Omaha Daily Bee Newspaper, April 4, 1909, Page 21

THE OMAHA SUNDAY BEE APRIL 4 LOOKING DOWN TRI-STATE CANAL TO CHECK GATES AND WATERWAY— DECEMBER 6, 1908. TEACHERS OF BCOTT'S BLUFF SCHOOLS. HIGH SCHOOL CADETS, SCOTT'S BLU FF. ginwing to be realized by the people of western Nebraska. In reality, it is In some ways the most important material problem of their Immediate HE value of water is only be- The real home bullder who under- took to subdue Scott's Bluff county to agrl culture, encountered difficulties. For many this region has utilized public common. Countless cattle and sheep had had free access to it and overgrased it we th ploneers of plains country They farmed but little, and from the na- ture of their business, and the methods of operation, wanted no nelghbors. Within the last fifteen years there has been an awakening to the opportunity which lies in the plains area, and settlers have moved westward with such remarkable rapidity that the day of the broad free range, with the old careless and often Inhuman meth- ods of stock ralsing, !s about over. The day of small flocks and herds, winter fed and fattened, on home grown forage, is at hand. The present ploneers, who are conquering the wildness of Scott's Bluff county, were impelled by the Inslinct of home bullding more than by the of adventure or the lure of gold to wander forth to this new country and make homes for themselves and their children. Water is now thelr most valuable fundamental i urce, but It must be taken care of and used with intelligence and forethought or it will lose most of its value. W i future. many years vast as a These carly cattle men love The rapid narrowing of the limtis of unoccupled public domaln In Nebraska, and the tremendous increase in values, all the state, renders it more difficult yearly for the man of small means to get a foothold on the soll. Bo great Is the land hunger over the entire west that al ready 250,000 familles, composing some of the best blood of the nation, have taken up new homes under a forelgn flag. Our Ereatness as a state must have its founda- tion in the home of the are firmly planted upon There is no state stability boru and reared on r ism, loyalty and civie and fostere in this way. An assurance that the great mass of our people shall reside in homes of their 1s an assur- ance that our future will be one of sta- bility and progress. From the very in. ception of this republic our legislators have recognised that it was a national duty to render the acquirement of homes as easy as possible. This recognition was in the homestead law which opened sottlement of the Mississippl valley. The first extensive irrigation enterprise in the North Platte valley was wh® was known as the farmers' canal, which was started in 187. Practically, it may be sald that the Farmers' canal Is first on the North Platte river, not only in point of time, but in the amount of water it is en- titled to dlvert from the river and the area of land which it can cover. From the Platté river there extends three benches of vich sol, all of which are Luigable, and ur ov man whose feet his own land. in a citisenship ed farms. Patriot- pride are not bred own, shown the farther back from the river are the broken undulating stretches which are excellent grazing land. The altitude of the valley here runs from 3,600 to 4,200 feet. Here the alr is pure, crisp and invigorating. The extremes of heat and cold are tempered by the lack of moisture. The mean precipita- ton is about fiftcen Inches yearly. The heat of the day Is never oppressive, and the summer nights are always cool and delight- ful. When the geographical location of the valley 1is considered, there is more favorable section in the entire western country than this valley. no It is quite plain that the cattle industry, which was one of the first, has come to stay. Much land in western Nebraska can never be brought under the plow, and will probably serve as a stock range for many years to come. This Industry is bound increase with the coming years, yet the i dividual holdings of free range inevitably will diminish. This will tend to unite the small range with the valley ranch, under one management, @ system which, if it be- comes general, has many advantages. It will enthuse better blood in the stock on ths range and the drouth period will lose very much of its terror, while a great pro- portion of the animals grown will be sold as a finished product nature has designed this orth Platte val- Irrigated. A watershed 2,00 square miles, bounded by mountain ranges northern south and the continental mountains of eastern Wy- the west and north, supplies an amount of water for irrigation Platte river has a sufficient amount of water when the Pathfinder dam is in full operation to cover more than 1,000,000 acres of land, with the depth of one foot of water. The government reclama- tion service has in progress of construction eleven projects involving an expenditure of $18,00,000 and the reclalming of 600,000 acres. The