The San Juan islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1898-1914, 1904-09-03
OFFICIAL REPORT Is FILED AT
WASHINGTON.
Over Three Million Acres Will Re
Reclaimed III An Adequate Wat
er supply Can BE Obtained.
Estimated Cost Is Twenty.Six
Millions.

kuStOu Is tuo ldTRost Single 6Cnem6 Tor
the reclamation of arid lands anywhere
in the world. The area which it il
proposed to reclaim is nearly as large
as the state of Connecticut, and il re-
duced to state Of cultivation would
annually produce from twenty to forty
million bushels of wheat. Lands stu
sted on the lower levels ell around
this great tract are garden spots of
productiveness; but, barring the sim
gle element of moisture, the conditions
necessary to fertility are the same.
T. A. Noble, the government engi-
neer who has been making an expert
examination of the project, has made
his report to the agricultural depart
melt, and it will be published in a
few weeks. The question of practica-
bility is one of the most serious that
the irrigation experts have yet encoun-
tered, and on this point Mr.. Noble says
that the scheme, even under the most
favorable conditions, will be one of
great magnitude, as the quantity of
water to be handled will be exception
ally large; "but," he adds, "the to.
in diverting this water throw more or
less doubt on the ultimate feasibility
of this project. The irrigation of this
large body of land is of such great i'm
portancs to the state that every posi-
BILE means to a successful result should
be thoroughly Investigated"
The lowest portion of the Big Bend
area is at the junction of Snake and
Columbia rivers, and is $50 feet above
sea level. From this point toward the
north and east the land rises in series
of benches to an elevation of 1000 to
2,700 feet. The upper portion is roll
ing prairie now wholly taken up and
cultivated for raising wheat From
the point where the Spokane river joins
the Columbia river in the northern
portion of the Big Bend country, the
Columbia river makes big bend to-
ward the west and south for distance
of 270 miles, leaving, with the excep-
| ton of the Grand Coulee, an unbroken
ridge from 300 to 600 feet above any
adequate source of water supply. This
ridge is from 80 to 90 miles wide.
Covers 100000 Acres.
Mr.. Noble estimates that the portion
of the irrigable area which IL below
the level of 100 feet and which is
not profitable for cultivation without
| irrigation, covers 3, 400 900 acres. A
large portion of this area, he says, is
either so rocky or 80 isolated that it Is
not suita BILE for cultivation. 1t is be-
lieved that two. thirds of the land can
DO irrigated il sufficient water can be
brought into the district at an eleva-
ton of over ZOO feet.
The main sources Of water supply
are Crab creek and Palouse river, run
ming through the land, and the Spo-
kane and Pend d'Orielle rivers. The
former two are not of much account
except in their own immediate vicin-
tiles.
Increase Spokane's Flow.
The Spokane river, Mr.. Noble re-
marks, is separated from the irritable
area by great basaltic ridge. The
Pend d'Orielle river, Mr.. Noble says.
flowing from Lake Pend d Oreille, ele-
walton 2,O6I feet, an Priest river, flow
ing from Priest lake, elevation 2,439
feet, can be diverted into Spokane
river to increase the flow of the Spo-
kane in case there should not be
enough water TO irirgate all the land
under the Big Bend project.
The chief difficulty in connection
with the Big Bend project, Mr.. Noble
says by way Of summing up, is the
fact that between the only adequate
source OF water supply and the land to
be irrigated is the high basaltic ridge
already referred to. Two lines OF in
vestigation have been followed-one to
determine the feasibility of condcuct-
ing the water from the Spokane river
down the valley of the Spokane and
Columbia rivers and through the
Grand Coulee, and the other to find
some location in the basaltic ridge
where tunnel of reasonable length
would divert the water to the irrigable
lands.
Concluding, Mr.. Noble says that as
result Of the more recent reconnais-
sance of the territory between the Spo-
kane river and the arid lands OF the
Big Bend area, two routes have been
found for carrying the waters OF this
stream on to the Big Bend area. The
estimated cost of the diversion and
storage works necessary for the distrio-
ution of the water on the various irri-
gable areas, is see, 900, 900.
Until the surveys are completed no
conclusive statement can be made as
to the cost per acre or feasibility. 1t
is hardly possible, however, judging
from Mr.. Mobiles report, that the cost
for each acre will be- less than gao