 opened. Because of
the assistance which Mr.. Faris had
rendered in placing $4,000 of
bonds, the Directors were disposed
to be as lenient as possible with his
firm, and as the work could not, by
any means, be completed an extern
sion of time was granted. Now, it
should be borne in mind that the
only failure made by the manage
ment to secure canal capacity was
for the last season. It should also
be kept in mind that the money de-
rived from the sale of bonds was
yet entirely mad equate to complete
the canals. When the last irriga-
ton season opened, the canals were
practically no larger than they
were in 1901 when the amount of
land to be irrigated was some $500
acres; yet in 1903 the seeded acre
age had grown to upwards of 5000
acres, and now the management
was confronted by the problem of
making the canals carry more than
twice the amount of water they
could hold. Again the Phyllis re-
fused to stretch and twice broke in
two. If there had been no increase
: of acreage, it is possible that the
canal would have remained whole,
but there was an increase which
nobody could prevent, and an hon
est attempt was made to give every
acre of land demanding water its
fair share.
Last fall, in October, further steps
were taken, after great difficulty in
finding a bond purchaser, and il
must be borne in mind that the last
block of bonds would probably no
have been sold in time to do any
work had it not been for the effort:
of w. P. Carter. Contracts were
entered into with Mr.. Carter, Messr:
Bissett, Marsh and Reeser and
Messrs Metcalf and Nichols. I'm
der the terms of the contracts thu
work of these contracts was to b.
completed early in February 1904
and the Faris & Kesl work on sid'
hill of both Phyllis and Caldwell
was to be completed by December
1909. None of the contractors hav'
completed the work on time. There
fore failure to comply strictly will
agreement is not peculiar to Fari:
& Kesl. Now, what should b
done with all those contractors
To undertake proceedings for for
fixture of bonds, would not help t
complete the work, but would pro
baby ruin most of the contractors
They all, with, the possible except
ion of Faris & Kes1, seem to hav
been trying honestly and faithful,
to finish the work on time, and vii
probably all have done in goo
time for the irrigation season. ]
was really hard question whic'
confronted the Directors when the
realized that none of the contractor
would get through on time. Th
Directors probably deemed it wis
Iz.:a..G a~J Hua xxyos11d mr.