government irrigating canal passing through Scott’s Bluff county is furnishing water to 37,00 This canal is many miles in length, and is re- garded as one of the prominent irrigating systems of the United States. The Path- finder dam, erected In a narrow canyon of the Platte, is 215 feet high and will cre- ate an enormous reservolr with a storage 000 acres & foot deep. The government has already constructed a canal nearly sixty-five miles long through eastern Wyoming and western Nebraska Owing to the rough condition along the canal route several large concrete aque- ducts were consturcted and for several miles the canal is lined with cement, It appears that particular section of the ley as & fleld to be of the nearly high Coloradu on the divide and the oming or unlimited The North of e over acres. capaeity of 1 The Tristate canal, as it is now kaown, embodying both the Farmers' and Colum- bian canals, is one the most extensive private Irrigation enterprises in the United States and equals in size and importance some of the largest government undertak- ings. The canal will irrigate about $),000 acres. About sixty miles of the main cansl have been completed 0,00 acres of ihe choicest land. The first covering upwards of POTATOES GROWN NEAR SCOTT'S few miles of this canal is ninety feet wide on the bottom. The balance will average forty-six feet in width, with a depth of ten feet. At various points where the highway crosses the canal steel bridges have been erected. Five are already completed and seven are now bullding, at a cost of $2,100 each. The main course of this canal, which heads on the north bank of the North Platte river just east of the Wyoming line, is southeasterly along the northern part of what is known as the second bench land laying about half way between the govern- ment Interstate canal on the north and the Platte river on the south. Besldes the government canal and the Tristate canal, which pass entirely through Bcott's Bluff county, there are nine other smaller irrigation ditches that are from seven to fifty miles in length. The Mitch- ell ditch irrigates 13,000 acres; Gering, 16, 000 acres; Minatare, 9,000 acres; Bayard, 4,00 acres; Wintercreek, 7,500 acres; Enter- prise, 9,000 acres; Central 4,000 acres; Rams- born, 3,00 acres; Castlerock and Steam- boat, 8,000 acres. These many irrigation systems have made it possible to irrigate a strip of land through BScott's Blurf county about elghteen miles wide at the center of the county One matter of more than ordinary impor- tance Is the splendid character of the soil for the sugar beet industry. Beet sugar manufacturing has grown to the utmost importance in certain irrigation districts of the western country. The sugar beet thrives to perfection in the North Platte valley. Here is found the rich soll so necessary for its growth and the abundant sunshine that forms the sugar. Absolute control of the supply of molsture Insures a certain crop and the highest percentage of sugar. The beet growers of Scott's Bluff county will grow 5,000 acres of sugar beets the present season. The seed for planting this immense crop came from Germany and consisted of 562 sacks of 110 pounds each, The farmers of this county grew 1,000 acres of sugar beets in 1908. All kinds of grasses yield an excellent crop in the Irrigated section of this coun- try, but one of the most prolific In yleld fe alfalfa. This plant is at home and it 18 best in the North Platte valley. Here it reaches Its highest possible perfection, and the sunshine and lack of rain makes ita curing perfect, and when properly cared for it remains as green as when cut, retaining all of its nutritious qualities. The annual yleld of alfalfa runs from five to seven times per acre. Three hundred to 900 pounds of seed BLUFF, NEB. have been gathered from an acre of alfalfa in this valley, and this seed is worth 1¢ cents a pound. It must not be forgotten that Bcott's Bluff county leads all other counties In the state in the matter of irrigation. This makes it possible and quite probable that in the near future it will lead all other counties in the state in the alfalfa and dairy industry. At the present time the farmers of this county have 6,670 acres seeded to alfalfa, and this accounts In part for these farmers ship- ping to market last year 9,9% head of cat- tle, 1,000 fat hogs, 1,00 horses and over 6,000 fat sheep. Besides this there was 6,800 tons of alfalfa shipped out of the county. The splendid corp of alfalfa is having a decided tendency to develop the dairy in- dustry. Last year the farmers of this county sold and shipped out 7,90 pounds of butter and 21,000 gallons of cream. Al- though this is & new country and border- ing on the frontier, the farmers already have about 1,00 cows on their farms. The Scott's Bluff county exhibit at the Nebraska Btate falr in 197 was awarded seventeen prizes out of a possible twenty- four. It Is clear that the agricultural re- sources of the county are measured by the water supply. The power of