East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1907-05-10

A party composed of C. B. Adams,
Marion Jack, Thos. Thompson and
George H. Clark returned from Echo
last night, where they had been to
witness the first application of wa
ter to the lands in the Inland Irriga-
ton project, generally known as the
Furnish ditch. In speaking Of the
event to the East Oregonian this
morning, Mr.. Adams said:
"Tke Page Ranch company, Of
which ]. w. Kyle is manager. was
the first to apply water for irriga-
ton to lands under the Furnish
ditch. This company took possession
of 100 acres March 15, and since
then has cleared, plowed and planted
to crops l20 acres, the change in that
time from the native sagebrush con-
dition being marvellous.
"Mr. Kyle has 72 acres in potatoes,
all of which are up so that the rows
can be seen from one end Of the field
to the other; the remainder of the
land is in onions, peas, sweet corn.
canteloupes ard watermelons, and
yesterday work hegan putting out 10
acres of cabbage plants and an equal
amount of tomatoes.
"A remarkable condition of the
ground was shown in the amount OF
moisture contained. Although no
water had yet been applied, an inch
below the surface the earth was
moist ana all vegetation showed an
excellent color and vigorous growth.
This demonstrates the capacity of the
soil for absorbing moisture from the
rains of the spring and its ability Of
retaining II.
"Mr. Kyle has adopted the CORFU
gated system of irrigation. Very
shallow burrows are run with the
slope of the land, two feet apart. At
right angles with the corrugations a
distributing ditch is constructed and
boxes made with lath connect the
ditch with the burrows. When the
water is turned into the ditch check
gates are placed so as to raise the
water above the feed boxes. permit
ting it to flow down the corrugations
until the section above the check has
received sufficient water. when the
and the same method repeated. The
corrugations were made about 800
feet lang, and by the time the water
had reached the farther end It had
subbed out between the burrows,
thoroughly wetting the entire section,
and demonstrating the ease with
which the work of irrigation can be
accomplished.
There were a number of interested
visitors from Echo at the Kyle place
yesterday to see the practical work Of
irrigation begun, among them being
Engineer King and Oliver P. Morton
of the reclamation service, and r. r.
Johnson, attorney for the Water
Users association. The gentlemen
named were very much pleased with
the successful manner in which the
water was applied, and congratulated
Manager Kyle on the excellent condi-
ton of the big farm brought about
in such a remarkably short time.
"A mile to the southwest of the Kyle
farm is the tract being farmed by A.
w. Norton. He has 10 acres in pota-
toes and an equal area in spring
wheat. His crops are in splendid con-
dition, though they have received no
moisture since the last rain. He was
engaged with a force of assistants yes
terday constructing his sub-laterals
and preparing to irrigate. Mr.. Nor
ton will demonstrate to the wheat
raisers of Umatilla county what can
be done with the aid of artificial mois-
ture and expects bumper crop that
may break all records in both guam
tity and quality OF grain produced"