The Oroville weekly gazette. [volume] (Oroville, Wash.) 1905-19??, 1916-02-04
BOOST FOR THE OKANOGAN.

hgs ever held in the district. There
las a good attendance of the land
wners from the south end OF the dis
bet and quite a number went down
fom Oroville and vicinity. The two
Important discussions were given by
c. Stevens and Mr.. Ross II. Brattain.
T.. r. l.. Picken of Tonasket pointed
nt number of the advantages OF the
strict plan of managing irrigation
eojects, and Mr. J. p. Douglas spoke
his usual optimistic manner of the
Ilture OF irrigated lands. The i'm
Iortance of the success of the North
)kanogan project in its relation to
ther prospective systems was well
Presented by Mr. J. W. Graham of
dement's of success of any project, the
bllowing five points and enlarged very
arefully on each one of them. First.
be SOLVE have it, it is we'll tested
nd there is no question as to its
balue; second, proper construction OF
he systematic West OkanOgan pro-
ect has good engineers and is build
BIZ a good system; third-the up-keep
bost, how large; fourth, ultimate cost
y water.
The cost here will be reasonable and
ven if construction cost should run
b 500 per acre with the up-keep as
liz has two or three dollars per acre
h is not too high and our lands will
lastly stand such cost. Fifth-whether
br not lands are held at speculative
+ <talues-too high values endangers the
uccess of any project.
a He emphasized the fact that it is
Strictly up to the people who live un-
her project whether or not the lands
arc sold and that the best way to sell
and was to improve it. An irrigation
system is purely a business propo-
btion
Mr.. George H. Major gave a short
alk on the advantages Of the district
plan and dwelt especially on the
financial end of the features. He stat
i ed that any project that has lots Of wa
Ter and is feasible in Its construction
and system of irrigation, can be f1nanc-
ed If properly managed.
81 The principal talk was given by Mr.
u c. Stevens, engineer in charge, who
poke at length regarding the West
bhanogan project and the type Of con-
Btruction and answered many questions
that brought out the strong points of
The system now being built. He stated
That the canals and fumes are ample
70 carry water to supply all the lands
below the ditch and for all that are
|&kithin reasonable pumping lift
above. The construction of the bitches
Vocation and reaches all of the land
5that can be reached by a gravity sys-
44em. The plans for the lateral distri-
button system will be placed before
5the land owners within few days and
The land owners will be given an op-
Sportunity to examine the same and
suggest any changes that may be ad-
$Nantageous for their particular lands.
Mr.. Stevens spoke especially on the
s::splendid pipe lines that are being con-
xstructed by the Portland Wood Pipe
q company. He says these are the best
4 that he ever saw, being made of the
#best quality of fir At critical points the
slaves are cresoted and all will be
d given two coats of protection paint to
4 insure as long life as possible. The
wooden fumes are all pine planks and
put together in good workmanlike
MANNER trestle supports are substan-
tial fir timbers.
Wooden flume construction is
cheaper in the interest, cost and up
keep charges than metal fumes. The
metal flume, being comparatively new
and it's wearing qualities not fully
tried out. The galvanizing sometimes
fails or the gravel in the water may
wear out the metal. On account of in
creased interest charges on greater
first cost of construction of system
using metal flume, it is cheaper to
build of wood and replace than to
bear the first heavy cost of metal flum-
ing construction although the Operat-
ing expense Of the metal flume con-
struction is less. Mr.. Stevens advises
that the irrigation lines carry water
the full year except for that short
period of time when the severe freez-
ing endangers overflow; keeping the
water in the fumes minimize the
shrinkage and drying of the fumes
and will keep the system in better or
der. He explained at length the duty
of watcl and says that the amount sup
piled by this sys:em-2.5 acre feet, is
ample for all nee DIS and is more than
should be used On most of the land. TIe
declared that cultivation is the essen
tial thing in irrigation farming anC
that water was but an adjunct. Mr.
Stevens laid special stress on the i'm
portance of the preparation OF the
land and startled some of his hearers
by saying that the water would bt
ready for use before the land was
ready A point that specially pleased
his audience was the statement tha
the entire system would be fully testet
by the contractors before being turned
over to the district Another goot
point regarding the construction wa
that in ditch building practically all o
the water area was in cuts, there be
ing but few embankments.
Mr.. Delatur who has been the super
intendent of an irrigation project a
Vernon, B. c., spoke very happily an
emphatically of the benefits of tn
project here and created very favor
able impression on his hearers. MI
Delatur is man experienced in irri
CATION matters and the handling G
water.
Mr.. Ross r. Britain, who is livin
near Tonasket for the present, gave
very happy speech on boosting an