Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1907-10-31
FARMS TO GIVE AWAY
A Thousand at Disposal of The
Government.
One Result Of the Truckce-Carson r.
rigntion Project-CrOps Can he
Produced under New Condi-
lions.

Completion of the second unit of the
Truckee-Carson irrigation project in No
Nada places at the governments disposal
Loo farms. These are TO be practically
given away, says the Washington cores
pondent of the Boston Transcript Doubt
less the applications will number well
up in the thousan Any person who
has not exhausted his homestead rights
can obtain one of these new farms by
appearing at tho land Office at Carson
city. New, or before the United States
commissioner at Fallon and paying
nominal filing fec. on an eighty-aCre
tract of land this fee amounts 10 eight
dollars; 1t is only six dollars and half
in the case of a forty-acre tract.
without irrigation the land Is ~
course. valueless. In order to obtain the
benefits OF irrigation each settler will
he required to pay 500 per acre annual
~ for ten years. At the expiration Of
that period the irrigation system will be
turned over to tho farmers and the an
nual charge reduced to few cents per
acre, only enough to maintain tho
bitches and reservoirs. Fntrymen have
six months from tho time OF the pay
mcnt of their fling fees in which TO es-
tablish residences on the farms allotted
to them. After that they will be required
to live on the land and cultivate 1t for
five years before patent will be Issued
All Of the farms that are to he given
away In connection with this recently
completed irrigation project lie in west
crn Nevada In the bed Of what was once
an ancient lake which was filed up dur
past centuries by silt washed down from
the mounta in side. The elevation of the
basin is about 1900 feet above the sea
level; the climate is extremely mild and
the soil. which Is of many varieties, IS
declared by experts to be Of inexhausthlc
fertility. Too numerous to recount in the
course OF this letter are the crops tina {
can be grown under the conditions OF
soil and climate offered in this basin.
Among them are some that promise
very high returns Alfalfa and grain
have been the staple products Of the
valley up to the present time. with
| many varieties OF vegetables and fruit
for home consumption Alfalfa yields
! from five to seven tons per acre and Is
selling Mt ten and twelve dollars per
| ton in the stack. Wheat yields about
! thirty-fve bushels per acre, barley fifty
| bushels and oats seventy-fiVe bushels
per acre. Recent experiments show that
corn will yield from thirty to nifty
bushels per acre. Such forage crops as
wild maize, Kaffir CON, Indian corn,
millet and wheat grass are we'll suited &c
! this climate. There IS plenty Of natural
| pasture in the valley blue-ioint, rye
and salt grasses. While the farmer Is
waiting for his alfalfa to grow he car
make neat sum raising vegetables
Potatoes yield ten tons to the acre and
they sell at the nearby mining camps al
| forty dollars per ton. All garden vege-
tables grow we'll and sell readily al
| prices which net from twelve to fifteer
hundred dollars per acre to the farmer
Stock raising also promises to dcveloy
into a paying business. There is pack
ing house at Reno TO which hogs are
shipped from as far east as Nebraska
Dairying. poultry and bee farming ar,
other lines in which success is assured
| to those who conduct such enterprises il
a businesslikc fashion. Apples and small
fruits are Of delicious favor. and thu
hardy varieties of peaches and apricot
are we'll worth growing. All the products
OF the valley find a ready market a
home in the little towns and In the min
ing camps In the nearby mountains
Any surplus can he shipped to Sal
J 1
by rail than Los Angeles.
But the farmer is not the only man L
whom the opening Of the Truckee-C IT
son project Is Of interest. SCattere
throughout the tract are number o
new towns which are growing ny leap
and bounds, and which offer unusua
opportunities for busiress and profess
inal men and laborers to get in on tn
| md tna IN
try. Fallon, the principal town, is situa
) ed near the centre of the irrgable lands
Three years ago IT consisted Of thre
, houses. Today 1t has a population q
more than 100 Here are graded schools
a high school, churches,two newspapers
a bank. several stores, three hotels an
restaurants. Hazen and saltwater ar
thriving towns. with schools, churche,
hotels and stores, and there are severe
other post offices.
The United State government, as eV
denc, OF It's belief in the ultimate futur
of the Carson Sink Valley, has alread
invested more than 100000 In that sec
ton IN an elaborate system of canal
and bitches to cover 200 900 acres OF lane
Railroads now penetrate the heart OF tn
valley, furnishing transportation for III
products of the farms and access to tn
great social and commercial centres
the world. Tho population of the stat
has more than doubled within the Las
Z two years, owing to the discovery OF rio
, mines in the mountains and the hon
markets are demanding more farm pr
I ducts than the farmers of New. "a ca
/ ever supply. AS many of the settler
are from the humid States and are n,
familiar with irrigation a farm has bee
o laid out where an experienced farm.
will demonstrate the best methods of a,
plying water to tho different crops. ar
give other information In this connection
. free Of charge, to any settler on the pr,
ject who desires 1t.
!. Under the government system OF irr
cation in Nevada the farm units a.
!. forty and eighty acres. The lands
private ownership which are to recei,
n water from this system. under the pr
n visions of the law, must be divided in
tracts of not more than 100 acres The
relatively small farm units insure int
sive cultivation and compact commur
ties. With the tremendous rise in lar
n values sure to follow the inauguratlc
o of the government system large are;
/ now devoted solely TO the production
6 Wild hay will naturally be divided al
r disposed OF to small owners.
l., Nevada was the first State to pro
by the reclamation aot and the contra
fro the main Truckee canal was award
q. in September, 1908 On June II, 1895, I
third anniversary Of the passage Of I
| Ia 1a mi 30 tha olaa (,or