On division 6 bids were opened on the one schedule comprising 5.7 miles of main canal excavation. This work was awarded to J. E. Hilton, who started work in July, 1917, and the contract is 95 per cent complete.

On division 7, main canal, from station 3570 to the NebraskaWyoming State line at station 4503, bids on excavation were first received September 5, 1917. These bids were rejected as being too high. Work was readvertised and bids were again received on December 17, 1917. These bids were also considered high and were rejected. It was then decided to contract only the necessary corebank construction, including all overhaul, and to complete the main excavation by Government forces with electric dragline machines operated from a hydroelectric power plant to be built 3 miles southwest of Lingle, Wyo., where 1,000 horsepower will be developed by dropping 100 second-feet of water from the Fort Laramie main canal approximately 110 feet to the power house. The electric power will be distributed by 60 miles of high-tension and 40 miles of low-tension transmission lines.

The necessary corebanks and overhaul were advertised and bids opened April 16, 1918. J. E. Hilton was awarded the entire four schedules and work was started in June, 1918.

Two Bucyrus drag-line machines were transferred from the Boise project and three new Bucyrus electric drag lines of 1 yard capacity were purchased.

In addition to the excavation of the main canal, division 7, it is also proposed to use these electric drag lines for the excavation of several of the main laterals and drains on this unit.

Work on the forebay of the power plant was started in April, 1918, and is now nearly complete. Shipments of machinery for the power house have been delayed somewhat. Nearly all materials for the transmission lines have been received, and work is now progressing in their construction. It is expected to begin actual excavation by the electric drag lines during the fall of 1918.

On the main canal structures good progress was made both by contract and Government forces. The following features were completed during the year: Whalen sand trap, tunnels Nos. 1 and 2, Deer Creek and Dearing lateral siphons, 5 wasteways, 15 culverts, 12 bridges, and 31 turnouts.

The main canal, including all structures, is now completed from the headworks to mile 40. During the spring of 1918 priming operations were in progress on the first 30 miles and this work is still progressing.

On lateral excavation all work was nearly completed during the year on division 1, lateral system, which includes all irrigable land from the headworks of the main canal to and including the Cherry Creek lateral

On division 2, lateral system, which includes all irrigable land between the Springer Cut and the Nebraska-Wyoming State line, 10 schedules of lateral excavation have been awarded by field contracts, and work is now well under way. The surveys for irrigable areas and lateral locations on this division are now in progress.

On lateral structures all work has been completed to and including lateral 38.0, with the exception of the reinforced concrete siphon on lateral 35.4, which will be started soon.

SEEPAGE AND DRAINAGE.

INTERSTATE UNIT.

Surveys and investigations incident to design, location, and construction of drainage works were continued during the year. These investigations include borings over the affected areas and areas likely to become seeped to determine the subsoil conditions, the elevation and periodic variation of the water table, and other factors bearing on the location and construction of drainage works.

During the year work was continued on the Sheep Creek drain and 1.54 miles of additional open drain and 0.1 mile of additional closed drain were built.

On the Winters Creek drain 0.22 mile of open drain was converted into closed drain and 0.39 mile additional closed drain was built.

Work was begun on the Nine Mile drain and the lower Nine Mile drain, and 1.27 and 2.62 miles, respectively, of open drain were built.

FORT LARAMIE UNIT.

Drainage surveys have been made in Cherry Creek Valley in Wyoming, and under cooperative contract with the Gering irrigation district in the Gering Valley, in Nebraska.

OPERATION AND MAINTENANCE.

INTERSTATE UNIT.

The system as operated during the present season consisted of the Pathfinder Reservoir, the Whalen diversion dam, 95 miles of main canal, Lake Alice, 5 miles of Reservoir supply canal, Lake Minatare, Winters Creek Lake, 37 miles of high-line canal, 42 miles of low-line canal, and 626 miles of laterals.

In 1917 water to the amount of 177,472 acre-feet was delivered to 1,274 farms, containing approximately 83,203 acres in crop, exclusive of the lands of the North Platte Canal & Colonization Co., to which 44,534 acre-feet of water were delivered for the irrigation of 105 farms, containing approximately 9,350 acres in crop. The average amount of water used upon the land under the interstate unit was 2.13 acre-feet per acre and upon the land of the North Platte Canal & Colonization Co. 4.77 acre-feet per acre. The total diversion at the Whalen Dam during the irrigation season of 1917 was 425,078 acre-feet.

During the first part of the season of 1918, 104,026 acres were entitled to water under water-right application and 17,837 acres under contract with the North Platte Canal & Colonization Co. Of this amount approximately 98,754 acres were under cultivation.

On

Water was diverted into the Interstate Canal on April 10, 1918, and the maximum diversion to June 30 was 1,610 second-feet. account of the heavy precipitation most of the water diverted was stored in Lakes Alice and Minatare up to May 20. Water was delivered on demand up to June 13 and on rotation thereafter.

