The Salt Lake herald-Republican. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1909-1918, 1909-11-18
SALT LAKERS SEE
DESERT RECLAIMED
Land Recently Sold for $3.50
an Acre Will Be Worth
Thousands.
IN NEW FRUIT DISTRICT
CONDITIONS SIMILAR TO FAMOUS
PALISADES IN COLORADO.
IN NEW FRUIT DISTRICT

A valley three miles wide and sever
miles long, forming an oasis of green IN
an immense grayish waste. Almost 500
acres of land planted in peach and apple
trees. which will soon reach crop-bearing
maturity. A favored section which,
when these trees all come into bearing
will yield hundreds of thousands OF dol
lars annually to the fortunate orcnard-
lists. This is what the party of Salt Lake
banking. real estate. and newspaper men
saw on visit to Green River, Titan, dur
ing the fore part of the week.
The trip was in the nature of Get
Acquainted" expedition under the direct
charge of Thomas @ WINNER, ", anu
E. T. Merritt, who have both made fof-
tunes in Grten River land. In the party
that left Salt Lake on Monday morning
were w. n. Griffin, Fl. S. Schofield, l.
c. WINNER, jr., ]. Louis Strohauer, the
Rev. DR. F. B. Short, F. T. Merritt r. -
Howard, A. E. Kmhall. A. II. Birreil, 9,
A Gray, NJ. L. Cummings, e. d. ".
Thompson, j. r. Cosgriff. ]. Q. Young,
H. l. Bowes and w. M. Hughes. All put
four of the party left Tuesday a1ternooil
for a trip by gasoline launch down the
Green river to its junction with the Grand
and thence up the Grand to Moab
Tributary to Salt Lake.
Green River valley is only 1855 miles
southeast from Salt Lake on the main
line of the Denver & Rio Grande railroad,
and vet the boosters in that valley claim
that the people of Salt Lake know less
of this favored section than do the peo-
pie in the far east. These boosters at
Green River are always loaded with in
formation and primed for action. and
the members of the visiting party had MT
been long in the valley until they were
made acquainted with many important
facts.
Green River is situated on the banks of
the stream of that name and is the lowest
I Int h. 1rvan IF laA V0n-0
Grande between Denver and Salt Lake,
its altitude being 1850 feet. Extending
toward the west is an irrigable plateau
| fifteen miles wide. Rising to a height
of about 1000 feet from the gentle incline
of the valley, northwest. north and north
east of the town. are the famous Book
| Cliffs, named because of the similarity
! In the qualification to the leaves of
, book.
These cliffs which, if in Colorado, would
/ be known as palisades. stand like mighty
| Titans guarding the little valley from the
cold winds of the north. Such excellent
4 if any snow, succeeds in getting beyond
| their grim-looking battlements. To these
cliffs is due the remarkably mild eli
mate of Green River. Boosters there
claim that they have the finest winter
climate on the western slope with plenty
| of sunshine and scarcely any wind or
| snow. In the summer it is said that the
/ temperature occasionally reaches 104, gir-
/ ing the fruit a wonderful color and fla
vor, but owing to the absence of humid
ity the heat is not oppressive.
Settlers Practical Men.
The community is largely settled by
| former successful orchardists at PAIL
| sades, Colo, and by eastern people Those
who moved from Palisades say that the
! Green River country viii prove the equal
if not the superior, of the wonderfully
rich Palisades fruit belt where fruit
bearing land has been sold as high as
$4,000 an acre. The soil is a particularly
fine granitoid. which seems to be espec-
tally adapted by nature for growing fruit
| to perfection.
Millions of aere-feet Of water are an
nually going to waste in this section of
country 1t is estimated that Green River
| will irrigate over 100000 acres IF land,
| If the water could be properly diverted
| Getting this water out on the high lands
| is the problem that has confronted the
fruit grower in retaining this part OF
| the arid west.
While everything looks rosy as a sum-
mer's morning for the residents of Green
| River at the present time, it was not
| always so. The trials and the oversees
| of the people in the west who have tried
] to conquer an apparently unyieliing soil.
| have been theirs. About two years ago
| the great dam in the river went out and
| orchardfsts were compelled to haul water
in barrels to prevent their young trees
| ON dying of drouth. In addition TO this
| setback by nature, the financial strin-
| & -ncy came on and the two coupled to-
| 6ether resulted in decidedly hard times
for the people With the dam out, with
| the value of collateral security gone, the
| local bank was compelled to close its
doors. Everything looked black for
Green River at that time, but with an al
most sublime faith in the greatness of
| the fruit belt the orchardists held on to
! their lands. Outside banks that had col
| lateral security for loans advanced TO
| the orchardists sent men to investigate
| conditions. Their report was so fav0ra-
bic that the fruit men were not unduly
pushed for payment When pumping
plants were installed and water again got
ten out of the river, everything took a
| brighter aspect.
Good Times Again.
The local bank again started in business
| and paid off dollar for dollar; securities
| became almost as good as government
| upgrade movement.
At present two systems of irrigation are
/ in use, the gravity and the pump lifting
| The big gravity ditch is taken out at q
| point about six miles above Green River
/ station. Under this ditch there are about
| zoo acres of as fine fruit land as the
/ sun ever shone on. Another canal
/ known as the 42-foot lift. water being
| forced in by a pumping plant, irrigates
| about 300 acres. The 90-fOOt lift will
water 1,5OO acres under the present
/ bitches. On the east of the river 600
acres are being irrigated and additional
1
reclaim much greater acreage To the
south 1000 acres are already under ir1i-
/ CATION.
! In this section it is necessary to irri-
| gate about once in every six weeks This
| depends to a certain extent however
upon the crop, soil and weather condi-
/ tons.
All kinds of fruits. peculiar to the tenn
/ perate zone, melons and vegetables are
raised in this valley. Fruit ranches pay
| such great profits that il is economy to
/ ship in grain from outside points; the land
/ is too valuable to SOW it to grain Sweet
| potatoes of very fine quality are also
| being grown in this section. During the
/ past year $4,000 trees were planted
! Land that sold ten years ago for s1.50
| per acre is now selling at from 500 to
5000 an acre. z. T. Bricker, who quit
the practice of dentItry to promote fruit
/ lands and engage in fruit raising. states
/ that within few years developed or
| chards will command as high as $1,000 an
acre, the high price at which lands have
| been sold al Palisades, Colo.
Wanted, sewers. ZCMT alteration dept