The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1904-01-10
UTAH LAKE PLAN
Is FOUND CHEAP
Official Report Shows Acre Cost
Remarkably Small.
up TO THE Land OWNERS
THEY HAVE A CHANCE TO ADD
IMMENSELY TO VALUES.

According 20 the investiga ton Of
Prof. George L. Swendsen Of the United
States geological survey, whose re-
port reached Prof. T. H. Newell. chief
of the bureau, yesterday. the Etah lake
reservoir proposition is one Of the
cheapest and most attractive proposed
under the new irrigation law. Al
though the official figures are not given
out. IL is understood that the estimated
total cost OF retaining or furnishing
adequate water supply to 10000 acres
10 be benefited by this PROPOSE ton Is
less than 81. coo .000 The 1Owesl esti-
mate OF the added value of the lands
Is $3.50, 900. Men who are conservative
declare that the carrying out Of the
contemplated plan should add about
S5,000, goo 10 the wealth of the farmers
and other land owners in the region af-
feeted by the changes.
The future Of the undertaking de-
pends now almost entirely ON the at
titude of the present owners Of the
land that would be benefited. Unlike
most Of the propositions under con-
eideration By the government, the land
affected is nearly all under private ow-
nership. Scarcely any has ample wa
ter. The giving Of a full supply Of wa
ter during the season il ia needed would
increase the value of the land already
insuhicientIy irrigated S25 to $50 an
acre. There is about $4,000 acres of this
land.
Value Of the Land.
Well irrigated farming land around
Utah lake is held to be worth an aver
age of 800 an acre. t-nere Is 10000
acres now entirely arid and practically
worthless except for grazing purposes
This land would be made valuable for
farming and worth at least $50 an acre
more and probably double that amount.
This does not take into consideration
the land which is now under water,
but which would be arabic il the area
Of the lake should be reduced az
planned As the value of this Is so
intangible, 1t is not taken up IN de-
tail in the official report. but It Is be-
Heved by these familiar with the
situation that this land alone would
be worth the original cost Of the i'm
provement.
Three different plans are recommended
by Prof. Swendsen rs feasible. All con-
template the construction OF the area
OF the lakes surface, and the opening
Of a lower outlet, enabling the utiliZ-
alton Of the water TO q much lower
level than at present.
BY reducing the area as planned, the
evaporation, which is now the princi-
pal loss. would be cur down more than
one-half. Indeed more than twice the
present area irrigated could be sup
Piled with an ample amount of water
This could be done with only the pres
ent inflow.
Consume Present Supply.
For the present no diversion of other
waters. such as those OF the Straw
berry. is recommended. Such a step
might be made in the future, but the
conserving OF the present supply and
it's Use UP to the possibilities is held
TO be sufficient for the nonce. The
present basin has an area OF 1900
square miles, with an annual rainfall
of twelve inches on the average.
The surroundings of the lake and
the survey Of It's bottom show that the
work Of deepening and constructing the
area can be accomplished entirely by
hydraulic or suction dredges and by
steam shOvels. The suction dredges can
handle $4,000 TO 100000 cubic yards OF
earth a day at a cost Of 10 8 cents a
yard, or sometimes even less. This
makes the problem comparatively sim
pie.
The next steD which will probably
be taken by the state commission on
arid land reclamation viii be to explain
the situation to the farmers and Sc
cure their cooperation. They must
pay back to the government, without
Interest, the amount expended to i'm
prove their lands. AS they are given
ten years to do this and viii receive
two or three times the money back in
increased revenue and valuation little
difficulty is expected along this line as
the land owners see the situation
clearly