For the Fish Lake Ditch and Hopkins Canal, click here.


    Several Ashland people are hatching out a huge scheme to keep Rogue River from wasting its water in an already well-filled pond, the Pacific Ocean, and propose tapping Rogue River with a canal--60 feet wide by five feet deep--leading around the northern and eastern part of the valley to a point away up above Ashland, then cross over and go down the western and southern part, thus circling the whole valley for a grand irrigating scheme that will make the land all "bloom like the rose," and do the transportation business of the myriads upon myriads of gristmills, sawmills, skating rinks, shooting galleries, soap factories, and et ceteras that will spring up. They held a meeting recently and outlined the scheme, which they figured out will cost from $1,000,000 to $5,000,000. They have been floating about high up in the 7th heaven and will incorporate, open books for stock, etc., in a few days. The central figures who have conceived this glorious plan to lift the country out of the dull monotony of everyday affairs are "Colonel" Geo. Engle, who believes his massive dome of thought was made for something higher than dealing out peas, pumpkins, Irish potatoes, bark, hoop-poles and skipper cheese; and "Colonel" Geo. B. Landers, of pork-packing "fame." To the question where those millions are to come from the gentlemen dilate awhile upon "government appropriations" and then remark "that it doesn't require so much money as it does brains," at the same time putting on a presumptuous demeanor that is meant to convey the impression that they have no hesitancy in putting in the brains of the head of the company at a fair valuation to supply the vacuum made by the deficiency of that $5,000,000. This is cheerful. But if some of their friends don't take charge of them soon the services of a commission---a regular inquirendo lunatico commission--will be required to transport some diseased brains to a convenient crazy shop for general repairs. This is a bad climate for featherbrains. This city seems to be the nesting place of cranks and d---- fools. All this excitement was sprung up by Alexia Constantine Pfuhl, the long-haired astrologer who cast the horoscopes of these people and told them they would make a fortune with water. Of course there is no water in groceries, and what has aqua pura got to do with curing hogs, anyhow?
Valley Record, Ashland, February 12, 1891, page 3


Medford Mail.
    The Rogue River Valley Water Company has been incorporated under the Raley water law with a capital stock of $250,000, in 125,000 shares. The incorporators are Henry Klippel, J. A. Lee, J. B. McGee, Francis Fitch and L. C. Gruby. The object of the company is to construct and maintain a water ditch from Little Butte Creek down into the valley. Said ditch to be used for irrigating and transportation purposes. Surveyors have been out for two weeks setting stakes for the ditch. The ditch will be about thirty miles in length, twelve feet across at the top and eight feet at the bottom. It will take such a course as to give the desert the full benefit of its water, and will cross over into Bear Creek Valley between Coker Butte and Mount Roxy. J. S. Howard and son are doing the surveying and Mr. Howard informed the reporter that Medford could be reached within a hundred-foot fall.
Valley Record, Ashland, March 26, 1891, page 1


    The irrigating ditch enterprise in the Table Rock section is completed. It is three miles long and irrigates about 3000 acres of farming land. C. H. Pickens, who superintended part of its construction, informs us that it is a very substantial ditch, built to withstand any of the heavy winter raises of Rogue River. The head of the ditch is a flume 4x5 feet, boxed in like a drift and in solid surroundings. E. P. Pickens, R. E. Drum, Wm. Bybee and E. B. Hunsaker are the owners of the ditch, and some twenty-five men were employed in its construction.
Valley Record, Ashland, June 18, 1891, page 3


    Medford, Aug. 27.--The Oregon Irrigating & Power Company entered into a contract with the city of Medford to furnish a minimum supply of 250,000 gallons of water per day at a rate of 4 cents per 1000, this rate to be reduced 2 cents per 1000 for an additional 350,000 gallons and a further reduction as the requirements of the city increase to 1½ cents per 1000. Present plans of the company, of whom C. M. Williams of San Francisco is the head, are to begin work upon the ditch Sept. 1. The ditch originates near the junction of the north and south forks of Butte Creek, in Jackson County, and traverses in its course to Medford a large area of land that may be brought to a high state of cultivation by irrigation. It ls proposed to irrigate 50,000 acres of such land.
    The present survey represents the ditch to be 45 miles long, with a width of 10 feet at the bottom and 16 feet at the top, and a depth of 5½ feet. It is calculated that a sufficient volume of water will be carried to supply all demands upon it to its ultimate terminus, which is supposed to be on the west side of the valley, plans being to cross near the town of Talent. The undertaking is an important one in the history of this section and is hailed with delight by all classes and has the substantial support of all people interested in the development of Oregon.
Valley Record, Ashland, August 30, 1900, page 3


