The Oroville weekly gazette. [volume] (Oroville, Wash.) 1905-19??, 1910-02-04

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to sell the land thus obtained at not
less than $l75 an acre, and in order to
insure fair profit the price would
have to be held at $3.50 or $500 per acre.
If the land of the company can com
mand such figures, most assuredly the
residue held 10y the owners under the
ditch would command the same price,
and hence the man who gives away so
of his 100 acres, now of no real value
based on its producing capacity, will
receive for the balance a sum he hard
ly ever dreamed of calling his own.
The maintenance fee is for the purpose
of keeping the system in repair, and
while the sum thus received looks
large in the aggregate it is not un-
reasonable.
One can readily understand that to
the homesteader who has struggled
along for years the surrender of half
his landed holdings seems like large
sacrifice. Yet if he has lived in this
county any length of time he should be
able to realize that what looks like a
sacrifice is blessed privilege, as it
insures to him u speedy competency.
1t shauld not be necessary to argue the
matter moment with any old timer,
and new settler should, by quoting
examples, be easily convinced of the
benefits that will accrue to him by CO.
operation in securing this reclamation
scheme. 1t is not necessary to 90 out
side the limits of Okanogan county for
evidence of the transformation that
follow the application of water to soil.
Take the stretch of country from Riv-
erside to Okanogan, and what was it,
and what the value of the land, before
the Inauguration of the government
irrigation project ? 1t seems waste
of time and space to dwell upon the
subject Look at the conditions as
they are today. That once arid unin-
viting, worthless land, sand and sage
brush, producing not sufficient vege
tation in a township to sustain a jack
rabbit, finds ready sale at from 500
to $500 per acre And mark you, no
water on it yet, only the promise of
water. Think of it We land owners in
this vicinity who could not sell under
existing conditions for one tenth that
sum, and if you did you would be pass
ing up a brass brick, for without wa
ter or the chances of obtaining water,
the land is of no intrinsic value. Say
you could sell at $50 an acre at the
present time, would it not be far more
to your material welfare 10 give away
half your land noa and year hence
sell the balance for $500, or even $3.50,
per acre !? Or, if you so elect, set out
fruit trees and within very few years
have land worth $1,000 an acre, or bet
ter. 1t does not require a mathemat-
ician to show where you stand to make
a big winning by aiding to bring about
the consummation of this enterprise.
But there is still more and stronger
testimony bearing on the case from the
records of the county. All the old
residents remember the Brewster fiat.
If there is a more barren or desolate
piece of territory of the same extent
than was the flat few years ago, it
would be hard to find. All of us, who
have been here any number of years,
have driven over the fiat in winter and
summer. 1t was dreaded before it was
reached, and sigh of relief went up
after it was left behind. 1t was prac-
poses. What is the status of most of
that land today? Not with water with
in reach, remember, but with the SIM
pie promise of water in the future it
commands all kinds of prices from $3.50
an acre and upward. Can the ranch
owner of the upper Okanogan valley,
tiveness of residence is far and away
ahead of the Brewster flats, doubt for
a moment that with the certainty of
this water system being installed the
lands here aboutS would not command
prices equal, If not greater, than the
fat above Brewster?
With this evidence before him, not
an unsupported statement of this pa
per, but facts of which every resident
of the valley is fully cognizant, the
land owner who holds back from Civ
ing his best efforts toward aiding in
making this irrigation proposition a
success is finn flaming himself, robbing
his neighbor and standing in the way
of the greatest opportunity of progress
ever presented TO the northern part of
Okanogan county.
1t is hardly necessary to dwell upon
the great benefit that such an enter
prise successfully carried out would be
to the whole people. Let the mere
fact go out that this company has
reached an amicable understanding
with the property owners and irriga-
tion is assured, and land values will at
once make rapid advance. Not only
will the price sharply advance, but
there will be an active demand for this
land at the advanced figures where
there is no demand now for the same
land even at the present figures. The
carrying on of the work would put
thousands of dollars in almost imme-
diate circulation, employing many men.
1t would attract capital and settlers to
Oroyille, the town would take on new
lifa opI N M mid anI q, l,ct tinl mt u