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Imperial Valley Press. vBl. ix. FUEL GAS SERVICE FOR VALLEY CITIES Equipment of Gas-Making Plant En Route to El Centro \ Work of Installation Will Begin Early in September and Works Will Be in Commission By First of Next Year— Ample Capacity of. Container . Assures Unexhaustible Supply. By January 1, and possibly >sooner, • th? Imperial Valley Gas Company will ! be prepared to give domestic gas ser- j vice to patrons in the cities of El Centro and Imperial. The first carload of machinery for • new plant, which is to ba located in El Centro, left Cincinnati, Ohio, on ' Augnk 7. ~The equipment is furnish ed by the Stacey Manufacturing Com- : pany. This concern has supplied the plants of the Domestic Gas Company of Los Angeles, and other Southern ; California points, which are conceded to be the most up-to-date and satis factory equipments in use in this, part' of the Stan.. The type of plant was selected after a caref' ' inrppction of the various gas, plants > T/isT /is AnTO-j les anu vicinity. . ; The machinery will all be here by September and work will begin im- j mediately on its installation. The oil j tanks and boilers of the Hciton Pow- j er Company already Installed will he j used, thus hastening the construction j of the plant, which is to be located . directly east of the power house. i Two carloads of service pipes have . been received, and the remainder of the pipe' necessary to lay a ma,in from j El Centro to Imperial and for service ■ systems in each of these towns will arrive as rapidly as it can be used. The container will have a capacity | of 30,000 cubic feet of gas, and the j plans give space for two more puri fiers to be installed as the demand , for fuel increases. j On September 1 an f xperienced gas : man will arrive in El Centro to close ! contracts with patrons of the new j gas company, and the indications are that a large proportion of the house- i '•oldors will take advantage of this opportunity to obtain the most satis- , factory fuel for domestic use. ' j : I NUMBER ONE'S NEW BOSS I Appointment of Engineer Clarke An Assurance of Brains in Mar. agement. J In the appointment of C. K. Clarke as superintendent, the directors of Water Company No. 1 have made amends for many mistakes and given assurance of at least present purpose to put some brains Into the manage ment of the company's affairs. Mr. Clarke is a singularly capablo engineer, who has had lonj; experi ence in controlling water and is es pecially efficient in handiln.'; men on big work. ' He built the daai that put the Colorado back Into Its bed arid say- , the Irrigation system of Imperial val- : ley, and he accomplished that feat, to tne amazement of the [qnglneerliig j profession, by methods that wore, jeered at and pronounced futile by engineers of the United S'.a'.e.* Recla mation Service. The high-collar, put teo-legged engineers of Inat bureau declared It impossible to close the break. That wi3 partly because they were incompetent to do tho> job thora seWes and partly because thav -lid j not desire to Hee the break closed. Failure of the liuuorlal Valley recla mation enterprise wui tin 'Unrest wish of their hearts Only three days b*far» the final! closing, the supervising en«Ucnr of tho Official Poper of Imperial County and City of 131 Centro. EL CENTRO, CALIFORNIA, SATURDAY, AUGUST 21, 1909. R. S. gleefully proclaimed to a gath ering of his associates that Clarke's dam was "the monumental failure of the age." In less than a week that dam was recognized throughout the land as the monumental engineering achievement of the age. The Recla mation Service engineers ate their crow In silence and confessed their error by adopting the Clarke method of choking the Colorado at Laguna Dam. 'There Is work enough to keep Su perintendent Clarke busy putting the canal system of Number One into good operating condition, for if ever any- I thing was bungled, neglected and mis treated, that system has been so mis 1 handled. Clarke will earn the $400 1 a month allowed him as salary If the [ directors supply him with the means for carrying out his plans. For one thing, he proposes to make use of the fall of the land, which has ' been wasted In "drops," and cause the ditches to keep themselves clear !of silt. He Intends to have the ditch ! levees cleared of brush, ! weeds and ; trees and kept clear. Also he pro poses to clear the payroll of idlers, I shirkers and pensioners and see that men paid for work show some chips. I Clarke has been looking over the sys ; tenv and trying to find out what the j men on the payroll ■' have been doing I for their wages, and he has found a { \ plentiful and significant dearth of chips. Tt will, take some time to put the ' system into efficient working order, but it can be so improved that the , owner of water stock can get water j when and where he needs It, and the ! waste can be disposed of without dam , age to.others. BIG SHIPMENT OF HOGS Twenty Qarloads' of hogs went out of Imperial Valely yesterday for the Los Angeles markets. An average of ninety hogs to the car is allowed, so this means an invasion of Los Ange les by 'about 1800 porkers. BAROMETER OF BUSINESS El Centro Station Shows Increase of Shipments and Receipts In Year The Southern Pacific station at El Centro shows a general increase of business for July over the same month of last year amounting to fully twen ty-five per cent. This station is now one of the most important business points of the Southern Pacific in Southern