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Scotts Bluff County
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tXJOKTNH POWM TRI-BTATB CANAL TO'
DECEMBER 6, 190.
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TEACHERS OF SCOTTS
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HIGH SCHOOL CADETS,
ginning to be realised by the
people, of western Nebraska.
In reality, It is in some ways
the most imjiurtant material
problem of their Immediate
HE value of water Is only be-
future. T,, reH home builder who under
took to tubdiif Pcott'a Bluff county to agri
culture, encountered many difficulties. For
nmny years this vast region lias been
utilised as a public common. Countless
cattle and sheep had had free accem to it
and ovcrsiai.d it. These tally cattle men
were the pioneers of the plains country.
They farmed but little, and from the na
ture or their business, and the methods of
operation, wanted no neighbors. Within
the last fifteen years there has been an
awakening to the opportunity which Ilea
In the plains area, and settlers have moved
westward with auch remarkable rapidity
that the day of the broad free range, with
the old careless and often Inhuman meth
ods of stock raising. Is about over. The
day of small ftoeks and herds, winter fed
nd fattened, on home grown forage, is
t hand. The present pioneers, who are
conquering the wlldness of Scott's Bluff
county, were Impelled by the Instinct of
home building more than by the love 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 their most valuable fundamental
resource, but It must be taken care of
and used with intelligence and forethought
or It will lose moat of Hs value.
The rapid narrowing of the llmtls of our
unoccupied public domain In Nebraska,
and the tremendous Increase in values, all
over the state, renders it more difficult
yearly for the man of small means to get
a foothold on the soil. So great Is the
land hunger over the entire west that al
ready 250,000 families, composing some of
the best blood of the nation, have taken
up new home under a foreign flag. Our
greatness as a state must have Its founda
tion In the home of the man whose feet
are firmly planted upon his own land.
There is no state stability in a cltlsenshlp
born and reared on rented farms. Patriot
Ism, loyalty and civic pride are not bred
and fostered In this way. An assurance
that the great masa of our people shall
reside in homes of their own. Is 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 shown
In the homestead law which opened the
settlement of the MlasisHlppl valley.
The first extensive Irrigation enterprise
In the North Platte valley was whtet was
known aa the fanners' canal, which was
started in 1187. Practically, It may be said
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 divert from the river and the
area of land which It can cover. From the
Platte river there extends three benches of
rich vil, all ui whlcii are IjiUIc, and
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CHECK Q'ATES AND WATER WAT
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SCOTT'S BLU FF.
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 air Is pure, crisp and invigorating. The
extremes of heat and cold are tempered by
the lack of moisture. The mean precipita
tion Is about fifteen 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 Is considered, there Is no more
favorable section in the entire western
country than this valley.
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 aerve as a stock range for many
years to come. This Industry Is bound to
Increase with the coming years, yet the in
dividual holdings of free range Inevitably
will diminish. This will tend to unite the
small range with the valley ranch, under
one management, a system which, if it be
comes general, has many advantages. It
will enthuse better blood In the stock on
tin 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.
It appears that nature has designed this
particular section of the North Platte val
ley aa a field to be irrigated. A watershed,
ot nearly 26,000 square miles, bounded by
the high mountain ranges ot northern
Colorado on the south and the continental
divide and the mountains of eastern Wy
oming on the west and north, supplies an
unlimited amount of water for Irrigation.
The North 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 piogreas of construction
eleven projects involving an expenditure of
over $18.0u).0u0 and the reclaiming of over
600,000 acres. The government irrigating
canal passing through Scott's Bluff oounty
is furnishing water to 37,000 acres. 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 21& feet hlsh and will cre
ate an enormous reservoir with a storage
capacity of 1,025,000 acres a 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.
The Trlstate canal, aa It Is now k-iiwn.
embodying both the Farmers' and Colum
bian canals, is one ot the most extensive
private Irrigation enterprises in the United
States and equals In sise and Importance
some of the largest government undertak
ings. The canal will Irrigate about 90,000
acres. About sixty miles of the mailt canal
have been completed, covering upwards of
6v,wu acres of the choicest land. The first
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Sees Man's Triumph Over Nature by
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SUGAR IB EST ZiOAOINa STATION, SCOTTS BLUFF.
r few miles of this canal la 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 building, 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
Besides the government canal and the
Trlstate canal, which pass entirely through
Scott's Bluff county, there are nine other
mailer Irrigation ditches that are from
even to fifty miles in length. The Mitch
ell ditch irrigates 13,000 acres; Oerlng, 16,
000 acres; Mlnatare, 9,000 acres; Bayard,
4.000 acres; Wlntercreek, 7,800 acres; Enter
prise, 1,000 acres; Central 4.000 acres; Rams
born, 3,000 acres; Castlerock and Steam
boat, 8,000 acres. These many irrigation
system have made it possible to irrigate
a strip of land through Scott's Bluff
oounty about eighteen miles wide at the
center of the county.
