The Aberdeen Democrat. (Aberdeen, South Dakota) 1???-1909, 1905-11-17

(By FRED G. HUNTINGTON, e.
The Inauguration of the irrigation
project in the valley of the Belle
FOurche river, north Of the Black
Hills, marks the most important
feature of the states future develop
ment. 1t is difficult to enter into a
discussion of the possibilities this
state affords, west of the Missouri
river, withoutletting ones enthusiasm
force out a statement of the full truth
and, as a result, getting a reputation
for being too imaginative. In the
Spearish valley a visitor sees what
has been done, and there they have
not reached the fullest development
of which they are capable by any
means, and in the Belle Fourche
valley the work has just been begun
on a work that will change 10000
acres Of prairie into a garden. In
other places in that great west
country one may also see districts
where, some day, similar under
takings will be put through and the
old time cattle range made the home
for thousands of families. In this
article I shall tell the readers of this
paper a few things about the Belle
Fourche valley project which they
can easily verify and also a few things
about the Spearfsh valley which they
may not feel like believing but which
may also be completely verified.
THE BELLE FoURCHE PROJECT
The Belle Fourche valley is a
beautiful piece of country, lying just
north of the Hills and sloping gently
from them. 1t is drained by the
Belle Fourche river, a branch of the
Cheyenne, into which flow a number
OF smaller stream, providing an i'm
mense volume of water. The soil in
the valley is gumbo but very rich and
not hard to work up. West of the
valley there is a twenty-five mile
strip in which the gumbo is worse
than in any other section west of the
river except the first fifty miles west
of Pierre and the bad lands proper, so
far as / know. Still further west
there is a fine country.
After making a thorough ~investiga-
tion in respect tovolume of water avail
cable and in regard to soil and climatic
conditions and after very careful sur
veys, the government authorized the
expenditure, under the reclamation
act, of s $500, 900 for the construction
of dams, reservoir, bitches etc. in this
valley. This work is now well under
way and some parts of it are nearly
completed. From start to finish it
has been under the personal direction
of Raymond F. Walters, a civil
engineer in the government service
and a very capable and able man.
Mr.. Walters made all the preliminary
surveys and almost alone did all the
work necessary for the inauguration of
the enterprise. He met with many
difficulties, of course, and perhaps the
greatest was to secure the assent Of
property owners in the valley who
owned a considerable amount of land.
Each and every one who owned more
than l6O acres of irrigible land, ac-
cording to the preliminary plans, had
to sign an iron clad agreement to sell
all but $50 acres by the time the work
shall have been completed. 1t was no
small task to bring them all into line
but Mr.. Walters succeeded.
We met Mr.. Walters and spent a
very pleasant hour with him discuss
ing the project.
An immense dam is being built
about four miles below the town of
Belle Fourche. The water, diverted
from the river by this dam, is stored
up in a reservoir six and a half miles
away. The ditch that leads to the
reservoir is a pretty good sized river
in itself and will handle an immense
amount of water. [ have the figures
here before me but they run up SO
high that they don't mean much to
the average investigator, and l shall
not attempt to give them. The
reservoir is made by daming up Owl
creek. Just above where it flows into
the Belle Fourche it has made for it,
self a big gulch or draw and by build
ing a dam across this a reservoir will
be made which will hold considerable
water. The dam at the reservoir will
be a mile long, on top, one hundred
feet high and will cost half a million
dollars. 1t will take the ditch, rum
ming with a 'sfull head" of water
remember that the ditch is 40 feet
wide at the bottom, go at the high
water line and ten feet deep-O days
to fill the reservoir and, as the river
flows, probably eight to nine months.
The reservoir has an area OF $500 acres
aud when full, allowing for a Is per
cent evaporation, will contain water