    When a man puts his land under an irrigating ditch he just naturally gets busy--he can’t help it. S. A. Carlton, who owns a fine farm over near Wellen post office, is almost always a pretty busy man--and he has been for years, else he would not now own the fine farm he does, but for several months past he has been unusually busy, so much so that many of his Medford friends have asked if "Uncle Dolph" was away visiting. He was in town this week for the first time for several months--been too busy. Nearly all his several hundred acres of land is under the Fish Lake ditch. He used some water from the ditch the past season and the result was so flattering, notwithstanding the inexperience in its use, that he is preparing to cover every acre he can with water next season. He is right now putting out 1000 Newtown and Spitzenberg apple trees, and will put out a greater number next season. Aside from this orchard venture he is going to experiment quite extensively in the growth of different grasses. He is sowing twelve acres of land to red clover, six acres to alfalfa, three or four acres to muskeet, one acre to alsike and ten acres to red top and timothy. This land will all be irrigated and he is very sanguine as to the result. He now has growing a few acres of alfalfa which has done remarkably well--proving that this grass can be produced in abundance on sticky soil.
Medford Mail, December 2, 1904, page 1


    When Messrs. Clark, Belser, Palmtag and Williams, of the Jackson County Improvement Co., were here last week, a directors meeting was had and it was decided to make a proposition to the people of the valley for the extension of the ditch from its present terminus on the company's farm. The proposition, briefly stated, is this: That if the farmers will guarantee 5000 acres of land for irrigation the company will build the ditch to the west side of Bear Creek, crossing the creek near the northern boundary of the city and covering much of the land between here and Central Point. This would bring a large acreage into productiveness, which is now producing little or nothing.
    On the other hand the company, if the proposition is not accepted, intend to cut up their holdings in forty- and eighty-acre tracts and induce people to come in and buy these tracts. This was the intention of the directors when they came up here, but seeing that the country was waking up and upon the verge of a boom concluded to make the first proposition to the people. A committee of citizens will probably be appointed to wait upon the farmers and interest them in the scheme.
Medford Mail, March 31, 1905, page 1


    On Saturday of last week a party, composed of Mr. and Mrs. I. L. Hamilton, Mrs. V. T. McCray and a representative of this paper, made a drive to the Peterson ranch, eight miles north and east from Medford. The first three members of the party made the drive for pleasure, but the representative of the Mail made it for the sole and only purpose of seeing things--and he saw.
    The Peterson ranch comprises 700 acres, and a couple or three years ago was purchased by the Jackson County Improvement Company--better known as the Fish Lake Ditch Company. The land until this year has been practically nothing but an arid desert. There were some few spots of land upon it upon which crops could be grown with varied degrees of success. This year Mr. V. T. McCray, engineer and manager for the company, will take 100 tons of grain hay from the land; has now growing 200 acres of wheat and barley which will easily yield thirty bushels to the acre. Then there is an alfalfa field of eighty acres, which is looking fine. This entire 700-acre tract is under the ditch and there are streams of mountain water flowing in all directions over it. There is much of it, however, which has never been cropped and this, of necessity, will have to be leveled to some extent before water can effectually be used--that is the bumps will have to be taken off and scraped into the depressions. The land which the company has in crops this year has been leveled and upon this the putting of water through the ditches was all that was necessary to produce wheat five and six feet high.
    Mr. McCray has planted a number of experimental plats upon what is actual desert land. For instance, near the entrance to the place, there are growing patches of corn--and it is looking fine. This land has been flooded, but in a very crude and unsatisfactory manner, because of the fact that the surface has not been leveled, and the corn is planted only upon the higher places, but the experiment proves beyond a question of doubt that the desert land will produce abundantly when watered. Mr. McCray showed us Early Rose potatoes growing upon this same desert land that were as large as table tumblers. There is also growing other garden stuff. Mr. McCray has also put out, as an experiment, a dozen or more different varieties of grass, and all of those seem to be doing well, but he is of the opinion that Tall Oat grass will prove to be the greatest success because of its rapid growth.
    If any person doubts the good results obtainable from the use of water on this desert land they have only to visit this farm--and be at once convinced, and all doubt dispelled.
    The company is now running in its ditch and several laterals about 1200 inches of water, but this amount can be increased to 5000 inches at any time. Their ditches now extend across the desert to the Lee Watkins place, near the banks of Rogue River. At this time the entire desert is practically under the ditch and many farmers, not only those on the desert, but those along the entire line of the ditch, are using the water--and their crops show the effects of its use.
    In many places this ditch company has made possible the growth of many spears of grain where not only one, but none, grew before. Surely, no person can be longer skeptical us to the benefits resultant from the use of water who has seen what Mr. McCray is doing on this before almost valueless Peterson ranch.
Medford Mail, June 23, 1905, page 1