One matter of more than ordinary impor
Better Results on Wireless.
IRELESS telegraphy has not
al reached Its full development,
I by no means," said Mr. Mar
I conl. In an Interview in the
rajVfil New York Tribune, "but it is
WMtaaJ making steady progress. I am
able to send faaterr than formerly and to
send and receive simultaneously. Besides,
I now have an Improved way of generating
ether waves, which gives better satisfac
tion. It produces 'undamped' or only
slightly 'damped' waves. Instead of the
'damped' wavea employed at one time.
"At present, I am planning to do noth
ing with the Marconi station at Cape Cod.
It cuuld be devoted to trans-Atlantic serv
ice If more powerful generators were used.
Just now my attention Is concentrated on
the stations at Glace Bay, Nova Scotia,
and Clifden, Ireland. Regular service In
both directions between those points has
been maintained for many months, but In
order to avriid interruption from a tempor
ary breakdown the plant there is being
duplicated. To install the additional ap
paratus at Ulace Bay will take two or
three months. About 100 horsepower is re
quired for trans-Atlantic communication.
The chief reasons for erecting a new Eu
ropean station Is that It was hard to se
cure extra land at the one in Corn mail
(Poldhu). At Clifden there was no such
trouble. Not far from 2,000 words are be
ing transmitted dally 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 the connecting land wires on both
idea of the Atlantic. We do not try to
end more than twenty words a minute at
present. Some of the machines employed
for rapid transmission over land wires
could be uaed In wireless telegraphy, but I
have not yet tried any pf them.
"The greatest distance to which messages
are sent regularly from land stations Is
2.000 miles, but this Is occasionally doubled.
At one time the conditions are more favor
able that at another. The difference is
like that of vision when the air contains
dust or mist and when it Is, clear. Frym
the majority of the ships having the best
equtpment in the merchant marine and the
British navy it ia possible to send with cer
tainty 200 mllea, but now and then their
message are distinctly heard ten miles
as far awsy. The statement that an oper
ator at Loa Angelas picked up one from
Admiral Bperry's flagship when It was
2,900 mllea off is not incredible, but such a
range is very unusual.
"After our long-distance stations on the
Atlantic are fully equipped I shall -give a
little thought to a trans-Pacific service. It
seems probable that the Pacifto can be
spanned from shore to shore without any
relays In mid ocean. Already there are
three Marconi stations In Hawaii, designed
for communication between Islands la the
group. Plana for other stations In Aus
tralia are under consideration, but their
execution depends somewhat on the grant
ef a subsidy."
Concerning the use f t other waves to
guide umnanued torpedo boats, Mr. Mar
THE OMAHA SUNDAY BEE: APRIL
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POTATOES GROWN NEAR SCOTTS BLUFF, NEB.
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 soil so
necessary for its growth and the abundant
sunshine that forms the sugar. Absolute
control of the supply of moisture 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 661 sacks of 110 pounds each.
The farmers of this county grew 1,000 acres
of sugar beets In 1908.
All kinds of gTassea yield an excellent
crop In the Irrigated section of this coun
try, but one of the most prolific In yield
to alfalfa. This plant is at home and
It Is beat in the North Platte
valley. Here It reaches Its highest
possible perfection, and the sunshine and
lack Of rain makes its curing perfect, and
when properly cared for it remains as
green as when cut, retaining all of Its
nutritious qualities. The annual yield of
alfalfa runs from five to seven times per
acre. Three hundred to 900 pounds of seed
In the Field of Electrical Experiment
coni spoke cautiously. He distinguishes
between the large amount of power needed
to propel such a crart and the very small
amount needed to steer It. If its screws
are driven by suitable meana, already pro
vided on the boat, Its movements can be
rnntrolled by wireless methods at a dis
tance. The power needed to pull a lever
on a locomotive, for instance, ia 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 has not
heard of It.
Tallest of Wireless Towers.
The most Impressive thing about the
new wireless outfit contracted for by the
Navy department, says the Boston Tran
script, is that It will necessitate the use
of a tower 660 feot high, which will be
by all odds the highest structure In the
world, except the Eiffel tower. But the
new tower will be solid. It is to be of
concrete and will mtake the Washington
monument look squatty by comparison. It
will scarcely seem a tower at all, being
only fifty feet at the base and eight at
the top. It will be more like an exagger
ated chimney or a concrete must, but It
will be hollow and will carry the aerial
wlrea in the shape of an Immense um
brella frame at the top. The top of the
tower. It Is believed, will nut be much of
a resort for sightseers, even should they
be allowed the privilege. There will be
no elevator, and anyone who wants to
ascend tor the view will have to walk.
