The daily tribune., 1906-07-28
THE GREATER FLOR
ENCE-HOw ATTAINED

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tural land ~ the best In the Boise
Payette. Minidoka. or Twin Falls
tracts. In some respects the soil OF
this section is better than the Idaho
tracts. since 1t 10 deeper and heavier.
The soil OF southern Idaho 10 . light
loan. or Volcanic ash with . hard.
pan sub.soil near the surface. Ours
10 rioh and deep ten to twenty feet be-
low the snrfaoe.
There IL from twelve to fifteen
thousand acres lying to the north Of
our CITY and in the immediate vicin.
| ity thereof. every acre OF which Is
capable Of producing bountiful crops
and all varieties Of fruits. This
tract IL from Eve to ak times the area
of Lincoln Park. aud With water
thereon will be Just as productive.
Those Of us who have lived In Flor
ence during the last ten years viii!
remember that the " iseaores Of both
Canon City and Florence cried down
the project of Dali DeWeese in seek.
ing to induce people to settle on the
Park. have had many man tell
me that De Weese was doing wrong
In thus trying to get eastern people
who knew nothing about the arid
West to settle on his tract since they
knew that they would starve. Not.
withstanding these wiseaores deserta-
tions Dali has gone steadily on in the
development and settlement of this
tract until today lands that could have
been bought for twenty dollars an aore
ten years ago are worth thousand to.
day. What has been done for Lincoln
Park can be done for this tract north
of Florence. Let us consider the
means to that end.
The procurement of plenty Of water
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will bring this about. How can this
be obtained? There are three means
by which this may be accomplished.
The National Reclamation Act, the
Garry Act. and the District Act Of
incorporation under our state statute
| The first two are government protests.
the latter q state act. We are four
years behind other states and terri.
from the government; we probably
have sinned away our day of proba.
tion, all appropriations that can be
obtained from National sources for the
NEXT ten years have been secured by
our neiRhbor states. We must needs
turn our attention to our.state statute.
The State statute was past In 1901.
amended in 1908 and 1905. and today
stands a complete statutory enactment
for irrigation by water districts.
Under this law the people of Florence
can got compl,t 70 relief in the reclama.
tion of this tract north Of the city. l
find upon exanination Of this act. that
It IL broad in Its scope with ample
powers to accomplish this purpose for
which It WAS created. The legal
entity created Ia Of the nature of q
public corporation with directors
and officers to manage and control the
same. The expense of inoor rporation
% small. the cost Of maintenance is
not great and falls entirely upon the
land owners within the water dis.
triot. What impressed mo In the ex.
animation of this act are the .plenisry
powers 10 the dirsctcr re- and electors
to improve this district 80 organized
by the construction Of reservoirs,
canals and bitches. and the means By
| WnlCn Iunus hre tAIsou ior thio Pui'
pose.
Ample flood waters come down
Eight Mile and Brush Hollow creeks
to fll any reservoirs that may be
created thereon. The watershed OF
Eigh-Mile extends back into the
mountains twenty to thirty miles.
furnishipg ample flood waters to fill
the largest reservoir in Colorado.
This water II thus conserved would be
used to irrigate all the lands to the
west and along Eight Mile. The
government has = reservoir site on
this creek that could bs constructed