Rogue River courier. (Grants Pass, Or.) 1886-1927, 1908-10-02

and its adoption by the state of Ore
gon, told of the wonders accomplished
by applying water to the lands in
Washington, Wyoming. Colorado and
other states, of the great projects un-
deItsken by the National Reclamation
Service, especially the Gunnison River
scheme where the tunnel is entirely
lined with concrete and goes six miles
through the mountain to bring the
water to the land, and of other places
where concrete conduits have been
built distance of from fifty to sixty
miles, where land had to be flooded
aud drained again aud again to rid the
soil of alkali before a crop could be
produced, making land which under
ordinary circumstances was not worth
paying taxes on bring return of from
$500 to $1,000 per acre.
After telling what had been done in
other sections Mr.. Anderson discussed
the local conditions, sayinng that we
have the water and the land and
climate that cannot be surpassed, that
the minute the first shot is put in to
bring the water the land will in
crease in value at rate to more than
pay for the money expended, but that
the trouble seemed to be the water is
too handy. as it runs right through us
to the sea, whereas if we had to build
a six mile tunnel to bring it through
the cascades or the Siskiyous we
would fall all over ourselves trying to
get at it.
Mr.. Bateham moved that commit
tee Of three be appointed to nominate
six farmers to serve with the commit
tee of the Commercial Club, and the
chair appointed Judge Jewell. ii. q.
Bateham and II. q. Kinney, and
while they were making up ticket
]. G. Riggs, secretary OF the lrriga-
tion Committee of the Commercial
Club was called upon to give what in
formation he had been able to gather
during his trip to Portland last week
as to the probability of securing gov
ernment assistance in the way of en-
pineers. etc. he stated that he had
had an interview with Mr.. Heney.
chief of the Reclamation Service.
and with Mr.. Hopson, his assistant
and had been Informed by both Of
those gentlemen that there was no way
by Which government engins ers could
be sent to examine private enterprises
for the reason that 1t was against the
policy OF the governmen to enter into
competition with private enterprise,
but in reply to inquiries said that tht
only way to get irrigation startec
down here was for the people to gel
together and form an association, ther
raise the necessary money to hire
competent engineer and that when the
people here are ready for an enigneel
he would be glad to recommend
competent aud trustworthy man.
Mr.. Riggs stated that he had als'
had an interview with Mr.. Stover o
the U. S. Agricultural Department
who has charge Of irrigation an'
d d.ainage experiments lin Oregon AM
that he had told him the same thing
as the other two but had finally vol
unteered to come Gown and go owe
the ground personally about Octobe
| 10Th, make thorough examination
aud report and render any other at
, sistance in his power.
On motion of X. L. Coe forms
t invitation was extended to Mr.. Stove
, to visit Grants Pass, to examine an
r r port OH the various irrigation pre-
1 iects propose, and to deliver an az
! dress at met ting to be held for tn
| purpose. At this iuncture the nom
T mating committee reported the follow
{ ing names as committee ot farmei
= TO ac. with the club committee; u 3
r Hamilton. Z. E. Blanchard. Linn /
4 Continued on last page)