East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1911-12-04

: site consist OF uncultivated, candy
sagebrush lands that have no water
supply nor any possibility OF ever be-
: ing cultivated or irrigated and that
are practically worthless except for
pasture. The remaining portion of
the site contains several hundred
acres of good farming land which it
will be necessary to destroy.
1T does not require very much con-
sideration tS an intelligent person to.
decide whether it is good policy to.
flood a few hundred acres of good
land and other areas of practically
worthless land, the whole not bsing
more than 1000 acres. In order to- re-
claim and permit the cultivation of
! between $4,000 ana 60 coo acres of
land, most of it highly attractive and
deSira BILE Even If the entire bed of
the proposed reservoir We're made up
! Gf first class land Well cultivated and
/ farmed. the issue would still be the
same, ana no intelligent person would
hesitate as to what answer should
he given The point is. whether the
1000 acres should. not be sacrificed
IN order that the $4,000 Or $4,000
acres should be made available fol
humes and farms. In any event the
land owners may be- assared the Unit
ed States will liberally pay them for
any portion that may he required.
John Dav Not New scheme.
There has recently appeared i'm
the- press another contention, that it
would be better for the government
to give up its plan OF using the Uma-
tilla river as a souros of supply and.
use water from the, John Day river
instead. This idea mas been sprung
by several parties az if it were an
entirely new and original one and de-
serving of serious consideration. 1t
Is implied in the articles that the
| United States has overlooked an inn
| portant and fundamental feature of
the proposition and that it would be
cheaper and better TO so at once TO
the John Day river and obtain a Cheap
and copious supply there instead of
! carrying out the plans now being
considered.
The reclamation service has dur
| ing the last five yeaEs given this mat
| ter more consideration than, probably
tC any other problem in oregon. The
! idea of taking water from the John
! Day has appeared so attractive that
the engineers have been trying to
work out some scheme whereby some
part or all of it might be used vari-
Gus surveying parties have gone over
the ground. have examined all of the
canyons and reservoir sites hoping to
find some possible way whereby the
scheme might be rendered practic-
able.
Difficult and Expensive to- Construct.
The situation is, however, that the
John Day river, flowing as it does at
the bottom of deep canyen hundreds
and sometimes thousands of feet be-
low the level of the adjacent coun-
try. and frequently in a rugged box
canyon, is not available for use ex-
cept at an enormous cost. Several
dams ranging in height up to 270 feet
and a great canal 20 miles in length
much of it consisting of tunnels
through solid ledge, would have to b'
I built before any of the John Day wa.
l ter could be placed on the land. Tn,
engineers estimates show that th'
> cost of watering 100000 acres undel
\ the John Day river would be nearl,
Il 100000. or upwards of S10S pei
n acre.
More than this, it is plain that thu
!, greater part of this enormous sun
= would have to be spent before singl,
: acre of the land could be irrigated, or
!, to put it in other words, it would b.
= necessary to build the complicated ant
costly system of reservoirs, dam:
tunnels, canals and siphons before an
water could be obtained on the irri
h.n loat y,
- cultivation or reclamation could i
q any event occur for seven or eigt
years, which would be the least tim
in which such extensive work coul
i be completed.
III by using the waste waters of tn
a Umatilla river the engineers preliH
& mary estimates of cost have show
70 that the cost of the works will M
OF exceed about $76 per acre as compare
- with sos per acre under the Joh
ne Day river. Moreover by using II
by Umatilla water 1t would be possib
to complete the works step by teI
bringing each year few thousar
!acres under cultivation, so that by "
Oo time the irrigation works are con
pleted the entire area will be larg,
ly under cultivation and settlemen
- l. appears that by modern expend
Oe lures of from 100000 to $4,000
per annum the Umatilla scheme ca
be carried out, which, of cours
VI brings it within the realm of pract
H cability. The John Day scheme,
si the other hand, is not. today, a fea
ne lille or practical proposition in al
" sense, and those who are advocatiI
it's consideration at this junctu
We either do 50 in complete ignorance
We the facts or are wilfully endeavoriI
:, to deceive the public.
i' Shemc for the Future.
eu The reclamation service has n
IN overlooked the John Day propositit
on in its proposed general scheme of d
." velopment Of this part Of the countr
ili,- Il has fully realized that so expe
~" sive and enormous a project as til
IL cannot be considered today, but tn
u in 15, 20 or 80 years time conditio
may have so changed and land m;
w have so greatly increased in vail
.P- that it may then appear desirable al
he practicable for adoption. and, NOR
ip- over, at that time it may be possib
Hu that funds may be available for
Dr. prosecution. The service has, ther