    Some weeks ago the Mail had an article telling of a scheme by which the Sterling Mining Co. intended to bring water into the valley for irrigation, power and domestic purposes. It was said that it couldn't be done, that it was a "hot air" proposition and an impossibility. However, the surveys have been made and preliminary estimates as to the cost have been submitted. In a short time it will be up to the farmers and fruit raisers of the central valley us to the amount of encouragement they intend giving the company in this enterprise--not in bonuses or subscriptions, but in patronage after the system is installed. The company is ready and willing to construct this irrigation system if they can secure the patronage to justify it. This is not a philanthropic scheme by any means, it is a cold-blooded business proposition. If sufficient revenue can be secured to justify the construction of the system it will be built. That's all there is to it.
    Fred J. Blakely, the president of the Sterling Mining Co., was in Medford several days this week, consulting with J. D. Heard, the superintendent of the mine, concerning their various properties, for the Sterling is not the only mine controlled by this company, which fact will be found out later. There are to be extensive improvements, and this irrigation scheme is one of those contemplated.
    The ability of the men at the head of this enterprise to carry out their plans is most positively shown by the success Mr. Blakely, the president, has had in other enterprises. In Douglas County, where he has been operating for the past several years, he has inaugurated more dividend-paying enterprises than anyone in that county. He owns the Roseburg Power and Light Co., has constructed a large mill at Winchester and cleared the North Umpqua River from near its source to Winchester so that logs may be floated down it, has diverted the Calapooia so that its waters make a garden spot of a formerly unproductive section of country. Whatever Mr. Blakely tells the people he intends doing he will do. He has never failed yet and does not intend to fail.
    The experience of the past few years has demonstrated to the orchardists the value of water upon their lands. If the productive power of an orchard is increased by irrigation the value of the land is increased in exact ratio. It would be well for our orchardmen to look into this matter thoroughly.
Medford Mail, October 20, 1905, page 1


