Casper Daily Tribune Newspaper, February 15, 1925, Page 32

4 “+ GONSTRUCTION OF THREE MAJOR ;PAOECTS CONTINUED IN STATE Eight Hundred Thousand Dollars for Guernsey Dam Construction Is Authorized; Riverton Work Goes Forward in le PAGE SIX 5 ~ RECLAMATIO The ever gro for more crop bear: cry federal govern: by co ed development of three large projects Wyoming. the Riverton, Shoshone Nort! Platte projects, and work was done on a number of good sized private project ing the Hawk Spring: in Goshen county. During the lat- ter part of the year Elwood Mead. director of re made a tou ot inspection of the federal proje in the state, and development re. sults of his conclusions have arleady begun An event of great importance in Wyoming reclamation plans was the pansage by congress in December of the second reclamation deficiency bill. ‘This carries appropriations of $800,000 for the Guernsey dam of the North Platte project and $125, 000 for survey of the Casper-Alcov: project. The latter contemplates he reclamation of about 100,000 res in the North Platte valley with water impounded by the Path finder dam The Guernsey dam, work on which probably will begin in 192 will be an earthen barrier ficros' the North Platte river on nd one half miles west of Guernsey, in Platte county. The dam will be 105 feet high and will impound 72,000 acre feet of water in a lake that back up the river for ten miles The water will be used for reclama tion of lands lower down the river near the eastern border of the state. Twenty-six thousand electrical horse power may be veloped at the dan The erection dam will be the largest work und taken in Wy since t I ton project was ituted. It wil be the third largest dam in th st Storage water for the rt Platte project is provided by the Pathfinder reservoir, having a capa city of 1,070,000 acre-feet, formed by the construction of the Path finder dam across the North Platte river about outhwest of Casper, Wyc , which one of the impor res ¢ the reclama rubbl ASC ur 14 feet long top The trrig tem under the Fort Laramie unit of this project will ultimately furnish water for the development of about 107,000 acres of land on the south side of the North Platte river, about one half of which is in Wyoming and one half in 2 Construction work is now progress on this unit The sc varies from a fertile sandy loam to the heavier soils, be r € 1 good in some sec ons is especially adapt d of alfalfa, cereals and the root crops. There are mut 85,000 acres of vacant government land on this unit which will be made available for entry under erms of the recla the completion of Deeded land mation ar the constructic and assignmet purchased. Riverton Proje work Of no less importance in reclama tion activity 1s provision for carry ing on construction work on the Riverton project tn Fremont county, 125 miles west of Casper, completion of which will establish a new agri cultural empire in central Wyoming with resultant increase in trade and business for many centers, includiig Casper. Some $600,000 was spént last year on this project and a sim lar sum probably will be available for this year. The average altitude of this pro Ject is about 5,200 feet. Tho tem- perature ranges from 30 degrees be- low to 102 degrees above zero.. The average annual precipitation is about 8 Inches. s from a sandy It is well suited for the alfalfa, grains sugar be Des, and vege tables. Excellent crops are produced on the neighboring lands, under pri vate irrigation. It {s not likely that any land on this project will be irrigated prior to 1923. The building charge has not been announced. About 80 per cer of the land {is in private ownership and the remainder is public land which will ultimately be open fo homestead entry. As the lands a part of the ceded portion of Wind River Indian reservation, thc settlers will be required to make a small payment per acre to the I e soil r heavy y raising of s, pota to a dians in addition to the building charge. The Water supply is ample ar relatively small storage will be re quired, The principal engineering features will be thé Bull Lak Pilot Butte reservoirs, w able capacities of about 115,000 ar 30,000 acre-feet, respectively, There will also be a concrete diversior dam and headworks on Wind r at which will bo diverted the Wy ming Canal, whose length will be about 30 miles. The proect is now served by th: Chicago & Northwestern railr< and the larger part of !t is tributer to the town of Riverton, A smaller portion is tributary to the town of Shoshon!. As the project is de veloped other railroad