The storage in Pathfinder Reservoir was 1,176,650 acre-feet on July 1, 1917, decreasing to 619,290 acre-feet on October 20, 1917,

increasing to 1,122,430 acre-feet on June 24, 1918, and decreasing to 1,107,580 acre-feet on June 30, 1918. On June 24 water was running over the spillway with a depth of 2.33 feet.

FORT LARAMIE UNIT.

Water was first turned into the Fort Laramie Canal for priming on March 27, 1918, and the diversion was gradually increased to 225 second-feet at the end of June. The first water was delivered for irrigation on June 22. Water is being delivered during the season of 1918 on a rental basis only. About 3,000 acres of vacant irrigable land were leased for farming purposes to the Liberty wheat growers, of Torrington, Wyo.

1 Includes North Platte Canal & Colonization Co. lands.

2 Exclusive of lands under North Platte Canal & Colonization Co. tract.

SETTLEMENT.

Conditions on the project continued to improve during the year, due principally to prevalent high prices for all farm products and excellent market conditions. Crop yields per acre were about normal, being rather high for potatoes and rather low for alfalfa. The number of land transfers has been about normal. There is now only one farm unit on the interstate unit open for entry; no land on the Fort Laramie unit has been opened. Profits from feeding stock were less than in the two years previous. There is some hog cholera on the project, but it is well under control. The grade of cattle on the project has improved somewhat. Settlement data, North Platte project.

PRINCIPAL CROPS.

The cropped area has continued to increase, until in 1918 it is estimated to amount to 98,754 acres, including the North Platte Canal & Colonization Co.'s lands. Of this amount about 48 per cent is in alfalfa, 32 in cereals, 7 in sugar beets, 8 in potatoes, and the remaining 5 per cent in miscellaneous crops. The total value of the crops on the interstate unit for the year 1917 was $3,385,060, with an average value of $41.92 per acre, as compared with a total value of $1,633,390 and an average value of $21.85 per acre in 1916. Increased values per acre were most pronounced in the case of alfalfa, barley, corn, and wheat. Hot weather in June has accelerated the crop in 1918 and the indications are that crop yields will be better than average. The first cutting of alfalfa was unusually good. Crop report, North Platte project (Interstate unit), Nebraska-Wyoming, year of 1917.1

SALE OF SUPPLEMENTAL STORAGE RIGHTS FROM PATHFINDER RESERVOIR TO PRIVATE LANDS.

In accordance with plans outlined in previous reports contract with the Lincoln Land Co. for the purchase of supplemental storage rights has been approved by the Secretary of the Interior.

The hydraulic studies mentioned in the thirteenth, fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth annual reports are being continued by a

competent hydrographer, and in cooperation with the State of Nebraska, for the purpose of determining losses in transmission and accessions from tributaries, and obtaining such other information as will aid in a determination of water rights and proper water distribution.

PUBLIC NOTICES AND ORDERS.

WATER-RENTAL ORDER, MARCH 12, 1918.

1. Lands for which water is available. In pursuance of the reclamation act of June 17, 1902 (32 Stat., 388) and acts amendatory thereof or supplementary thereto, particularly section 11 of the reclamation extension act of August 13, 1914 (38 Stat., 686), it is announced that water is available for certain irrigable lands under the Fort Laramie Canal, North Platte project, Nebraska-Wyoming, for which laterals are now or may be constructed. These lands are located between the North Platte River and the Fort Laramie Canal and above Cherry Creek, in Wyoming.

2. Rental of water. The charge for rental of water for irrigation of said lands is 40 cents per acre-foot measured at the land, and is due and payable on December 1 following the irrigation season. Applications for water service must be made to the project manager, Mitchell, Nebr. The renting of water shall in no event constitute or be construed to be the basis of a permanent water-right from said project.

ALEXANDER T. VOGELSANG, First Assistant Secretary of the Interior.

PUBLIC NOTICE, APRIL 3, 1918.

1. Annual operation and maintenance charges-In pursuance of section 4 of the reclamation act of June 17, 1902 (32 Stat., 388), and acts amendatory thereof or supplementary thereto, particularly the reclamation extension act of August 13, 1914 (38 Stat., 686), announcement is hereby made that the annual operation and maintenance charges for the irrigation season of 1918 and thereafter until further notice against all lands of the North Platte project, NebraskaWyoming, under public notice, shall be as follows: A minimum charge of $1.50 per irrigable acre will be made whether water is used thereon or not. For all water delivered prior to and including June 20 a charge will be made of 50 cents per acre-foot; for all water delivered between June 21 and August 31, inclusive, a charge will be made of $1 per acre-foot; and for water delivered on and from September 1 to the end of the season a charge will be made of 50 cents per acre-foot. The minimum charge of $1.50 will be applied in payment of the charges under the said acre-foot rates. All operation and maintenance charges will be due and payable on March 1 of each year for the preceding irrigation season; but where water-right application is made for public land entered under the reclamation law after June 15,or where water-right application is made after August 1 for land in private ownership, no operation and maintenance charge will be made for water delivered during the remainder of the irrigation season in which the water-right application is made.

E. C. BRADLEY, Assistant to the Secretary of the Interior.