The Wenatchee daily world. [volume] (Wenatchee, Wash.) 1905-1971, 1910-03-08
TORECLAIM25O, OOOACRES|
Monaires Pettigrew and HolliSter Have Started the
Preliminary Work on Big Reclamation Pro-
ject Around Moses Lake-Prospecfs
Rosy for Grant County

the last great grazing ground in the
Inland Empire, will soon be trans
formed into splendid fields of alfal-
| ia, grains and unrivalled fruit. I'm
| limited capital awaits only the re-
port of Engineer Jacobs, of the Unit
ed States Reclamation Service, tc
commence operations which will re.
claim 100000 acres of rich, volcanic
ash prairie; and now it can be stated
upon definite knowledge that the
capitalists who swung the Twin Falls
project in Idaho have started opera
tions to reclaim 100000 acres sur
rounding Moses Lake, south OF
Ephrata, Grant county. The land to
be reclaimed and the climatic con-
ditions in Grant county are pro-
nounced by these capitalists to be
| far superior to the land and climate
of Twin Falls.
Last fall there appeared at Moses
Lake and Ephrata an unassuming
stranger who registered at the local
hotel as VIM. Scheffel, Twin Falls,
Idaho. Few took any notice of his
business, but an examination of the
records in the auditors office OF
Grant country shows that he has
been pretty busy. The minute the
vi re
lake by the McConihie Moses Lake
Irrigation company expired he appro-
priated 1000 cubic feet per second
at the same points on the lake con-
temlated by the McConihie project
1t also appears that he filed on 3d.
600 cubic feet of water at Priest
Rapids on the Columbia for the pur-
pose of developing electric power.
The filings were made on the 4th
and 18th day of January, 1910, re-
spectively. At the same time it Is
officially reported by the Northern
Pacific railway authorities that the
option which l.. F. McConihe and
his associates had on the 100000
acres of railroad land about Moses
lake having expired, the same had
been taken by Senator Pettigrew of
South Dakota and Millionaire Hol-
lister of Chicago. During the last
month the two sons of Senator Pet
tigrew have been classifying lands
in he vicinity of Moses lake and now
Scheffel, who turns out to be the
superintendent of construction for the
Pettigrew and Hollister interests has
again appeared On the scene and an
nounces that he will put a large
crew of men to work at once at
Moses lake. He announces that
Moses lake. the natural reservoir of
the Inland Empire, possessing an un-
limited supply of water from artesian
springs, will furnish enough water
to reclaim 100000 acres. Few peo-
pie realize that this fresh water lake
is over 10 miles long, half mile
wide and 400 feet deep.
1t is planned to install a large
pumping station on the east side of
the lake in section 81, township 20,
N. R. %. 1t will be necessary to lift
the water a height of $50 feet, but
the ample electric power which the
company will develop at Priest Rap
ids, a distance of but 80 miles, will
make the problem simple. In Cali
fornia a farmers association is lift
ing water a height of $50 feet by
electric power at a maintenance cost
of only $500 per acre. Since it has
been demonstrated that fruit can be
raised as successfully at the lake as
at Wenatchee, only 40 miles away,
the maintenance charge will be trif-
ling compared to the results. And
the best recommendation that Grant
county has as fruit country is the
unlimited confidence which success
full fruit men of Wenatchee have in
it.
On the west side of the lake the
lift is but 10 feet and at the lower
end thousands of acres can be irri-
gated by the gravity system. The
company also plans to furnish elec-
trio power to those possessing pri-
vate irrigating plants and to equip
electric railway lines in the county.
The railway companies have not
lest sight of the immense possibilities
of Grant county. The Northern Pa
cific has now under actual construc-
I ton a line from Adrian to Connell
which runs parallel with Moses lake
six miles to the east. The same road
competing with the Milwaukee, is al.
so building a line from Ritzville
westward to the lake and the survey
| has been extended across the lower
end of the county to Beverly where
the Northern Pacific will likely cross
the Columbia and thence across the
Cascades via Ellensburg. 1t has beer
| Continued on Page 81