The Idaho recorder. [volume] (Salmon City, Idaho) 1886-1927, 1921-03-25
If IN NEED OF
STEAM SHOVEL
GO MAKE One
THAT Is MURRAY CROOKS WAY
OF OVERCOMING DIFFICUL-
TIES IN DIGGING RIGATION
DITCH.

One Of the old irrigation systems
of the Salmon country is known as
the Pope ditch, which has long fur
nished life to the lands below it, in
cluding the ranches of William A.
Warner, Thomas Kane, Fox Brothers,
Miss Riggs, Frank McCracken and
others. The ditch takes its supply
from the Salmon river just at the
canyon above the Shoup bridge. Muir
ray Crook owns fine body of land
above this ditch, along with holdings
belonging to the Hide ranch and a
tract off the stock farm of Harry L.
Summers. In the Crook holdings are
about 400 acres and the Summers and
Hide ranches carry the balance to
make up nearly full section.
Crook was figuring for year on
plans to irrigate these lands. He is
a resourceful and practical man and
the land holders were willing to join
in the expense of the undertaking if
they could share in the benefits. 1t
was found necessary to raise thous
and inches of water to an elevation
of 30 feet in order to cover the lands.
Crook planned pumping plant to
accomplish the result. 1t has all been
figured out to a nicely with the skill
of an engineer. At first he will en-
xrge the ditch to width of 12
ftet on the bottom and then install a
turbine wheel with a penstock off
the ditch to develop ample power to
drive the pumps besides carrying
enough water on by the penstock to
supply the ranches below as at pres
A5;,
The young man lost no time in Sc
curing turbine water wheel when
he found that such an appliance had
been discarded a. the upper power
plant. 1t was just what he wanted
and he bought it. Then he set to
work enarging the ditch, using teams
in the work. At this stage of the
enterprise young Crooks father came
upon the scene to find his resourceful
son in the midst of a mighty big job,
for there was quarter of a mile of
the ditch to dig out and enlarge in
a mighty difficult place as it stretches
along the banks of the state highway
and borders the rivers brink. Joe E.
Crook, the father, is resourceful
man himself and his practical eye
at once suggested something to the
son.
"Why don't you get a steam shovel
to do that job?" was what he asked
Murray remembered very well
what wonders Boomers steam shovel
had wrought not long before in that
very locality, and he replied that if
he knew where he could get such a
thing he certainly would get it.
Make one," the father proposed,
"and IN help you.'
So the father and son set about
collecting the necessary parts to as
semble into what is not going to be
really a steam shovel, but the next
thing to it in a gasoline shovel. A
twenty-horse engine was secured at
the abandoned Oliver coal mine, and
it is practically as good as new. Then
pulleys and belts and shafts and wire
ropes and sweep were all collected
on the ground for the construction of
the shovel, with nothing now wanting
except the mighty scoop itself. The
working parts have been tried out
and seem to be well designed for
De purpose intended. Those who
have seen the incomplete shovel de-
clare it practical for the work of con-
structing the ditch and will soon be
making the dirt fly.
In all the annals of Lemhi county
development there was nothing ahead
of the Pope ditch at the time of its
completion. Thomas Pope and George
Conlee, two pioneers still residing in
Salmon, were the projectors. They
owned all the land lying under its
flow, comprising 1860 acres, with a
920-acreage fenced. A recurrence of
grasshopper pests for three years
caused the owners to lose their crops
after the costs of the ditch had
mounted up toward or above $4,000.
The lands now comprise numbers of
splendid ranches. When the ditch
was first dug it was feet across on
the bed. Old Mr.. Pope and Mr.. Con-
lee used to drive a buggy along its
bottom.