the sofl is beyond question. People are beginning to In the Field of Electrical Experiment Better Results on Wireless, IRELESS reached tetegraphy not its full development, by no means,” sald Mr. Mar- conl, in an Interview In the New York Tribune, “but it is making steady progress. I am able to send faster than formerly and to send and receive simultancously. Besides, 1 now have an improved way of generating ether waves, which gives better satisfac- tion. It produces ‘undamped’ or only slightly ‘damped’ waves, Instead of tho ‘damped’ waves employed at one time “At present, 1 am planning to do noth- ing with the Marconi station at Cape Cod. It could be devoted to trans-Atlantic serv- If more powerful generators were used Just now my attention Is concentrated on the stations at Glace Bay, Nova Scotls, and Clitden, Ireland. Regular service In both directions between those points been maintained for many months, but in order to avoid interruption from a tempor- ary breakdown the plant there Is being duplicated. To install the additional ap- paratus at Glace Bay will take two three months. About 100 horsepower I8 re- quired for trans-Atlantic communication The chief reasons for erecting a new Bu- ropean station is that It was hard cure extra land at the Cornwail (Poldhu). At Clifden there no such trouble st far from 2,00 words are bes ing transmitted daily for patrons, besides the messages incidental to the experiments still in progress. Most of the imperfections in our service have been due to difficulties with connecting land wires on both sides of the Atlantic. We do not try to send more than twenty words a minute at present. Some of the machines employed for rapld tranemission over land wires could be used in wireless telegraphy, but I have not yet tried any pf them. ““The greatest distance to which messages are sent regularly from land 2,000 miles, but this is occasional At one time the condition able that at another. like that of vision dust o foe has is o se- one in was the stations 1s doubled are more favor The difference when the air contains mist and when It is clear. From the majority of the ships having the best equipment in the merchant marine and the British navy it is possible to send with cer tainty 20 miles, but now and then messages are distinctly heard ten as far away. The statement that an oper ator at Los Angeles picked up one from Admiral Sperry's flagship when It was %00 miles off is not incredible, but such a range is very unusual. their miles “After our long-distance stations on the Atlantic are fully equipped 1 shall -give a little thought to a trans-Pacific service. It seems probable that the Pacific can be spanned from shore to shore without any relays in midocean. Already there are three Marcon! stations in Hawall, designed for communication between islands in the group. Plans for other stations in Aus- tralia are under consideration, but their execution depends somewhat on the grant of & subsidy." Concerning the guide unmanned use of other torpedo boats, waves My to Mar- conl spoke cautiously. He distingulshes between the large amount of power needed to propel such & craft and the very small amount needed to steer It. If its screws are driven by suitable means, already pro- vided on the boat, its movements can be controlled by wireless methods at a dis- tance. The power needed to pull a lever on a locomotive, for instance, is a very different thing from that which hauls a train. To transmit power enough to control valves or rudders is feasible enough, but if any system of supplying power enough to drive a ship exists Mr. Marconi heard of It has not Tallest of Wirek The new Navy soript, of a by all world, new s Towers. the the ran use most impressive thing about wireless outfit contracted for by department, says the Boston is that it will necessitate the tower 650 feot high, will 0dds the highest structure in except Eittel But the tower will solid is to be of will miake Washington monument look squatty by comparison. It will scarcely seem a tower at all, being only fifty feet at the base and elght at the top. It will be more like an exagger ated nney concrete mast, but it will be hollow will carry the aerlal wires in the shape of immense brella frame at the top. The top of tower, it Is believed, will be much of a resort sightseers, even should they be the privilege. There will b. and anyoné who wants the view will to walk The Navy department wanted to use Washington monument for a wir tower on account of its helght, Permission to turn the great shaft atilitarian pur- could not be obtained. The thinner tower is the alternative. It will some impression of the helght of the tower to compare it with the That is 555 feet high, fifty-five base and twenty-five feet at the cement which will enforced with concrete, will feet at the base and elght though It will pe 860 feet high. The trame will spread from the top like brella ribs 200 long and insulated the tips and connected with guy wires that will run to the ground and keep