The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-04-11

vegetables. A novel feature Of the construction work on this project is the pumping station near BalIanttno. where the fall of water from the main canal Is made to lift portion of the water to canal on q higher level. Vertical turbines and csntrffugai pumps are mounted on the same shaft and the operation is nearly automatic.
 An equal area of land Is being open, ed under the Sun River project. Mon-' tana. Already the influx of farmers has been so great that there are satd to be splendid opportunities for the business man. merchant and manufac- turer. Many of the farmers arc meet ing with such success that their lfrie ends in the East are going Westward to join them. Another Montana project just open to settlement Is the Lower Yellowstone. where 6600o acres of land lying near the Junction of the Yellow stone with the Missouri River. Is rap.' idly being filed upon. The man who wants home there will have to hurry.
 A little farther south 10000 acres will he opened during May in the Shoshone project. Wyoming. near Buff falo Bilrs favorite old stamping ground. In order to complete this project . dam 32s feet high--the highest In the world--was built. a road eight miles long, and . tunnel three miles iu. length were cut through the sofia rock, and hundreds of miles of canals were dug!
 Still farther south. 15.ooo acres will be available for settlers in the Jn-' compahgre project. Colorado. Forty thousand acres will be added to the trrigible area in the so-called Truc-' kee-Carson project. Nevada. water being taken from Lake Tahoe under 8 special agreement with a private ir.' rfgation concern. A tract of 17.000 acres in southeastern California. un- der the Yuma project. will be opened in October next. There tropical fruita can be grown almost without cuitivs-' ton. f@
 The Yuma lands lie on an Indian, reservation and small payment must be made to the red men owners in order to obtain possession. This is true also in the Huntley project,, Montana, which was part of the Crow Indian reservation. As fast as Con- gress authorizes 1t. the reclamation service is placing Indian lands under irrigation. This year, besides thoses just mentioned. lands having an area of nearly 15o.00O acres, located on In- dian reservations in Montana and' Washington. will be thrown open to the settler and they are expected to be entered upon quickly, as they em-5 brace some of the most valuable fruit land in the world. The construction of irrigation works on the Fort Peck Indian reservation. Montana. will be commenced as soon as. possible.
 The latest project to receive the ap-. proval of the government involves the reclamation of 50.00o acres of fine fruit lands in Grand Valley. Colorado. It will take several years to complete the works. which will include canal sixty miles long, pumping stations. etc.. to irrigate land on several levels. The Grand Valley apple and peach or-. chards are world famous, the fruit growers getting two dollars a box for their product. There are marvellous tales from Grand Valley of oats grow. < ing eight feet high and yielding 125 bushels per acre. of potatoes produc-y ing 400 bushels to the acre. and of canteioupes and vegetables. planted be- tween rows of growing trees, which, pay for the. faEm before the orchards bear. {.
 The government Is extending the blessings of irrigation at public ex-s pense to the people of Porto Rico. A Ss.00o.o0o bond issue has been sold there and the proceeds are being de4s voted to the construction of ,irrlga- ton. works. As sort of supplement to irrigation. dry farming Is practiced extensively in the West on, land which cannot be watered. Under q new law S.000.00 acrs of land in Wyoming are to be thrown open at once to settlers, who will be permitted to acquire 320. acre homesteads for dry farming pur- poses. It Is not known how success full this experiment will be.
 While the government encourages home building 1t objects to frauds on Aa lt1 fr, ufnla ffnn nF tha law or any other statute A million dollars Is now being spent by the general land office and 20(. special agents are being employed t investigate and prosecute the guilt, persons in 32.o0o cases of alleged IsnG. frauds involving si10.o00.O0o worth haof lands. The department of justice Is prosecuting 23.000 defendants in Ok lahoma in an effort to recover several million acres of land alleged to have been frauduiently acquired.
 A few years ago one had only tc traveI westward a short journey to see nothing but public land from sky line to skyline. Today bands of steel extend from ocean to ocean. the Great American Desert Is fast disappearing under the onslaught of irrigation and dry farming. and cities and towns and wide green oases dot the land. which at one time embraced nearly two billions of acres of land, has been reduced to something like half a biI. lion acres. Out of our free lands have arisen twenty vigorous commons wealths and an agricultural empire that is the marvel of the world today. Copyright. 1909. by Frederic J. Has kin.)
 TOmOrrOw-The Hemp Industry.