California, employs the lar gest force of men of any station out side of Los Angeles, and has made the best showing of increased earnings of any Southern Pacific station in Southeastern California. During the past month of July there were shlped from El Centro two cars of honey, 208 cars of cantaloupes, five cars of watermelons, forty-three cars of hay, twenty-six cars of live stock, six cars of brick, two cars of shook and twenty-five cars of ice; making a total of 317 full carload lots shipped from this point during one month. This is to be compared with a shipment of 118 cars from this sta tion in July of hist year, of which seventy were carloads of cantaloupes. The ticket sales have also made a good record, and while the local sales have fallen off from the record of July, 1908, the "Inter-line" tickets have made a great increase, showing an advance on the total sales of $135.92 over the Banie month of one year ago. A year ago hundreds of men and boya had swarmed here to work In the cantaloupe crop, which was fully three s times the acreage of this year's crop, and their going and coming Increased the ticket sales. -*'} i^." The "lnter-llne" ticket business for El Centro station for the past July shows an Increase of $867.40 over July of 1908. The shipment of live stock for the past , July shows a twenty-five per cent Increase over the 'same month of a year ago. ' BUILDING CAMPAIGN PLANNED FOR WINTER Expansion of County Seat's Business and Industrial Districts New Bank v and Office Block, Meal Mill, Brick and Tile Works, Gas Plant and Store Buildings Will Be Started As Soon as Cool Weather Comes —Public Library and Many New Residences Also on the List. El Centro Is -to have a busy fall and winter, not only in commercial lines, but in the general expansion of the city. Building is to be main tained on a scale equal to that ' of the previous season, and by the ar rival of another summer season, when all lines of work generally lighten and people seek rest and recreation at outside points, this city will show a growth that will' be highly satis factory. Even now, when affairs have reach ed their low ebb of summer activity extensive plans are being made for work which is to start early in the fall. By the middle of September ar tisans will be engaged on several new enterprises, simply a beginning of the season's work. F. B. Fuller, president of the El Centro National Bank, is having plans prepared for the erection of a two story brick or terra cotta structure on the northeast corner of Fifth and Main streets. The first story will be the home of the El Centro\ National Bank, and the second story will be arranged in suites of offices. Work on this building may begin next month. 1 . Plans have been, prepared for the erection of a $10,000 Carnegie Free Public Library on the lots donated by W. T. Bill, on the south side of Main street, near Fifth street. It is ex pected that work on this building will begin early In the fall. The money therefor has been deposited by the Carnegie Library Commission in a New York, bank, subject to use here as soon as certain formalities have been completed. T. J. Douglass, a capitalist of Los Angeles, who has owned business | property in El Centro for the past. year, has decided to improve his hold ings, and this week has had notices placed on the lots between the Court House and the old postoffice 1 building announcing that he will. erect a build ing there to suit tenants. He has al- , so decided to erect a two-story^>ulld- Ing on the north side of Main street, adjoining the Thomas Beach block. It , Is probable that this will be a two- ! story structure of the same general style as the Beach building. \ This fall a large building and sev- 1 eral smaller ones will be erected for! the plant of the alfalfa meal milling company. H. H. Peterson Is to move his brick making plant from Holtville to El Cen- j tro, and proposes to erect a drying, shed 200x200 feet. I The Simons Brick Company, of Los Angeles, Is also to enter this field and establish at El Centro a plant for the manufacture of hollow tile, and other clay products. This will^ necessitate the erection of several buildings. ' Several property owners here are planning on the erection of substantial cottages on residence lots this fall and winter, and one of the , prominent builders of San Djogo has plans made for spending the winter In El Centro and erecting several handsome bun gulows, which he will sell on terms ♦ hat will be attractive to home-seek era. Within a few weeks work will start on the erection at this place of the imperial Valley Gas Company's plant, and pipe-laying for the distributing system for both El Centro and Im perial will be under way. Dr. Virgil McCombs has plans ma* (tiring for the erection of a wing to the Central Hospital, which will be fully as large as the original build ing. NEW COUNTY MAP H. Thenberg, deputy County Sur veyor in charge of the office, during the absence of Surveyor Perryf~ la engaged in the preparation or a large map of Imperial county, showing in colors each tract of land under the new survey. It, will be Issued early In the fall. SCHOOL SECTION PROBLEM Land Office Declares Actual Occu pants Will Be Protected. , Recent statements of* H. H. Schwartz, acting Assistant Commis- ! sloner of the General Land Office, to valley claimants indicate that the bona fide claims of actual occupants of val ley lands are to be protected against the purchasers of school sections. In a letter from Mr. Schwartz to ' James E. Cannon, of Imperial, the