The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-05-12

NALGARY, May 11.--Nith the coming
 of spring, work has been resumed O east of here on what is probably the greatest irrigation project on the con tnent, as it is one of the least known This Is the undertaking Of the Canadian Pacific railway. by which a tract of land in Southern Alberta twice as large as the state of Delaware and four times as large as the state of Rhode Island IS being converted from d sub-humid range country into a fertile farming land
 The task is a gigantic one. If one man with shovel had started to do the dig ging involved in it, he would have had to work eight hours a day every day for POO years. If he had begun his work at the time Julius Caesar conquered Britain, he would not be through now, and he would have to live more than 200 years longer before his task would be completed. It Is facts such these that make one revise his ideas Of the py- ramids and the labor involved in them.
 Though a private undertaking, this project exceeds in magnitude any of the extensive irrigation projects on which Uncle Sam Is now at work. But 1t has a larger significance, for it marks the final chapter in the tanning of the Can adian west. Here at the end of the farthest western prairie handful of en- gineers are now conducting the last fight against the last frontier. They are backed by science and the human will, and if they succeed. as they will. they will es- tabllsh record that will endure.
 The area included in these plans is block of three million acres of prairie plateau on the main line of the Canadian Pacific railway, just north of the interna- tional boundary and Montana. A province by itself this enormous territory is prob ably the largest block of land under sin gle ownership In America Shielded on the west by the foothills of the Cana dian Rockies, the land slopes broadly east ward into the valley of the South Sas- katchewan and the fertile plains and farming lands of that section. Its mean elevation of 2S00 feet and the dry Chinook winds from the southwest give 1t warm, equabe climate where winter is turned almost into summer, and base ball, tennis and cricket are midwinter pastimes.
 When the first settlers pushed their way across the planes in the early sos in the track of the new railway, they found the luXurant dry grass of this prairie section sui f,ficient to sustain large herds of sheep and cattle. Some of the early homesteaders started farms in the valley and along the bottom lands. The black loam was excellent for crops but the rock wall of the mountains to the west which shut out the winter winds sometimes shut out the moisture, too, and the farmers early discovered that in great part of Southern Alberta artificial moisture meant the insurance of maxi mum crops every year.
 This was particularly true of the three million acres of the Canadian Pacific. To get an idea of this domain, picture to yourself a tract of land 150 miles long, forty miles wide. and shaped like an enormous curved meat chopper or heavy hutcher's knife. The northern boundary, of lrpif tc no pI river. and the southern, the irregular course of the Bow river Between these rivers the land stretches in general southeasterly direction from the City of Calgary and the fifth meridian to the line between Ranges 10 and Il west of the fourth meridian. The soil inside these boundary lines is of the best, with good clay sub-sol, and the area, as a whole, is especially adapted to the application of water. and lends itself readily to the great canals and secondary ditches.
 Four years ago, the railroad ordered surveys of the entire region These sur veys developed the fact that at least half the area or a million and half acres, could be brought directly under irrigation by the construction of canals from the Bow river. whose sources are fed by the unfailing snow of the western mountains. Two years ago. construction work was commenced, and already over 1000 miles If canals have been dug.
 The total undertaking calls for the con-
 ruction of 2900 miles of canals and
 tches or an artificial river long enough Q reach across the continent from New York to San Francisco. This construction will entail the excavation of the enor- mous mass of 24750.000 cubic yards of material, and will cost somewhere be- tween five and six million dollars. These remarkable figures place the present project in class by itself. and explain the interest which United States gov ernment engineers are taking in the un- dertakinR. One of these engineers, Dr. Tlwood Mead, chief of drainage and ir- rigation investigation for the department of agriculture at Washington. recently examined the project and his report on 1t was most favorable.
 The plan of the railway company differs from most other irrigation projects in the fact that it is the intention of the company to dig all the ditches and carry the water direct each 1GO acres, leaving nothing for the farmer to do but to open the small furrow laterals on his own land
 For the purpose of administering this work the territory has been divided into three main sections. called Eastern, ..Centra1' and Western" and contain ing roughly 100000 acres each. The main canal of the western section heads in the Bow river. about two miles from Cal gary. The canal is 60 feet wide on the bottom, 120 feet wide on the water line. and carires water to the depth of 10 feet. Striking east in a long crescent curve, it takes the water seventeen miles to the first reservoir. This is a natural de- pression of old lake bed, which, by the erection of dam. has been converted into a large storage reservoir. some three miles long, half mile wide, and 40 feet deep Being situated in the higest part Of the area. from which the land slopes steadily downward to the north. east and south the seservoir is natural vantage point from which the water can be let out as needed into the secondary and branch canals.
 There are three secondary canals-"A," s.B" and "C''. Each of these canals is thirty feet wide at the bottom, sixty