Deseret farmer. [volume], January 09, 1909, Page 5, Image 5

About Deseret farmer. [volume] (Provo, Utah) 1904-1912

Image provided by: University of Utah, Marriott Library

                
SATURDAY, JANUARY 9, 1909. T H JB D JB 13 il K X T F A Jt M JC Jt 5 H
- - - - - - ! lf-. - - - "i J-ii -- -.- i-.. . - "- - r ,1
The Price River Project
"I christen this, the Price River
Canal, and may it always bring pros
perity." Thus was the dream of
President Paxnian, Grace Bros., Geo.
M?cCunc, W. D. Livingston and" J. H.
lToggan of seven years ago realized,
last week when -with the words quot-
; ed above a little daughter of W. D.
Livingston, broke a bottle of wine
on the great concrete diversion dam
in the center of Price river, and the
Stream being turned at the moment
into the great hcadgatc the waters
that arc next summer and thereafter
to reclaim 18,000 to 20,000 acres of the
desert country of Carbon and Emery
counties went coursing down through
the twenty-three miles of canal and
flumiug and tunnels.
I The formal dedication was preceded
with an appropriate address from Dr.
G. II. Brimhall of Brigham Young
University at Provo in the presence of
four members of the state board of
land commissioners, officials and
stockholders of the company, visitors
from Salt Lake City and hundreds of
citizens of Price, Helper, Wellington
-and surrounding communities.
Notwithstanding the fact that the
weather was cold there were many
women present. After the christening
some one in the crowd suggested the
hinging of the "Star-Spangled! Ban
ner." The song was quickly taken up
by a male voice in the throng, and
then followed "America," and after
ward several patriotic airs were played
by the Wellington Brass Band, while
the crowd marched to a Rio Grande
1 Western passenger train which was
waiting nearby with its Pullman cars.
The enterprise had its conception
some years ago. A party of Ncphi
citizens with Messrs. Livingston and
Hoggan built the reservoir and dam
, with the idea of taking the water
through the mountain and over the
n&w famous Lcvan Ridge. Some
$100,000 was expended in building the
dam and reservoir. The parties re
ferred to invested some $41,000 in this
project and this with the amount in
vested by other parties made a total
, expenditure of $100,000. Owing to a
miscalculation on the part of the en
gineer, the original scheme had to be
abandoned. Later Mr. Hoggtm pur
chased the Reservoir," Dam, etc., at a
great sacrifice to the original inves-
!
tors. On Sept. 19, 1906, a company
consisting of W. D. Livingston, D.
M. Landrcth, R. W. Crockett, L. N.
Harmon and Fitzgerald Bros, took
over the holdings from Mr. Hoggan
and began work on the canal. On
Dec. 7, 1907, this company merged
with the Abraham Company into what
is now known as the Irrigated Lands
Company. The officers of this com
pany number on its personnel some
of the tbest known business men oi
the state. HJon. J. Y. Smith, the well
known financier of Lchi is President,
W. D. Livingston, General Manager,
and these with Jas. Melville, Chas.
Tyng, Van D. Spalding, D. M. Lan
drcth and J. H. Burtncr constitute
the directorate.
The canai of the Irrigated Lands
Company, into which water was
turned, comes out of the Price River
at a point about half way between
Helper and Price, where a diverting
dam of concrete costing in the neigh
borhood of $30,000 turns the water to
the south side of the Price river. The
canal runs in a generally southeaster
ly direction for twenty-three miles,
through Carbon and well into Emery
County. On the canal line there arc
numerous pieces of side hill, tunnel
and flume work, one piece of fluming
and excavating for the same having
cost in excess of $25,000. The ditch
is sixteen feet wide at the bottom,
twenty feet at the top, and carries an
average depth of four and a half feet.
Laterals of Various sizes and dimen
sions are to distribute the water along
the canal to users. One tunnel just
west of Price is 300 feet long, eight
feet overhead and sixteen feet in
width, concreted most of its length.
Unlike many propositions of this
kind, there is no dead1 territory along
the canal's route, for land may be
watered from it within the first half
mile from the river's diverting point.
The Spanish Fork Construction Com
pany has had the work as contractors.
F. R, Coates of Boston is the consult
ing engineer; M. S. Darrow, chief cn
enginccr, and H1. B. Daugherty, engi
neer in charge of the work in the field.
A. R. Kerstetter is superintendent of
construction.
acres of lands under this new irriga
tion system, Carbon county promises
tpjfc&prne quite as famous for agri-
culture, horticulture and stodk raising
as for the production of coal and
coke, the two latter at this time her
chicfest industries. Fruits of all
kinds, with the exception perhaps of
peaches, grow here as well as in any
Gf the other sections of the state. No
better wheat, oats, alfalfa and veget
ables arc prod"uccdanywhcrc in Colo
rado or Utah. The soil is ideal for
sugar beets, as is shown by govern
ment and-statc tests by experts. Far
mers of the valley get as high as sixty-five
bushels of wheat to the acre,
tut perhaps forty would be nearer the
average. Wheat averages forty-five
bushels. As high as 300 to 500 bush
els of potatoes arc taken from an acre
of ground. Four to five tons of al
falfa are grown to the acre. It is now
selling at $10 to $12, and not enough
is produced for home consumption.
Price River valley has taken prizes
for its peaches on several occasions.
Honey from this valley is the best
produced anywhere, taking first
prizes at St. Louis and Chicago
World's Fairs. Dry farming as far
as experimented with on the bench
lands surrounding this valley 'has been
quite successful.
Source of Water Supply.
The Irrigated Lands Company, to
begin with, acquired valuable water
rights ami a reservoir site in Goose
berry Valley, about half way between
Fairvicw and Scoficld, where -it i pps- H
siblc to impound 50,000 acre feet by H
rescrvoiring. Additional high Watt'i H
rights arc owned in the Price River H
At the Gooseberry the reservoir Of H
Concrete and earth has been com H
pletc'd to a point where 25,000 aru H
feet of water may be impounded for H
use during the season of 1909. It H
comes down a natural channel into H
the Price River, and is taken into the H
canal at a point of diversion. The H
first watering for crops is from the H
high water source, while the two sec- H
ond waterings of the season arc from H
the impounded reservoir water. Fif- H
ty thousand dollars has up to this H
time been spent on this reservoir, and H
the same will be completed to its in- H
tended original proportions when re- H
quired or il is found expedient. ThU H
asset is a part of the original hold- H
ings of the old Mammoth Reservoir H
Company, which at one time proposed H
to take this water over into Sanpete H
County. The canal now (built and the H
reservoir in connection therewith an jH
along the lines attempted several H
years ago by Isaac Macfarland of St. H
George, who was acting for Price peo- H
pic, who at that time made a failure H
of the deal. From time to time there H
has been quite if not fully $500,000 H
spent in trying to take this water one H
place or another. H
(Continued on page 9) H
IKST. " wJ! aMJBSCSBnp" if 1 Jin ' iHnB 1
DANIELSEN ENGINE PLOWS, M
They plow any WIDTH or any DEPTH. They ar easy to H
operate, very light in draught, and under perfect control. .H
The above cut shows three Danielsen Engine Plows cut- M
ting twenty-two feet of land. "We manufacture horse and M
engine disc and mold board plowa. Write for catalogue. M
DANIELSEN PLOW CO.
SELL PHONE 3101 H
210 SOUTH 6TH WEST SALT LAKE CITY. UTAH j