Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-08-01
.REC[A|M|NG THE LAND
Details About the Great
Belle Fourche Project.
TO IRRIGATE 1900 FARMS
System Consists of Thousand Miles
Of bitches.
ONCE GREAT CATTLE COUNTRY
Ranches Now Cut Up into Farms.
Land Too Valuable for Grazing.
High Glass Of Settlers.
TO IRRIGATE 1900 FARMS
ONCE GREAT CATTLE COUNTRY
BY WILLIAM E. CURTIS.
Special CORRESPONDENCE OF The Star and the
Chicago Record Herald.


RELLE FOURCHE, S. D.. July %, 1909.
The most easterly of the irrigation
works under construction by the federal
government to reclaim the arid lands OF
the west is on the Belle Fourche river, just
north of the Black Hills, in Butte and
Meade counties, s. D. You know that
several years ago Congress passed an
act providing that the proceeds OF the
future sales of public lands should be
used as working capital for the per-
petual construction of reservoir and irrt-
eating bitches to reclaim the desert
lands of the west which otherwise
would be available for nothing but pas
lures. In other words. the money is
to be reinvested perpetually until the
arid belt is made susceptible of agri-
culture. AS fast as each of the thirteen
projects now under construction are COM
pleted, the irrigated land will be sold
to actual settlers at a price that will
cover the cost of the plant, and when
all of the land Is taken up and paid for
the irrigation works will be turned over
by the government to cooperative
company organized by the purchasers.
The proceeds of the sale of irrigated
lands are deposited in special fund in
the Treasury for the construction of
other projects, for which surveys have
been made in all the arid states, and
more than hundred reservoir sites re-
served. AS fast as the money is avail
able, each Of these in turn will be
utilized The projects that have been
planned and are already under construc-
ton will add to the arabic area of the
United States about thirty-two m4.lion
acres, or about observation-disclosures
farms Of eighty acres each.
The Belle Fourche project will Srigate
about 1850 farms, or about 100000
acres-an area of fifteen by forty miles,
more or less. OF this area, about one
half belongs to private parties, home
steaders and other settlers who have
previously talsen up government lands;
about 5000 acres belong to the state of
South Dakota, being school sections, and
the remaining $4,000 acres belong to the
government and are being rapidly taken
up in tracts Of forty and eighty acres.
which are the farm units, and are about
as much irrigated land as one family
can cultivate. Settlers are required to
on the land for five years. paying $50
an acre for their water rights in in
stallments Of 10 per cent each year.
Price Of the Land.
The state land is offered for sale at
SO an acre. plus the proportionate cost
OF the irrigation system, which is col
lected by the general government. Pri-
vate lands are being offered at from
so to so an acre, according to location
and improvements, and they also are
taxed s. an acre for ten successive years
to pay for the water rights. About 49,
and about go per cent of the land has
been taken I'D, most of 1t in tracts OF
eighty acres, by actual farmers, who
have been renting In Iowa, Illinois, Wis
consin and Missouri. and have come out
here so that they may secure farms of
Everybody here tells me that no man
should attempt to run a farm without at
least $1,000 working capital to start
with, as there are so many expenses
Of the new settlers are the sons OF
farmers in the central states, and several
Of their daughters have come out here
also.
The Belle Fourche irrigation system
consists OF about 1000 miles Of bitches,
including 100 miles Of main canals. TWEEN
ty to forty feet wide and from five to
ten feet deep. and about 700 miles Of lat
erals from four to six feet wide and
two feet deep. These bitches will be
long. an average Of three miles wide and
115 feet deep at its deepest part. It is
peculiarly shaped body Of water, owing
to the configuration OF the ground, and
there will be several islands caused ny
high knobs.
The Belle Fourche Reservoir.
This reservoir Is created by the con-
struction Of a dam between two hills. g.
500 feet long and lis feet high. 1t is built
OF earth, 500 feet thick at the base, and
twenty feet thick at the top.
In making the dam the earth has been
crushed to a powder and then spread in
layers six inches deep after being thor
oughly moistened with water from a
hose and then rolled with a twenty-one-
ton traction engine until it is packed
down almost as hard as stone. The
outside is covered with turf, protected
from the wash by three concrete cutters
running parallel The turf is laid on
twelve inches of soil dressing On the
water side of the dam the earth is
faced with twenty-four inches of gravel
and layer Of concrete paving blocks
eight inches thick, which have been made
at a gravel bank six miles distant. The
work was comRenced in 1905 and is now
about 20 per cent completed. More than
three-fourths has been done under con-
tract by Hayes Brothers of GAINESVILLE
Wis. and the National Security Company
Of New York. They have between four
and five hundred men at work at present
The dam Is twelve miles from the -four
fishing little town of Belle Fourche, and
the water which feeds it is taken from
the river about two miles from the city
through sluice into which it is con-
Quoted by diverting dam. The lake
will contain about S712. 100000 cubic feet
Of water, which is equivalent to a body
OF water covering 100000 acres of land
one foot deep.
The United States government has an
experimental farm in Butte county, a
short distance from the reservoir. and
has reserved several additional quarter
sections for similar purposes within the
irrigated area The average elevation Is
2SO feet above the level of the sea; the
atmosphere is dry. with an annual pre-
cipitation OF only seven or eight inches and
the soil is clay loan and sandy loan,
exceedingly fertile and free from .alkali.
1t Is especially favorable for fruits and
berries. potatoes beetS, turnips and other
root crops. and for alfalfa and hay.
There Is an almost unlimited market for
all OF these things in the mining camps
and the towns of the Black hills, and the
Chicago and Northwestern railroad fur
nishes an outlet to markets eastward
Thriving Little Settlement.
Belle Fourche is thriving little settle
ment of about thousand people, eight
miles from the Wyoming line and 3,4O0
feet above the sea. Ever since the Black
hills were opened it has been an i'm
portant center of the cattle industry
and for several years was the largest
live stock shipping point in the United
States. Three thousand cars of steers
nave been sent to market from Belle
Fourche in a single year, but the aver
age shipments now are only about $4,000
head OF cattle, 100000 head of sheep and
100000 pounds of wool. The cattle
ranches have been very largely cut up
no Low 10