statement is made: "I beg to advise you that it is not the' intention of this office that claim ants by purchase from the State of sections 16 and 36 shall be permitted to take the lands included in the lines of bona fide claims of actual occupants, which are required to be protected by the Act providing for the resurvey; and, on the other hand, it is not the intention of this of- ; fice to deprive a bona fide actual oc- ' cupant of his land in favor of some one who subsequently jumps the same, because of the mere fact that he may be claiming under a title from the State. :;i "This office will endeavor, to adjust all the unfortunate difficulties in the valley in accordance with the princi ples of equity and justice to all par ties concerned." J POST OFFICE MOVES El Centro Now Has Handsomest Pos tal Equipment In Southeastern California. El Centro has a new postofflce — one that, is in keeping with the importance of this city. Postmaster Miller and his assistants labored all of Tuesday night in mak ing the transfer of the postofflce from its old quarters in the Brown building on the south side of Main street to the west room of the Thomas Beach block, at the northeast corner of Main and Sixth streets, adjoining the First i National Bank and opposite the old location. The new fixtures arrived early this week and were quickly put in place. The boxes are arranged in the shape of a large V, with the base forming the general delivery window. Three hundred and thirty-six combination j lock boxes have been placed, and pan els are in position to be replaced by I nests of boxes as further expansion I calls for them. A deep lobby gives ample room for the public. The boxes are flnlsfted in weather ed oak and with oxadlsed metal doors and locks. A targe oa* uesK has oeen placed, in the lobby for the .use of patrons of the office. Convenient mail racks for the sorting of mail for the "star route" to Sllsbee have also been placed In the office, and Postmaster Miller is having a' private office ar ranged. The room Is well lighted by a skylight and the plate glass front on Main street. The entire equipment represents an outlay of about $1200. The El Centro postofflce Is now serving more than 2000 patrons and each quarter since Its beginning hafl showing a substantial tncrease in busi ness. No. 20 BEST COTTON REGION IS IMPERIAL VALLEY Crop is Absolute Demonstra tion of Advantages of Soil and Climate . Expert Inspection of Five Hundred Acres of Growing Cotton Dispels All Possible Doubt of Success — Late Planting and Frequent Irrigation Produce Best Results. Cotton has advanced so far Ik growth that the quality of the pros pective crop is no longer a matter ot theory or opinion, and the quantity may be estimated approximately. "It can be said with absolute certainty that conditions of soil and climate in Imperial Valley are adapted perfectly to the production of the finest quality of cotton in .quantities far exceeding the average yield of Texas fields. Last Sunday an inspection of some of the cotton plantations in the neigh borhood of El Centro and Meloland was made by a' party of Texas cot ton men, accompanied by a represen tative of the Press, and the Texans declared that they never had seen cotton growing so well anywhere else. Not only the thrifty growth of the weed, but the fine quality of fibre in opened bolls amazed them. The party inspected fields aggre gating more than 500 acres and ar rived at some conclusions regarding the time for planting, methods of cul tivation and frequency of irrigation that are not precisely in accord with the theories previously held. It waa found that cotton in this region re quires more water than the experts thought it would stand. Irrigation once a week does not appear to be excessive. The ' best looking fields are those which 1 have had j the most frequent and regular Irrigation. It is the opinion of the Texans that late planting is preferable, and that the fields planted in June will give the largest yield to the acre. Also it was found that medium" hard land made a better stand than the soft, sandy land. At Meloland, J. R. Loftus has 240 acres in cotton. The early planting shows good results, but the later plant ing promises the heavier crop. In the field south of the railroad, planted early, the lower bolls are open and the locks ready for picking. The lint is perfectly clean and white without a trace of stain. On an average there are fifty matured bolls to the stock, and the plants have at least six weeks more to grow and make cotton. The' stand is not perfect, as there are soft spots in the field which failed to pro duce anything. The field evidently needed more water to keep up a steady growth. The later planting north of the rail road track is in splendid condition, showing the beneficial effects of plenty of water. Chris Beck's eight acres east of the Loftus field indicate that the sandy soil In that district is not suitable for cotton. The best growth Is in the hard spots. The most systematic and compre hensive experimental planting has bpen done on the Wllsle ranch west of El Centro. One hundred acres have been planted In sections at dif ferent times. The earliest plantation is now matured and ready for the pickers, and there is an average of 2." open bolls to the stock close to t he ground. The stand Is not so even as It should be, but It Is safe to es timate the yield from that patch at a bale to the acre. The later plant- Ings are making more cotton, and If the June patch Is kept growing and (Continued on ..'age 3.)