Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1908-11-13
FLOODS IN LEASH.
Government Completes Pathfinder IT.
riaation System In Nebraska.

rigation System In Nebraska.
After five years Of hard labor and
the spending of a mint Of money the
stupendous irrigation works which
the government has been establishing
in western Nebraska and Wyoming
have been finished, says the Omaha
correspondent Of the New York Trib-
une, and the snow water which the hot
August sun is bringing down from the
mountains in torrents Is being con-
served in the immense reservoirs In
stead of being allowed to rush down
the Platte river and through the Mis-
souri, on into the lower Mississippi to
| inundate that portion Of the country at
tremendous loss to the people. This
is the first practical trial Of the gov
ernment irrigation works, and the off,
cials of the reclamation bureau are
watching the result with q great deal
of anxiety, as on that result will hang
the future actions Of this branch OF
the national government.
The irrigation works on the eastern
slope of the Rocky Mountains are in
tended for a twofold purpose. One Is
to irrigate a semiarid country; the
other Is to so hem up the flood waters
when the summer sun has started the
mountain snow to melting that no
damage will result to the country along
the lower and more level stretches of
the great rivers, the water being held
in check when in food and gradually
released when the land is dry and bak-
ed under the prairie sun and wind.
The work which has just been fin
ished and the reservoirs which are just
now filling up with the snow water are
included in the famous Pathfinder sys-
tenn, the dam being located In a deep
gorge of the Rocky Mountains through
which the North Platte river plunges.
In this gorge a dam costing $1,OOO,OO0
was built and the water backs twenty
five miles through the mountains. The
great reservoir holds 100000 acres feet
of water; that is, enough water TO
cover 100000 acres Of land one foot
deep.
Contrary to the general idea, the
government is not constructing this
great work nor any other Of the west
ern irrigation systems, for the free use
Of the owners Of the lands through
which the canals flow. The reclama-
ton service is self-supporting. and ev-
cry cent spent by the service is repaid
to the government by the owners OF
benefited lands. The original appro-
pria ton for the North Platte project
the project just finished-was from
morey received from the sale OF pub
lie lands, and it will be repaid to the
national treasury by those who enjoy
the fruits of the irrigation 1t affords.
Each acre of land under this project,
whether privately owned or homestead,
must pay the government $35 for the
perpetual irrigation right. The $35 Is
paid in ten equal installments. without
interest. Thus the government will. in
the course Of ten years, recover every
cent it spent on the project. Land
which without irrigation was worth
next to nothing is converted into land
worth from $50 to 800 an acre. The
habitable farm area of the country Is
increased by hundreds Of thousands of
acres. Everybody wins and nobody
loses.
AS fast as the money is paid back
into the national treasury it Is reap
proprated for the use of another irri-
CATION system, and the same fund Is
used over and over again. SO the rec
lamation service is entirely self-sus-
tanning The North Platte valley, which