Omaha daily bee., 1907-06-17
NEWELL SAYS IT CAN BE DONE
Head. Of Government Service Secures
Approval of Secretary Garfield.
INDIAN WAREHOUSE Is AVAILABLE
Director Consults with Superin.
tendent Jordan as to Feasibility.
LARGE BUSINESS FOR JOBBERs
Tremendous Development In NebrasIa
and other Western states BrinEs
MIR. Newell Ont on Important
Mission.

| "AaNaens
r. H. Newell of Washington. D. c. di-
rector OF the United States reclamation
service arrived IN Omaha Sunday morning
and spent the day in the city, coming here
from Chicago, and is enroute to the Pacific
( coast.
THE object OF my visit to Omaha" said
/ Mr. Newell, was to have conference
with r. c. Jordan, superintendent OF the
Indian warehouse here. with a view OF
ascertsining II this warehouse could bo
utilized for storing supplies Of all kinds
! for the reclamation and irrigation service
Of which we have need for large quantity.
We now have about 10 900 men employed In
the reclamation service and about 5000
teams in the thirteen states and territories
in which the work is being prosecuted In
the west. We have necessarily to buy
large quantities Of material OF all kinds,
including provision supplies, wagons,
horses harness and cheaper grades OF
clothing, working material and, In fact.
about everything that enters into the ne
oessary equipment for such extensive work
in which we are engaged.
Can BuT Much in Omaha.
Il am OF opinion much Of this material
can be bought In Omaha. and am free to
Omaha are among the best in the country.
l understand that great quantities OF army
! supplies are bought here and as the sup
plies needed In the reclamation service are
! OF a similar character there Is no apparent
reason why we cannot buy these supplies
in Omaha. OF course we shall have to buy
where we can buy the cheapest, and at the
same time take the question of transpor-
tation into consideration. Proposals soon
will be invited for supplies of the character
/ indicated, and l hope Omaha will be q
liberal bidder. 1t is matter that should
invite the attention of your commercial
| clubs and Jobbers generally.
June II is the fifth anniversary of the
passage OF the reclamation act and. as
you will remember. the funds derived from
the sales of public lands which already ap-
proximate S400O0,Oc0. are 20 be devoted to
the reclamation service. We are now sx-
pending at the rate of S.503OoO a month In
the work.
Half by Contract. se
In this work about half of It Is being
done directly by the government, and the
other half by contractors At first the
work was contracted for. but many OF the
| contractors failed In the work, and II had
to be taken over by the government. These
failures are attributed to the material ad-
vance in the cost OF materials and the
eight-hour day law, which put many OF
the contractors out Of business.
"As result the government has taken
over much OF the work, and vast quantities
OF material must be bought and we must
have places to store 1t for preservation and
care until 1t is needed. The reclamation
service has no store houses. and l sug.
gested 10 Secretary Garfield we might
utilize some Of the Indian warehouses scat
| tered throughout the country for the pur-
F., pose l was not aware at the time there
! was such a warehouse at Omaha. Secre-
| tary Garfield at once fell in with the idea
! OF utilizing the Indian warehouses and
/ said why certainly. go ahead and use
I them. That's just the thing. Hence the
proposition is right up here TO Omaha.
hunted up Mr. Jordan today, and In look
ing over the warehouse here, think II Is
admirably situated for the purpose. Srn
going from here to the Pacific GoaGG
Important Irrigation Works.
Some OF the most important OF the gov
ernment irrigation works are in western
Nebraska in the North Platte country.
The government irrigating canal is being
supplied from the North Platte from the
Pathfinder dam, about forty miles west
of Casper Wyo. While the dam is not
yet completed, nor will 1t be possible to
complete It for some time. yet water was
turned into the canal about the middle
Z of April and IL is flowing nicely. The pso-
pie up there impatient and want
/ everything 70 be done at once. There IL
q good volume OF water in the river now
and we are not depending 80 much upon
the storage supply to be obtained from the
\ dam as from the natural flow of the river.
The dam must necessarily be completed
IN sections. l think the time will come
when we may be able to build a canal at
the south side Of the North Platte 20 be
supplied from the Pathfinder dam and have
these canals connect with the Laramie
river irrigation system. But that is merely
q question OF the future.
The other big irrigation projects being
carried on by the government are those in
the Big Horn basin, the Huntley, Wyo..
project and those in Colorado. Utah and
Nevada. The Huntley scheme is prac-
tically completed and the drawing for
these irrigated lands viii take place In
August About 100 farms will be realized
from the drawing out OF the 1000 chances
10 be offered. The successful prize draw
ers will be required TO pay about SO per
acre for the lands in ten annual peytnents-
GunnisOn TunneI BiE One.
zone OF the heaviest undertakings In the
I whole irrigation scheme is the Gunnison
tunnel IN Colorado This tunnel Il TO be
5000 feet IN length and OF which about
1900 feet are now built
I'm Utah we are building the Straw
berry tunnel, 1000 feet long, IN what is
known as the Spanish Fork country.
Another great enterprise is the building
| OF a canal from Truckee lake 70 the Car
son Sink in Nevada which viii reclaim
a large tract OF country. This sink en-
braces part OF the famous forty-mils des-
srt known as the Sink OF Humboldt and
Carson. and upon which desert so many
OF the California forty-niners perished
when enrouts TO California Strange ss IL
may seem that our Investigations IN that
desert or sink have shown that plenty OF
good water Is obtainable at a
depth OF fifteen feet. This We ascsr-
tained by driving well points On all our
surveying expeditions We earry these well
points for investigating purposes - WS1