    The Condor Water & Power Company announces its purpose to pump water from the Rogue River for irrigation and other purposes.
    Their big ditch at Prospect is nearly completed, and their dam at that point across Rogue River will be completed November 1st, this year. This gives them a head of water of 600 feet and will develop 100,000 horsepower, the intention of the company being, however, to install units of 10,000 horsepower each as required.
    Work to be rushed and a portion of their pipe line system of irrigation to be in operation next summer.
    Pumping from Rogue River, the cheapest and most practicable way of irrigating in the Rogue River Valley. Water can be conveyed to all elevations cheaply and economically by the cheap and unlimited water power now being developed by the Condor Co.
    Estimated cost of pipe line from the Rogue River to Medford to irrigate 5000 acres is $50,000.
    Contract and rates for water to be very reasonable, based upon the purpose for which the water is to be used, irrigation for alfalfa requiring a great deal more water than that for orchards.
    Ample water assured consumers for all purposes and just when wanted; elevation of lands no drawback, as water can be pumped to any elevation.
    This means the enhancement in value of our hillside farms from ten to one hundredfold. Lands now practically worthless made to produce crops, justifying a valuation of $100 and upwards per acre.
    With water, ten acres, enough for any man to make a comfortable living, who, without water, would starve to death on 160 acres of similar lands without water. This means the cutting up into smaller tracts of our large farms and the quadrupling of the population of the Rogue River Valley within the next few years.
    Far-sighted men buying lands in the Rogue River Valley who will soon reap their reward in large advances. Although lands have had a steady increase in value during the last few years, its advances from now on will be by leaps and bounds.
    The pumping of water for irrigation is not an experiment. It is a demonstrated and proven fact the world over. It is cheaper and more practical than ditches, where cheap water power is so abundant as here. It has been in use in Southern California for years. Water is pumped for irrigation in the Hawaiian Islands to a height of 1000 feet and profitably.
    The Rogue River Valley will soon become the garden spot of the Pacific Coast. With a climate and soil unequaled, all that has been needed is water for irrigation, and that now is ensured. With the enormous increase in population, next will follow a network of electric railroads, bringing to the farmer's door all the conveniences and comforts of the most advanced civilization.
Medford Mail, October 27, 1905, page 1


    Although bountiful crops are raised without the aid of artificial irrigation in Rogue River Valley, the output can be vastly increased by this means. The water for irrigation is abundant and is comparatively easy to get upon the land. No extensive works in the way of reservoirs are necessary in most cases. All that is needful is to tap one of the many mountain streams and carry the water through ditches to where it is wanted. The Table Rock Ditch Co., north of Rogue River, has been furnishing water to its stockholders for many years. The people of Eden precinct have an irrigation system of their own--though comparatively small in extent. In the Applegate Valley the majority of the farmers have private irrigation ditches, the water being taken from the Applegate riven.
    The largest and most comprehensive system now in operation in the valley is that of the Fish Lake Water Co. In the year 1900 this enterprise was first definitely commenced and now the company has a ditch line twenty-five miles in length from the intake on the headwaters of Little Butte Creek to the present end of the ditch on the company's farm a few miles northeast of Medford. This ditch has a capacity of 5,000 miner's inches and is so constructed that its capacity can be increased at any time as the demand for water may require. The waters of Butte Creek are sufficient during most years--up to the latter part of July at least--to fill the ditch, but in order to be sure of having an ample supply, the company has secured from the government the right to make a storage reservoir at Fish Lake. This lake lies at the base of Mt. McLoughlin, one of the snow-capped peaks of the Cascades, and is a mile and a half long by a quarter mile wide, varying in depth from four to eight feet. It is fed by a number of ice-cold springs gushing out of McLoughlin's sides and is the source of the north fork of Little Butte. At its outlet the mountains come close together forming a narrow gorge through which Butte Creek rushes on its way to the valley. At this point precipitous bluffs of solid rock face each other and here the Fish Lake Water Company purposes to erect a mighty dam, which will confine the waters of the lake and raise its surface at least thirty feet above its present level. This will give them an immense storage reservoir two miles long by half a mile wide and thirty feet in depth in the shallow parts. The head of the ditch is some twenty miles from the lake, but no more ditch need be built, as when the water begins to run low, all that will be necessary is to open the gates at the lake and let the water come down through its natural channel to the point of diversion.
    At the present time 50,000 acres of the most productive lands in the valley are covered by this ditch, and work is now going on making an extension of nine miles, crossing Bear Creek just north of the city limits of Medford, and which will cover 10,000 acres more of land, much of which is now non-productive, but which under the revivifying effects of water will produce bounteous yields of fruits, grains and vegetables. The Fish Lake Company is the pioneer public irrigation enterprise in the valley, and its work has resulted in a great deal more interest being taken in irrigation than ever before.
    The Sterling Mining Company, which controls extensive water rights in the Siskiyous, including over twenty-five miles of ditch carrying water to the mines, is considering the matter of using the surplus water in furnishing irrigation for a portion of the valley south and east of Medford. The scheme includes the boring of a tunnel through the divide between the main valley and Sterling, and carrying the water through pipes to the different customers. Already the acreage which the company figured would be necessary in order to make the scheme a feasible and paying one has been subscribed, and more could easily have been secured, only the company wished to be certain as to the amount of water they could furnish before making additional contracts.
    The High Line ditch, which starts from Rogue River at Prospect, fifty miles from Medford, and follows the high ridges north of Rogue River to Gold Hill, is another irrigation enterprise upon which work is being done and from which great things are expected. This canal--for a canal it will be in size when completed--is intended to carry water for irrigation and mining purposes, to be used as a means of transporting lumber from the big forests of the upper Rogue River and the Umpqua divide, and will cover all that portion of the Rogue River Valley lying north of the river from the head of the ditch to Grants Pass, and has the inexhaustible supply of water from the river to depend upon. Dry gulches, rich in gold, which have not been worked for want of water, will yield up their wealth. Mountain and valley farms that have been unproductive, or at most giving a fair crop, will become consistent producers.
    While it is true that some favored portions of the county produce regularly without irrigation, it is nevertheless a fact that irrigation benefits even these. The product is of better quality, more uniform in size, coloring and marketable qualities, especially is this true of fruit, and besides the farmer, fruit grower, or gardener is always sure of a crop if he can supplement nature's offerings with artificial irrigation.
Medford Mail, March 9, 1906, page 13