facilities will undoubtedly become available and new towns will be built in the in terior of the project. Work of the last year included the location, excavation ahd build ing of structures on the canal sys tem leading from the Pilot Butte loam |! eservoir, the carrying out of con- tion on lateral systems and ‘st installation of the Pilot Butte wer plant. The diversion dam, miles above Riverton, has been compteted. Major engineering feats have been chalked up in carrying the project to its present stage, In- uding the construction of under- ound syphons—the largest in the orld—for carrying volumes of water that will make the thousands f acres bloom with vegetation when water is turned onto the land. Shoshone Project. Another mammoth project is mak ng consistent headway in northern Wyoming—the Shoshone, located about 75 miles east of Yellowstone National park and including about 000 acres of irrigable land of which 90,000 acres lie in the Oregon Basin division. Over $900,000 was and sugar beets, which give Coner Che Casper Daily ete Lined Canal at Riverton Shall Schools, and churches, banks, manufacturing establishments have been installed, and the project has most of the modern conveniences of settled com- munities. An excellent city water system has been constructed in both Powell and Deaver. The beets now Deaver. newspapers, expended last yelir on operation, | “ised are shipped to Lovell, Wyo. maintenance and continuation of|Which ts located about 20 miles construction worl. southeast of Powell. The Great Elevation {s about 4,500 feet ana| Western Sugar company has pur- the soll is light, sandy, and clay |Chased a site near Powell and will ohm. Alfalfa, wheat, oats, bar erect buildings as soon as the beet ar beets, and potatoes are acreage warrants the construction inclpal crops. The largest of the factory. A potato growers’ ts alfalfa, but the ciation has been formed. The belt wed up and planted to| Surrounding mountains, furnish an excel of timber, and stock supply excellent returns. Alfalfa has al-| may t nged during /the guminer ways found a market, and under the supervision of th forest there are two 1 mills on the| Service. O!] has been developed in ject where | hay !s purchased | fleld# lying to the north and also hatha iauieiate price, in past | southe ¢ the Shoshone project, Me ghireed thd to gzgo}and n s been found on Saag of ithend y Good wells of : tic water are usually found at depths ranging from 30 to 100 | tat B | feet A hone The engineering work {s unusual interesting, involving the con: undertaken during the last year i one which contemplates the créa tion of an immense reservoir on the headwaters of the Greybull river to Impound flogdwaters for reclamu tion of several/thousand acres. This s meeting strong opposition from ranching interests which would suf fer from the flooding of lands. Contracts for the construction of transmission lines from the Lingle hydro-electric plant of the North Platte project to Wheatland and other towns was let late in 1924 and this work will be done in 1925 Water for irrigation purposes w abundant throughout the state dur- ing 1924 and e¢arly snowfall this winter indicates a continuation of this condition in 1925. ‘The states of Wyoming, Colorado and Nebraska made progress during the last year toward arriving at an agreement whereunder the waters of the North Platte river and its ributaries will be allocated between the three states on a basis satisfac: tory to all. The North Platte, larg of Wyoming streams, rises in Colorado, flows through Wyoming, in this state gathers large acces- Mammo from 40 to 80 acres, most of them being of the latter acreage. The crop returns on the Garland division n 1919 averaged $49.98 per acre There are only a very few vacant un on the Garland division. The first unit of the Frannie division was opened in September, 1917, and the second unit in October, 1919, and March, 1920, and nearly all of these farms have been covered by home- stead entry. The Hart Mountain division, containing 38,800 acres; the Willwood, containing 15,600 acres: and the third unit, Frannie division, containing 16,000, remain to be com- | pleted. The Chicago, Burlington & Quincy furnishes transportation fect towns are Cody, Ralston, Garland, Frannie, and th wee Syphon at Riverton is struction of Shoshone dam, which is 328 feet high, 108 feet thick on the bottom, and only 200 feet long on top, The reservoir created thereby has an area of 6,600 acres and a capactty of 456,600 acre-feet. Sixteen miles below a low concrete diversion dam across Shoshone river