them ex tended. The wires from the aerial frame will run inside the tower from the too to the ground. The current will be 100 horse- power, about thirty times as strong as anything now In use. There is not anything too much known sbout the possibilities bf long-distance transmission In wireless stations. It Is thought that with the outfit proposed wire less messages can be sent 3,000 miles. The department now gets wireless messages over 2,000 miles and some limes nearly 3,000 miles away. These are garded as freak messages; but experts con- sider that if this sort of sending is possi- ble by a low-powered station a bigger one will be able to accomplish the same thing positively. Several ships cauipped under which be the the tower It the ch or a and an um the is for not allowed no elevator, ascend for have less to poses taller convey monument feet at the top. The be re fifty top, erial tower be only feet on un teet ac occasional re- of the navy will be the same contract with out- fits capable of sending up to 1,00 miles. It Is impossible to Install as effeotive send- ing stations on shipboard as will be the great station at Washington, but there are few places where a ship with a 1,00-mile sending radius cannot pick up some shore station so as to get & message relayed to Washington. The total cost of the station when com- pleted and in working order, exclusive of the will be about $100,000, aod it 1s expected to be In operation in six months time. Its siccess Is positively guaranteed by the contractors, and confident) pected by Admiral Cowles and Lieutenant Commander Cleland Davis, the officer in cha ge of the installation and under whose direction plans and detalls have been de- veloped. tower, ex- IR X-Hay and Cancer. Cecil Rowntree Cancer Research the course of a lecture before the British Royal of Burgeons on the X-ray @nd cancer, stated that there had been in England eleven cases of cancer arising in X-1ay Prof. Rowntree sald that it was probable that this form of growth was not of so malignant a nature as other kinds, and that. therefore, the tensfle operations which would by procedure in of Prof Hospltal of the Middlesex laboratories, in workers. very ex- an ap- ordinary essary Investiga of the X-ray ani- and It found ordinary changes, the hands of striking For in propriate cascs arcer tlon of th mals that influence carried in addition to e met nners on was out, was such wit X nature as on ray work of a more had menifested themselves was found that of a the ¢ stance, it when the upper to the surface surface rat's tail the exy of a destructive attenuated by passing of the tall, stimu- the opposite side to In- Other evidence was which goes show two separate and dis- an and vegetable have upon the and oft exactly stimulate the and increased of was exposed ray 1s of changes the ray the thickness cells on rsed un- derwent whereas thrcugh lated nature, the creased growth brought forward X-15y8 have tinct cells o in fact actions In relatively destructive cells upon mals large doses they paralysing action activity, whereas in small bring and abnormal activity grewth, Prof. Rowntree Is that these repeated the esues L0 doses they about opposite condition the opinion have an im In connection observations may portant with the practical application treatment of cancer. Reflections of = Bachelor, First, a girl makes a mah think he is in with her, then she makes him think is pretty 1ot she The trouble with education for women is they know too much for man's superior ity without it. It takes some people so long to make up thelr minds, that when they finally do they have forgotten what it was about You can never convince & woman that the reason the bank doesn't want her to overdraw her ount lsn't just becau it's stingy.—New York Press ac ature by WAY F TRI-STATE CANAL, THE RI BR-DECEMBER 6, 1908, PRESBYTERIAN understand that to control the water Is to insure the harvest. Floods and drouths which annually visit the trusting farmer will in time be unknown. The farmers of this ccunty are masterful in the art of obtaining, conserving and utilizing water. The underground water supply is entirely insufficient for extensive agricultural use, even when it le free from Injurlous saits, and the plains people, after every possible experiment, have long since ceased to an- ticipate a material supply for Irrigatic from this source. Life in an Irrigated s tlement is like no other In the agricultural world. It is Intense, progressive and | telligent. Per capita, wealth is at its high- tst point. The school, the cllurch, the village and neighbors are close at hand The fleld for Individual effort is prac tically exhausted. The small streams have been damned, sites for reservoirs of simple construction have been utilized. turn mighty rivers from thelr natural beds and make their waters avallable for the farmer is not within the power of the single home- seeker, no matter how willing spirit, how strong his arm or how keen his mind As Individual citizens they are