Bisbee daily review., 1912-03-08
WATER USERS WILL
 START IMPROVING
 CASA GRANDE LANDS
Canal to Be Put in and Diamond Drill Set to
 Find Bedrock
CONSULT ENGINEER

] 1 CASA GRANDE, March 7.-Sur- veyIng for the canal that is to irrigate the Casa Grande valley will commence the latter part of this week, and tho 1 canal will De completed by next fall Within short time a number of dfa- mond drill holes will be sunk on the san Carlos dam site to determine the | distance to bed rock. The land owners ! Of the valley are confident now that they will be given permission to use the dam site and are going ahead to build the canal with the money that they will raise among themselves. Eastern capitalists are to advance the money necessary to build the dam, ! just as soon as the farmers are given | title thereto.
 | J. F. Brown of Casa Grande Valley ' Water Users association, is in Phoe- TX today. He is on his way to Los Angeles to interview J, H. Quinton, consulting engineer for the associa- tion, who is to have general superyi- 1 sion Of the surveying of the canal and dam site, and later of the construction of the canal. Some of Quintons men will be on the ground Friday or Sat. urday to commence surveying the big ditch.
 A diamo-@ Grill has been loaned 1 by mining company and it will be
 used to puncture the bed of the Gila
 in several places at the San Carlos ! dam size. This work will progress
 rapidly. All that IS wanted is the eX- act distance to bed rock, and this in. formation will be embodied iu . sec ond application which the Water Users association will present to the
 interior department.
 k Under the canal will be 100000 acres Of fertile land. Nearly all Of it is held and it is believed that the
 land owners themselves are able to
 raise a sum sufficient to build the
 forty mile canal. As soon as the survey is completed, it is hoped to commence work, and unless there are ! unexpected delays, the ditch will be finished by neyt fall. Then the lands will De irrigated as much as possi-
 ble with the reg1lar winter flow. The farmers hope that there will be
 enough rainfall and river water to en.
 able them to raise crops of grain, hay,
 milo maize and otbSr farm products.
 When the dam is built there will be
 enough stored water to make the val
 ley one of the richest in the world
 It will be necessary to issue bonds
 to build the dam. Three different parties have offered to finance the
 project. It is likely that an agreement
 will be reached with some Pittsburg
 capitalists, 10 advance the money
 necessary to build the dam, as soon
 as the farmers are assured of the
 dam site. The bankers of Tucson have made the Water Users association an offer and negotiations have been car
 ried on for some time with some
 moHeyed men of Kansas City. It is
 believed that the offer made by the
 Pittsburg people is the most advanta- geous and it will probably be accepted
 Never before have the land owners
 of the Casa Grande valley felt so con
 tident that they will be permitted to
 build the San Carlos dam and thus as-
 sure an ample supply of irrigation
 water for their farms, according to
 Fred J. Cornick, surveyor of Pinal
 county, who is in the city today from Casa Grande. The wording Of the re- cent decision of Assistant Secretary of the Interior Adams, rejecting all ap-
 plications for the dam site, causes them to feel certain that it is his in- tention to favor the land owners when the matter comes up again. They are preparing to submit another apphca- ton at an early date, embodying the data that they are to obtain by the use of the diamond drill. They hope that this data will still further prove the feasibility of the project.
 There has been q great increase in land prices since the decision was rendered, Cornick says. At the present time relinquishments are selling for y7.50 to SIS an acre. A. man who had claim next to Cornick's own hold . ings, north of Casa Grsnde. sold for s7.5O an acre before he had done xhy work on the place at all
 Many California people are going into the valley, and the entire dis triet is alive as It never was before. | Fences are going Ur in every direc- ten; land is beng cleared OF and . pumping plants are being erected. | Many of the land holders are not . waiting for water from the Gila, but I are going right ahead to irrigate their ! farms by pumping. Over much of the valley water can be had at depths of 20 to 25 feet and many persons are raising produce, with pumped water, at a profit. One nan is making money irrigating forty acres from i've inch, l5 horse power pump.
 In Casa Grande there is an un- precedented demand for real estate. One Phoenician, confident that the town will soon be a city, recently