Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1905-04-08
BELLE FOURCHE PROJECT.
Letter of Information Concerning the
Celebrated Government Irrigation
Scheme,

Letter Of Information Concerning the
Celebrated Government Irrigation
Scheme.
Raymond F. Walter, engineer in
charge of the government irrigation pro.
ject along the Belle Fourche river in
western South Dakota, has written the
following letter to the officials of the
United States land Office at Rapid City,
instructing them as to the information
concerning the proposed ditch and the
manner of disposing of the lands under
it:
DEAR SIR In relation to the Belle
Fourche Project, will state that I no.
tice in ruling of the secretary Of the
Interior that the register and receiver of
a land Office in district in which pro-
ject OF this character Is proposed are
instructed to form themselves into sort
Of information bureau to divulge free in
formation to the public in reference to
the project or projects, that may be in
that district.
"Now, | do not know just how much
information you have on hand relative
to the Belle Fourche Project, but will be
glad to answer any questions which you
may ask, and will try and give you a
brief statement which may help you:
1--WE expect by our present plan to let
the first contract on the project April
10th. Work will commence by May lst,
but must be begun within 3Odays. This
contract will be for the inlet canal to
the large reservoir and the diverting
works necessary for divertng 1895 cubic
feet a second of water of the Belle Four
che river into the reservoir. This ditch
will be 40 feet wide on the bottom, 60
feet at high water line and carry 10 feet
depth of water. This water will be stor-
ed in what is known as the Owl Creek
Reservoir Site,' which will hold sutfi-
cient water when full to furnish water
two feet deep over all the land proposed
to irrigate, with the loss of % per cent
for evaporation; so you will see we will
have plenty of water for the land with
one filling Of the reservoir even if we do
not get any more from the river during
the latter part of the summer 1t will
take about 10 days with a full head in
the ditch to fill this reservoir once, but
it is rather doubtful if we can expect to
get 70 days Of full head any year, so it
will probably take two or three times
that number Of days with the head that
we will get on average years.
From the reservoir outlet bitches will
be constructed, one to the north and one
to the south. Under the south side canal
the land is nearly all in private owner
ship, but all except about 5000 acres has
been signed up and is on the same basis
as government land.
"The reservoir dam contract for which
will be let about the first of August, will
be about 100 feet high and one mile long
on top. This will be constructed ofclay
and gravel with Is inches of stone rip
rap on inner face to protect the same
from wash and ice The water will be
controlled by two large conduts of con.
crete.
an this connection, will state that
we expect to build these works with the
greatest Of care and all material will be
of permanent character, concrete and
steel being used wherever possible.
under this reservoir there are about
9S, 900 acres of irrigabIe land, about 00,-
600 acres of which is now subject to re-
altholgh about 5000 acres of
this is subject to overflow from riverand
creeks in the springtime and possibly
will not need water from the project to
grow natural hay. This leaves at least
81 900 acres which is now subject to the
project, of which so, 900 acres is govern.
ment land, 4780 acres is school land and
will be subject to sale by the state Of
South Dakota to actual settlers in so acre
tracts at the minimum price $4,000 per
acre. The balance, or something over
10000 acres is private land and is held
under contracts with the association to
take water. A great deal of this private
land is for sale at this time at prices
varying from ten to twenty dollars per
acre.
"The government land will all be di.
vided up into farm units which will con-
sist of about so acres of irrigable land,
and whenever possible, so acres of high
land or rough land will be worked into
each farm entry. OF course this is not
possible in lots of the entries, but great
many entries consist of 100 acres, of
which about so acres is irrigable. The ap.
plicants that get these larger entries only
pay for the water for the land which
they can irrigate. These farm maps will
be filed with you as soon as the inspec-
tion which is now in progress is COM
pleted.
zone section of land has been reserved
for a town site, the lots in which will be
disposed of by the government at auc-
tion and the money used for permanent
improvements in the town. For three
miles around this town the farm entry
unit is 40 acres. These are what | call
my sugar beet farms, as | expect that
country around the town to develop into
sugar beet industry. The sub division
in farm entries includes all lands which
are filed since the segregation and all
those now vacant, and those that have
fled on l60 acres previous to this time
will later on have to amend their filings
SO that their farms conform with our
farm entries. The maximum price which
will be charged for this water is set at
S3400 per acre, or S. 40 per acre each
year for 10 years This includes all con-