incomplete; for a full measure of prosperity they must depend upon each other. From twenty-five to forty years ago the average Individual could go west and he was sufficlent unto himself, he owed no alleglance to any body or anything. But conditions in the. west have changed. Co. is the keynote of the west. The future settle ment of the unoccupled lands, will be ac- complished largely by co-operation organized effort »peration and by This county of climate. possibllities Its Industry presents altitude, resource as any county in the state has only begun. To irrigation it owes its present stage of progress very largely, and on irrigation will be based its future. What has already been accom- plished by private Irrigation enterprise, in this county Is wonderful, and Import- ance Is second only to the marvel of eras ing the desert from our maps and making productive what a quarter of a century ago was almost an entire waste or cattle range as wide a range and Industrial in Irrigation fs as more than one as old civilization and half of mankind has lived by It for thousands of years. It was an ancient art of the But the average Scott's BIuff county farmer is up against Irrigation as & practical economical proposition of today and tomorrow. No body seems to know just how much la 1s under irrigation In the United States, but there are about %000 farms growing crops by it 15000000 acres in round numbers. It about §7,00 for Colum bus to discover America, but it has cost $160,000,000 to put rri 260,000 farms served, and in dolng It, main and branch line canals have been built equal in length to the 215,000 miles of rallway. To write the story of irrigation in the west would require & year's time, much more than & year's investigation, and would occupy volumes. Scott's Bluft southwesy on cost ton on county from an industrial CHURCH, Irrigation SBHOWING WATER FLOWING BACK SCOTT'S BLUFF. standpoint, ranks among the very best, it not the very best in western Nebraska, its possibllities for development and its fu- ture out-look, Is a-step in advance of any western county yet visited. The county has a valuation of over $5,000,00, and has & population of over 7,00, it has fifty miles of rallroad, and five substantial, thrifty rallroad stations. There are six rural routes in the country, and more than $0 per cent of the farmers own the farms on which they reside. The political and muni- cipal machinery of the county seems to be running smooth and the schools are in a flourishing condition for a new county. There are thirty-elght school districts, with fitty-eight teachers. The average salary pald the teachers s $53.92 Miss Agnes Lackey has held the position of county superintendent of schools for more than six vears, and under her able management much progress has been made. Scoft's Blutt has a school population of 830, pre- sided over by ten leachers. The industrial condition of the county is excellent. The air of prosperity is seen not only amopg the business men of the different oities, but the farmer Is enjoying his full share. The good crops and excellent prices are largely responsible for this. \wr. B. H stantial worth ground. Mills, one of the counties’ sub- farmers, wsold, last fall, $1,450.80 of potatoes from ten acres of As an illustration of the product- of this new county, we wish to state that between September 11, 1%8, and January 29, 1909, there was shipped from Scott's Bluff City, 219 carloads of potitoes, 107 carloads of beets, 289 carloads of hay. 104 carloads of live stock and forty-three carloads of grain. During the same time there was shipped from Mitohell, eighty- five cars of potatoes, forty-five cars of beets, 135 cars of hay, fifteen cars of grain, and 187 cars of live stock. From the lttle town of Minatare, with @ population of about 400, there was shipped during this time 421 carioads of hay, potatoes, beets and grain, besides elghty-seven cars of live stock. Besides (this, was shipped from two side tracks more than a 100 ear- loads of grain and live stock. Scott's Bluff Is one of the thrifty, pros perous towns of the upper Platte valley. It as @ population of about 1500, and is & model, normal little town; it has no saloons, in fact, the entire ity is without a sa- but this little has the facuity of winning the good will of strangers and ex- tending the glad hand to all visitors pr set~ tlers. Tk in & good condi- tion. The two ladies’ clubs of the eity have done ana doing much for the bette and building the city. Scott's hus a business men's assoctation, as the Commercial elub, that is only dectdedly act but progressive. as collected and is using $8000 extension and betterment of the highway. The city is putting in & em of electric lighting, costing $25,000, and a system of water works that will be ready in the near future. Not the least of this city's influence for good s the well organized chautauqua which has been & success from the start there loon city @ churches are are ment Bluff known up of This club in public new sy the