Two important irrigation enterprises

Reprint of this story from the October 27, 1905 issue of The Grand Encampment Herald brought to you courtesy of Grandma’s Cabin, Encampment, Wyoming. Preserving History - Serving the Community.

TWO IMPORTANT IRRIGATION ENTERPRISES

Work Started on the North Platte and Encampment Canal. Dirt is Flying.

Actual construction work on the North Platte and Encampment irrigation canal was started this week. A contract for a certain section of the ditch was let to J. E. Lynch and he took out a gang of men and began throwing dirt Wednesday.

J. A. Whiting, the engineer who is here from Cheyenne in charge of operations, has been over the line on a preliminary examination and now is making his headquarters at Encampment and will superintend the work from this point.

It is feared that some difficulty may be experienced in securing the number of men required for making good headway, especially with the rock work. It is probable that a tunnel 1800 feet in length will be cut through solid rock near the point where water is to be taken from the Platte river, and this is only a part of the powder and drill work that is to be done. Laboring men are scarce in this vicinity at present and it may be necessary to import at least a hundred laborers from other states within the next few weeks.

Storage Reservoir Being Built at Cow Creek Lake by Private Funds

The work of constructing a storage reservoir to extend the Irrigation facilities of the ranch lands along Cow creek has been started.

Cow creek lake, which lies about a mile east of tram station three, is to be used as a basin to hold the water in reserve. A dam is being built in the canon at the outlet of the lake, which will create a reservoir covering forty acres with an average depth of fifteen feet of water. The dam is to be 400 feet long and 24 feet high at its highest point.

It is estimated that this reservoir will hold enough water to irrigate twelve hundred acres of land in addition to the large acreage already made productive by the waters of Cow creek.

This is a private enterprise of Messrs. L. D. Peck and J. S. Stanley, well known ranchmen on lower Cow creek. The work is being done entirely at their personal expense. They hope to complete the dam this winter and will probably do so unless seriously interfered with by the weather.

Another Gigantic Canal Proposition Talked of

The Rawlins Journal states that the people of that city are considering a proposition to take water out of the Platte river at a point near Encampment and convey it through a ditch to Rawlins, a distance of 60 miles, and says:

“The ditch could be completed at a cost of about a half million dollars and when finished it would irrigate a vast tract of land between the two towns and furnish an abundance of water for all purposes for the city and the industries which sooner or later are bound to be established here.

“The land which could be reclaimed would itself more than pay for the ditch while the benefit which the city would derive from such a supply of water as could be secured in this way would be worth many times the cost.”

Minor Notes:

W. M. Englehart is building an addition to his planing mill, increasing its capacity very materially in anticipation of a big business in the spring.

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The Pearl stage team became frightened last Saturday while the driver, Jim Anderson, was carrying the mail into the post office, and ran away. The wagon was badly broken up, but the horses were not injured. They were caught near the smelter.

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County Commissioner T. R. Smith, was at Baggs and Dixon this week going over the Snake River bridge proposition. He reports that a new bridge is inadvisable at present, as the one now in use can be repaired so as to make it serviceable for another year or two, and then they should have a steel bridge and the county will probably give them one at that time.