The Navy department wanted to use the
Washington monument for a wireless
tcrwer on account of Ita height. Permission
to turn the great shaft to utilitarian pur
poses could not be obtained. The taller,
thinner tower Is the alternative.
It will convey some Impression ot the
height of the tower to compare It with the
monument. That ia 655 feet high, fifty-five
feet at the bane and twenty-five feet at the
top. The cement tower, which will be re
enforced with concrete, will be only fifty
ftet at the base and eight feet on top,
though It will oe 660 feet high. The aerial
frame will spread from the top like um
brella ribs 200 feet long and Insulated at
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
about the possibilities f long-distance
transmission In wireless stations. It is
thought that with the outfit proposed wire
leas messages can be sent 1.00 miles. The
department now gets occsslonal wireless
messages over 2.000 miles and some times
nearly I.OuO miles away. These are re
garded aa 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 ahips of the navy will be
equipped under the same contract with out
4, 1909.
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have been gathered from an acre of alfalfa
In this valley, and this seed Is worth IS
conts a pound. It must not be forgotten
that Scott'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 oounty
have 6,670 acres seeded tp alfalfa, and this
accounts In part for these farmers ship
ping to markt last year 9,936 head Of cat
tle, 1,000 fat hogs, 1,000 horses and over
t,000 fat sheep. Besides this there was 6,900
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 7,900 pounds
of butter and 21,000 gallons of cream. Al
though this Is a new country and border
ing on the frontier, the farmers already
have about 1,000 cows on their farms.
The Scott's Bluff county exhibit at the
Nebraska State fair In 1907 was awarded
seventeen prises 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 soli is
beyond question. People are beginning to
fits capable of sending up to 1,000 mllee.
It Is Impossible to install as effeotlve send
ing stations on shipboard as will be the '
great station at Washington, but there are
few places where a ship with a 1,000-mile
sending radius cannot pick up some shore
station so as to get a message relayed to
Washington.
The total cost of the station when com
pleted and in working order, exclusive of
the tower, will be about $100,000. aod It Is
expected to be In operation In six months'
time. Its SLiccese is positively guaranteed
by the contractors, and confidently ex
pected by Admiral Cowlea and Lieutenant
Commander Cleland Davis, the officer in
( lia ge of the installation and under whose
direction plans and details have been de
veloped. X-Hay and Cancer.
Prof. Cecil Rowntre of the Middlesex
Hospital Cancer Research laboratories, In
the course ef a lecture before the British
Royal College of Surgeons on the X-ray
and cancer, stated that there had been In
England eleven cases of cancer arising In
X-iay workers. Prof. Rowntree said that
It waa probable that this form of growth
was not of so malignant a nature as other
kinds, and that, therefore, the very ex
tensile operatlent which would by an ap
propriate procedure In cases of ordinary
career were unnecessary. The Investiga
tion of the influence of the X-ray on ani
mals was carried out, and It waa found
tl at, in addition to ton e ordinary changes,
such as are met with on the hands ot
X-ray W'i Uers, nin. rs of u mrre striking
nature had manifested them.elv3. For In
stance, it was found that when the upper
surface of a rat's tall was exposed to the
ray, the cells of the exposed surface un
derwent changes of a destructive nature,
whereas the ray, attenuated by parsing
thnugh the thickness of the tall, stimu
lated the cells on the opposite side to in
creased growth. Other evidence wss
bi ought forward which gi.es to show
X-tfcys have, in fact, two separate and dis
tinct actions upon animals and vegetable
cells. In relatively large doses they have
destructive paralysing action upon the
cells' activity, whereas in small and ofl
repeated doses they bring about exactly
the opposite condition and stimulate the
lisfcues lo abnormal activity and Increased
grcth. Prof. Kowntree la ef the opinion
that these observations may have an im
portant pi act leal application In connection
with the treatment of cancer.
Reflections of Qacnelor.
Flrat, a girl makes a man think he is In
love with her, then she makes him think
she Is pretty.
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 their minds, that when they finally do
they have forgotten what It waa about.
Tou can never convince a woman that
the reason the bank doesn't want her to
overdraw her account isn't Just because
it's stingy. New York Press,
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W1A8TB WAT Or TRI-BTATK CANAT..
TO THE RIV SIRDECEMBER , im.
METHODIST CHURCH, SCOTTS BLUFF.
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PRESBTTERIAN CHURCH, SCOTTS BLUFF.
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 farmere of
this ccunty are masterful In the art of
obtaining, conserving and utilizing water.