turns the water through a concrete- lined tunnel, 8% miles long, into the canal system which trrigates the Garland and Frannie divisions, The canal system for the Hart Moun tain division would divert direct at Shoshone dam, and for the Will- wood division the main canal would take out of Shoshone river about eight miles below Corbett diversion dam. Private Projects, Among important private projects HYIP TER TAS Project sions to its volume and then flows into Nebraska. The proposed tri state allocation will be embodied in a treaty similar to the Colorado river compact, with the approvai of the federal government. see Half Million Miles Made by Air Mail Pilots During Year The trans-continental atr mal ser- vice operated across Wyoming throughout 1924, with remarkably few imterruptions, and these, in each instance due to poor visibility caused Centrally Located Wyatt Hotel 120-122 North Center J. W. TUCKER, Prop. 120 Transient Rooms and Apartments Caf eteria In Con Rates Reasonable Phone 61 winter conditions, of brief dura- f More than half a million fly- ng miles were covered over Wyom- ng by air mail aviators during the year without one serious accident. This record was the more notable ecause night flying was installed fuly 1 and continued thereafter. Ex- ension of the ground Ughting sys- em for guidance of night flyers pro- twessed rapidly during the last few nonths of the year and this system agw has been extended westward to Medicine'Bow. It will bs extended to Rock Springs during 1925. The sys+ ‘ SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 1925 N WORK TO FOUND AGRICULTURAL EMPIRES Niobrara Depends Upon Both Ranch and Its Oil For Future Prosperity The real history of Lusk and Manville remains to be made. This is the assurance that the visitor will receive in either of the two Iéading centers of population in Niobrara county, especially in Lusk, where confidence remains that the “mother pool” of the Lanca Creek oll field has not been located. Thelr claims may be borne out as the Lance Creek field was the one dis- trict in Wyoming iast year which increased its ofl production, and if further large discoveries are made Lusic will stand to reap the benefits. In the same county Is situated che Mule Creek field, which has produc- ed considerable oll. Lusk is the gathering point for the Lance Creek oll, which is dellv- ered there by pipeline and loaded tem consists of acetylene flicker Ughts at three-mile intervals and 500,000 candle-power electrical bea- cons at intervals of about 20 miles, The alr mail suffered a severe loss in November when its hangar and machine shops at Cheyenne field were destroyed by fire. Contract for a larger plant, to cost about $65,000, will be let at an early date. Pet Milk out to thé Caspér refineries. The town was made famous overnight with the discovery of the * first gusher and the fact that some early explorations were disappointing in failure to extend the field has not dimmed the hopes of the public. Just now the town is benefitting from improvement in tha agricul- tural_and Iilvestock industries, on Nash’s Delicious Coffee Libby’s Pickles, Olives, Mustard Catsup The Wyoming Grocery Co. #4 WYOMING GROCERY CO. Te —E—E——————————ee THE PIONEER WHOLESALE GROCERY AND FRUIT COMPANY OF CASPER Callfor These Products at Any Grocery Store and You Will Always Get the Best Libby's California Canned Fruit and Pineapple Uncle William Extra Canned Vegetables Sapphire Flour (No. 1 Northern Hard Wheat) Dewkist Canned Berries. Just Like Fresh Robb Ross Maple Syrup and Pancake Flour Bull Dog Oranges, from California’s Foothills Solid Brand Vegetables Y Band Spana Cuba Cigars A REPRESENTATIVE CASPER INDUSTRY The ELECTRIC SUPPLY & CONSTRUCTION CO. Electrical Contractors FIXTURES, LAMPS, APPLIANCES . 142 EAST MIDWEST AVENUE / PHONE 483-W <a} both of which it relies for much of {ts development. Conditions were <1 ¥ masked up in the last year and ti future will bring further reward Business is reaping {ts portion of the improvement and optimism rules with a free hand in view of larg undeveloped resources. Rumors are heard that a market for the large gas supply of th Lance Creek field will be found the construction of a pipeline to Casper. No confirmation of this |» available but the assurance remains that it will be a revenue producer «: some future date. Discovery of radium ore deposits brought the name of Lusk bac into the limelight following the ce cline of its temporary of] boom «i this resource still lles dormant ¢ development at some future dat Its possibilities are great.