Semi-weekly herald., 1909-06-07
Big Reservoir Scheme

S and this southwest section. could hay
J, listened 10 c. c, Magenheimer ten mir
i uies this morning, they wouid hay
S greater faith In the future of this Sc,
J. tion. Mr., Magenheimer is the secre,ar
c and general manager OF the Woodian
5 company OF Chicago. promoting agrl
!. cultural lands. irrigation and drainag,
!. projects. And what about the com
A pany The Woodland company nj thi
| time Is constructing irrigating enter
: priscs that reach over fiye millioi
| dollars. This is the company putin;
/ In the Orchard Mesa ditch in III,
: Grand Junction section at cost o.
, over a million dollars and i,s. TO wa
} ter 1000 acres of land u Oregon
the company has contracts toucnine
close to -four million dollars We men
tion this In advance to show thnt Mr.
Maeenheimer Is not what soinc people
term windiammefs. lie ~ thorouehly
business and II Is IN his Inc 10 inspect
every projected enterprise and on n.s
report depends future action Mr.
Maeenheimer arrived In Durango We'd
nesday evening with fhe c,mpany's
chief engineer. r. A Ray ot Columbus,
Ohio, and Judges Chas. d lIayt OF
Denver Colorado counsel for tho
Woodland company. AT Z o'clock yes.
ierday morning, in company with A
| l.. Fisher. local engineer, tie party
was skipping out of town IN un auto
mobile bound for the Florida mesa
and by ~ o'clock the mesa was ira
versed up and down and croswise sew
elal times, especially that section GOV.
cred by the Enterprise ditch, The
party stopped at many OF the houses
and conversed with The farmers. in.
yestigated the soil and conditions gen
| orally. especially the practicability of
watering the lands, and the cost OF
| building bitches on lands to be watered
from the main canal Az Mr. Magen
| heimer explained II Is necessary to OBJ
tain data Of every character as his
people want 10 know whether the
| fmm mer can prosper. To make Il sue
| cess of irrigaiing projects conditions
must be such that the tiller of the soil
can make money otherwise the bonds
are not good Not only nre all mat
ters of this kind figured out. but ship
ping facilities are copsidered--the cost
of sendiDg crops to market, etc The
Herald reporter found that Air Magen
heimer knew all about shipping rates
and what It would cost the farmer to
land "A car of potatoes In the eastern
or southern market
Went mp the Florida river to Dan
Thornton's place where II IL planned
tp build a rescrvoir-~just above MIR.
Thornton's house. The projected dam
viii be 600 feet long, 100 feet high
and hold 10000 acre feet of water
With the reservoir site disposed of
the party returned to Durango
1t was after the above trip and in
vesiigation "a representative OF The
Herald met Mr.. Magenbeine. This
morning AT the Straicr hotel. To say
| that he was pleased IL putting i. mid.
ly. He was more than pleased with
his investigations and left on the $. 10
train with the assurance thtt his com
pany would be ready to go amend with
the undertaking just as soon as the
residents of the mesa take the neees-
| sary measures. 1. e., the formation II
an irrigation district SIr. Magen.
[. .....x H.. 4.
a more promising section or n better
| soil. and added that the mesa is SGT
| tied by as fine lot OF people ~
one could expect to encounter In IA
well settled and highly prosperous
| farming section In the most favored
states OF the east. The feasibility OF
the resrvoir was passed on by Mr..
Ray and thus the matter stands until
der the laws OF the state.
| Judge Hayt, who used to preside on
the district bench in this district TWEEN
| ty-iive years ago, expressed himself
highly pleased Il have visited every
portion OF the state and feel that /
am In n position to give an opinion"
said the judge this morning, and i
want 10 say that La Plata county has
al empire In Itself do not believe
there is county in the state where
The soil is better and the trip yes
terday opened my eyes. | had no idea
there was such an abundance OF land
open for settlement and available for
the plow. II was revelation. Some
years ago the people OF this section
thought everything depended on min
ing. smelling and stock growing. Now
ii is developing that the agriculture
interests are pushing 10 the front and
lead by big majority There Is I
demand for irrigated lands all owe
. the country"
The party left this morning. stop
| ping over tonight al Alamosa and VII
c Ting portions Of the San Luis vale
b tomorrow continuing 10 Denver tc
k morrow night Mr. Nagepheimer wi
u take the first train out for Portland
1 "a.