Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-08-04
RED CLOUDS COUNTRY
Douglas and Fort Fetterman
Where Indians Fought.
NOW PROSPECTING DISTRICT
Great Irrigation Project Brings
Well.to-Do Farmers.
TOWN JEWELLERS SUBSTANTIAL
Scene About Old Army Post Told
of in Wister's Story of
1.-THE Virginian.''
TOWN JEWELLERS SUBSTANTIAL
By WILLIAM F.. CURTIS.
Special Correspondence of The Star and the
Chicago Record Herald.

BY WILLIAM f. CURTIS.
Special Correspondence of The Star and the
Chicago Record Herald.
DOUGLAS, Wyo., July 26. 1909.
Douglas is not the biggest town in
wyoming said the First Citizen, but
it is the best.
las, but there are no better ones" said
the Second Citizen.
When We get our fifty-thousand-d dollar
Carnegie Library and our one-hundred-
and ty-thousand-dollar Federal build
ing. said the Third Citizen. Douglas
will be hard to beat"
These are the sentiments that prevail
among the entire population of one Of
the prettiest towns ] have seen anywhere.
1t is a town without "kickers'' or knock
ers." Every citizen is an optinlist. There
are no poor, no sorrowfu, no discour-
aged men in this community.
There is good reason for it. The in
habitants have about everything any one
requires to make them happy, and real
iZe it.
Old and Stable Town.
Douglas is quite an old town. judging
from the standard OF this section of the
Union. having been founded long before
the Northwestern railroad was built out
this way ana named after the late
Stephen A. Douglas by some of his ad-
mirers. There are now 2.0O0 inhabitants
the most substantial kind of people, all
well-to-do and many OF them have ac-
quired considerable wealth.
The town Is laid out with broad streets
at right angles, lined with shade trees
which were set out not by the citizens
TIL
tific system, and are taken care of by
the municipal officers. The homes are
mostly comnlodious and comfortable. each
with large shaded garden and lawn.
They tell me there are eight miles of
concrete sidewalks. which seems extra
cry place is neatly kept. and civic pride
expresses itself in appearances as we'll
as in words, which is not always the
case.
Big Irrigation Project.
a few miles west of Douglas is one of
the most important irrigation schemes in
Wyoming, promoted by DR.. ]. NJ. Wilson,
who came here from Cadiz, Ohio, several
years ago to practice medicine; went into
the stock business and In 1906 organized
the La Prela Ditch and Power Company
with a capital of 100000. all local money.
with W. F. Hamilton of Douglas presi-
dent and B. F. Irwin of Douglas vice
president.
They got 5000 acres of land under the
Carey act. which allows the sale Of water
rights up to $50 an acre. But the COM
PAM is now selling 1t at $50 an acre, al
though the price is likely to increase
The land around Douglas is rolling and
has a. deep, fertile soil. The La Prela
creek rises in the Medicine Bow noun
tains and flows northward through the
Fort Fettermen military reservation,
where 1t empties into the North Platte
river.
1t has a watershed of 167 square miles
and an annual rainfall Of about twenty
four inches. 1t runs through three diff
ferent canyons, in which the company is
building two dams as a precaution, SO
that it can control the waters without
question.
The first dam is on an original plan.
There are very few like it. The first
field. Mass. 1t was designed by a Danish
engineer named Anderson. and was built
by the American Construction Company
of Boston at cost of 100000.
The material is concrete. reinforced
with steel. A skeleton, made of 1. 500, 600
pounds of steel, is incased In walls of
concrete from one to five feet thick,
| standing at an acute angle, and the in
side is hollow. The angle of the frame
is said to give it more strength than
if 1t were solid.
The dam Is 135 feet high. with a ten
foot splashboard on top-the highest re-
inforced concrete dam In the world. 1t
| stands at the mouth Of the canyon a mile
tom and 300 feet wide at the top. with
walls almost perpendicular on either side,
averaging 600 feet high.
Capacity Of Dam.
This dam will impound 10000 aero feet
xI~& t.
kept in storage all the time to cover
10000 acres of land an average of one
foot deep. The reservoir or artificial lake
thus created will stretch back a mile and
half beyond the canyon, and the cir
conference will be about fifteen miles.
The average depth of water will be
about eighty feet. Ninety per cent of the
work is done and the dam will be COM
pleted in August.
completed also. and water was turned on
for the first time the 9Th of last May.
Between $4,000 and 10000 acres of land
have been sold, in tracts of from 20 to
100 acres. to actual farmers from Iowa
Nebraska. South Dakota and the adjoin-
ing states.
They plowed about 1900 acres this
spring, which is now promising splendid
crops OF oats. wheat. alfalfa, potatoes
and other vegetables. Some Of the farm
ers are setting out fruit orchards.
They have built about forty houses and
twice as many barns-substantial and
comfortable homes with plenty of room
and the modern conveniences. Most Of
the new settlers are married men and
have brought their families with them.
Nearly all of them have an abundance
of working capital.
The remainder of the 5000 acres will
| be ready for settlement next year. and
the land will continue to be sold, as at
present, for 30 cents an acre plus the
cost of the perpetual water rights, which
will be from $50 to $50 an acre.
In addition to irrigating this sc, 600 acre
tract under the gravity system, DIR. Will
| son is building a power plant to develop
about 15OO0 horsepower of electricity,
| which will be used to pump water out
of the North Platte river to reclaim
more than 10000 additional acres belong
| ing to the general government, the state
| and private owners. This tract lies
along the Fremont and Elkhorn division
! of the Chicago and Northwestern rail-
road. and extends from Glen Rock Con-