Heppner gazette. [volume] (Heppner, Morrow County, Or.) 1892-1912, 1905-02-16

land n..o can be irrigated with the wa
ter snptlt valuable.
~, ,--- than 10000 acres OF excellent
bench nd under this project is unpat-
ented Probably an equal amount OF
hot,.,m land is patented, but is in great
y ID i ad t,tional water supply during
na ate, half of season.
Il would perhaps be practicable to lr'
IL 400 acres of land to the north !
of Owyhee River, and lying along
S,,k aver ON the Owyhee, if
.to ,se we provided. 1t might also
prove practicable irrgate an equal or
greater amount Of land on the south
side. and along Snake River, par ly IN
, e.,n and pa ,ly in Idaho. Several
excel ut reservoir sites exist on the
n,prr Owvte but tie river for tise
most pat flows throu. b a canyon from
200 to 40 ieet deep, and no practicable
diversion can be made to cover any
Iarg- BODY of land on either side. ex'
cept at great ard probably prohbitive
expense The lands on the north side
OF the river can all be covered by water
under the Malheur project There Is at
II tart
mouth of the Owyhee canyon, irrlgatlng
5000 to 5000 ac es somewhat unsatls-
factoriy in o.doary years This Is
about the limit of area possible to irll-
gate we'll without storage Surveys are
being continued from the Malheut pro-
iect across to the south siie OF The
Owvhee River, and ilc!uding al the
area below the highest pta2 icatle di
version point on he river. vciy
anal! po ton Of the area which can %
irrigated from Owyhee River Is or
patented 1t would rot exceed 20 per
cent Much of the iaud on tie north
side of the river has bean subscribed TO
the Malhenr Wnter Users AsaCtiatjo
The itrigab'e lands under this p O.
iect lie west OF Umatili kiver and
sout, of and bordering on Columbia
River. The elevation of these l1nd-
above sea level is from 800 to 700 feet
The project contempla es the use OF
flood waters from Umat,la River by
storage, supplemented by any add
tional supply which can be obtased by
diverting the food waters of W low
Creek, or any OF the tributaries Of John
Day River.
Probably not less than 900 acres
of land is availabl, in this region il the
water supply can by any means be in
creased so as to cover it.
The growing seasons are long and the
Winters short and usually mild. Four
crops of alfalfa can be rai@ed In But
ter Creek bott ms wi h one h1oi irri-
CATION, three crops Of alfalfa are grown.
yielding five to eigh tons per acre for
the season. With these conditions il
was felt the land cou'l st.. d pos ID
charge Of $35 rer ao'e
OF the total area OF inigab'a lanl Nh
der consideration. twc-thirds, at least,
is unpatentei, and major portion o. rat
ented land is No,thern Pacific Railroad
grant land
List year work was started sinking
test pits over reservoir sites, embark
msnt line and feed canal line, with
view to authorizing early construction.
The test pits in the reservoir site dis /
closed the fact that a not inconsiderabe /
area of the lower part of the reservoir
site and emb bankment line was under
laid by beds of coarse gay sand from
to 80 and more feet in thickness. For I
this reason the board of consulting en-.
gneers, after a careful examination,
concluded that the reservoir site was
| impractc. BILE and sugg' sted search for
others.
Another site similar to and immed-
lately north OF the ore condemned by
the board has been located, and exam
inafiana oro rom hsinn ID fo |