The underground water supply Is entirety
Insufficient for extensive agricultural use,
even when It ia free from Injurious salts,
and the plains people, after every possible
experiment, have long slnoe ceased to an
ticipate a material supply for Irrigation
from this source. Life In an Irrigated set
tlement is like no other In the agricultural
world. It la Intense, progressive and In
telligent. Per capita, wealth is at ita high
tst point. The school, the cHurch, the
village and neighbors are close at hand.
The field for individual effort Is prac
tically exhausted. The small streams have
been damned, sites for reservoirs of simple
construction have been utilised. To turn
mighty rivers from their natural beds and
make their waters available for the farmer
Is not within the power of the single home
seeker, no matter how willing his spirit,
how strong his arm or how keen his mind.
As Individual cltlsens 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 sufficient unto
himself, he owed no allegiance to any
body or anything. But conditions in the,,
west have changed. Co-operation Is the
keynote of the west. The future settle
ment of the- unoccupied lands, will be ac
complished largely by co-operation and by
organised effort.
This county presents aa wide a range
of climate, altitude, resource and Industrial
possibilities as any county In the slate.
Its Industry has only begun. To Irrigation
It owes its preeent 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 In 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.
Irrigation Is aa old as civilisation and
more than one-half of mankind has lived
by it for thousands of years. It was an
ancient art of the south wesy: But the
average Scott's Bluff rounty farmer Is up
against Irrigation as a practical economical
proposition of today and tomorrow. No
body seems to know just how much Isnd
la under irrigation in the United States,
but there are about 200,000 farms growing
crops by It on 16,000.000 acres in round
numbers. It cost about $7,vi) for Colum
bus to discover America, but it has cost
160.000,000 to put Irrigation on 0,000 farms
served, and In doing It, main and branch
line canals have been built equal In length
to the 216,000 miles of railway. To write
the story of Irrigation In the west would
require a year's time, much more than a
year's Investigation, and would occupy
volumes.
Scott's Bluff county from an Industrial
Irrigation
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BIIOVlNa WATER FLOWINCI SACK
standpoint, ranks among the very best. If
not the very best In western Nebraska, Its
possibilities for development and its fu
ture out-look, la a step In advance of any
western county yet visited. The county
has a valuation of over tS.000,000, and has a
population of over 7,000, It has fifty miles
cf railroad, and five substantial, thrifty
railroad stations. There are six rural
routea in the country, and more than 90
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-eight school districts, with
fifty-eight teachers. The average salary
paid the teachera Is $53.92. Miss Agnes
Lackey has held the position of oounty
superintendent of schools for more than six
years, and under her able management
much progress has been made. Scott's
Bluff has a school population ef S30, pre
sided over by ten teachers. The Industrial
oondltton of the oounty Is excellent. The
Ir of prosperity is seen not only among
the business men of the different cities,
but the farmer Is enjoying his full share.
The good crops and excellent ptiaea are
largely responsible for this.
Mr. B. H. Mills, one of the counties' sub
stantial farmers, sold, last fall, $1,460 SO
worth of potatoes from ten acres of
ground. As an illustration of the product
iveness of this new county, we wish to
state that between September 11, 1906, and
January 29. 1909. there was shipped from
Scott's Bluff City. 279 carloads of potatoes,
107 carloads of beets, 289 carloads ot hay.
14 carloads of live stock and forty-three
carloads of grain. During the same time
there waa shipped from Mitohell, eighty
five oars of potatoes, forty-five cars of
beets, 136 cars of hay, fifteen cars of grain,
and 1S7 cara of live atock. From the little
town of Mlnatare, with a population of
about 400, there was shipped during this
time 421 carloads rt hay, potatoes, beets
and grain, besides eighty-seven cara of live
stock. Besides this, there was shipped
from two side tracka more than a 100 car
loads of grain and live atock.
Scott's Bluff is one of the thrifty, pros
perous towns of the upper Platte valley. It
lias a population of about 1.600, and Is a
model, normal little town; it haa no saloons,
In fact, the entire county Is without a sa
loon, but this little city has the faculty of
winning the good will of stranera and ex
tending the glad hand to all visitors or set
tlers. The churches are In a good condi
tion. The two ladles' cluba of the city have
done and are doing much for the better
ment and building up of the city. Scott's
Bluff has a business men's association,
known as the Commercial club, that la
not only deeldedly active, but progressive.
Tills club has collected and la ualng $2,000
In the extension and betterment of the
public highway. The tlty la putting In a
new system of electric lighting, costing
125.000, and a system ot water works that
will be ready In the near future. Not the
least of this city's influence bxr good Is thg
well orgunlsed Chautauqua wbiah has been
success from the start,