The Twin Falls times. [volume] (Twin Falls, Idaho) 1905-1916, 1916-11-30
WATER WASTED
IS ASSERTION
Commercial Club Directors Say
Cement the CanaT''
SAYS 700 ACRE FEET OF WATER Is
BEING LOST ANNUALLY.
Proposition to Irrigate Hansen Butte
And To Generate Power Are Now
Endorsed.

Declaring that enough water is now
going to waste to irrigate 700 tracts of
eighty acres each through faults in
the canals, suggesting that the lost
water may later prove injurious to
some of the lands in the tract, the di-
rectors of the Twin Falls Commercial |
club Tuesday sent letter to the Twin |
Falls Canal company asking that the
canal be cemented for ten miles and
that the water saved be used to de-
velop power, to increase the amount of
water available for irrigation of lands
now in the Twin Falls tract, and for
the irrigation of 10000 acres more, said
to be available at Hansen Butte. The
letter follows:
To the Board of Directors of the
Twin Falls Canal Company:
Gentlemen:
The matter of reclaiming the lands
in the vicinity of the Hansen Butte
from their present failure as a dry
farm proposition is of such vital in
terest to the community as a whole,
that we cannot refrain from CALLING
your attention to what we consider to
be your duty i'll this matter.
The power that can be easily de-
veloped at the head of the Low Line
now going to worse than waste, for
it is damaging property and losing
water, is more than sufficient to pump
the water required for irrigation of a
large acreage, that would in the very
near future become as valuable as any
lands under the present system.
1t is a known fact that there is a
constant loss of about 700 second feet
of water by seepage from the canal
which can be largely saved by cement
ing the canal for distance of less
than ten miles. This saved water is
more than sufficient to irrigate the
lands that can be reached by this sys-
tenn and leave an increased supply for
the older lands. What damage this
lost 700 feet of water is doing in seep-
age, no man can tell.
This 700 feet represents 700 eighty
acre tracts or $4,000 acres and if the
water rights for this acreage were sold
at the present value of the old water
rights, based on the original selling
price of $500 per acre and accrued
interest, giving a present value of
about $50 600, they would give you a
construction fund of $2,S00,000, which
is much more than ample, and these
rights would be considered a bargain
at the price, for they would be on a
par with the older rights as to priority,
but in a proven success and a proven
abundance of water, while the earlier
purchasers were taking many chances.
The unused power would bring in a
revenue of no small amount and would
be another community asset
We realize that there are many de-
tails to be worked out of which we
know nothing, but we most heartily
endorse any action that you may
take looking toward this end, but we
beseech you to get busy, for the time
is ripe. Money is easy to obtain now
for this kind of construction and
there is demand for every acre OF
these water rights, owing to the in.
creased value of the lands under the
old system.
We sincerely believe that the con
, struction of this plant will directly
= benefit the present stockholders II
= reduction of maintenance charges anC
increased water supply and will bene
fit the entire county by the additiona
taxable property that it will produce
Hoping that you will accept thes'
, suggestions in the spirit in which
they are written, we are,
= Yours truly,
TWIN FALLS COMMERCIAL CLUB
, j. M. Maxwell, Director
' w. H. Eldridge. Director
, Samuel Hart, Director
, L. T. Wright, Director
. ]. Mcmillan, Secretary.
Messrs. Failing, Salladay and De
Long of the board are out of city.