    Salem, Aug. 21.--The progress made in reclaiming lands included in Oregon projects investigated jointly by the state and United States Reclamation Service, is a matter of considerable satisfaction to State Engineer Percy A. Cupper, who so expresses himself in a report to F. E. Weymouth, chief engineer of the United States Reclamation Service, Denver, Col. These cooperative investigations have been made under a contract entered into between the state and the Secretary of the Interior on May 5, 1913, following the appropriation of $50,000 by the Oregon legislature for the investigation of Oregon projects in connection with the federal government. Projects investigated under this contract include the Deschutes, Ochoco, Malheur, Silver Lake, Silver Creek, Harney Basin, Talent, Medford and Eagle Point projects.
    Funds expended in the investigation and preliminary survey of these projects, it is pointed out, are returned to the state and federal governments by the districts when they are developed, and the funds are in turn used in the investigation of other sections susceptible to reclamation through irrigation. At the present time there is only $1380.63 remaining in the state fund.
    The projects included in the cooperative investigation are described by Cupper in his report as follows:
    "A very preliminary investigation and report were made on the possibility of irrigation in the Rogue River Valley. This investigation resulted in the organization of the Talent Irrigation District, the Medford Irrigation District and the Eagle Point Irrigation District.
    The Talent Irrigation District includes about 11,000 acres and has succeeded in supplying water to 4240 acres this season with the flood waters of Bear Creek and the waters turned over the divide from Little Applegate. A revision of the plans of this district is necessary on account of the failure of the water supply to measure up to expectations, and it is now proposed to construct a reservoir on Emigrant Creek to store the flood waters of this stream and also to turn in the waters of Keene Creek from the Klamath drainage. The district has issued bonds in the amount of $252,000, and it is expected that it will require $500,000 or $600,000 in addition to fully complete the project. The Talent district was in a very fortunate position, in that it could suspend construction work without serious injury to the project when construction and financial conditions became very adverse this season.
    "The Medford Irrigation District originally included some 20,000 acres of land and investigated many sources of water supply. However, it finally turned to Little Butte Creek as the most feasible source, whereupon the project was cut down to approximately 10,000 acres. The Rogue River Valley Canal Company, which has been operating in Rogue River Valley for a number of years, had certain filings on Little Butte Creek, Fish Lake and Four Mile Lake reservoir sites, and it was necessary to deal with this company in this connection. A contract was entered into whereby the Rogue River Valley Canal Company agreed to do the necessary construction work and deliver water to the district for approximately $110 per acre. It is estimated that the total cost to the district will equal $125 or more per acre.
    "This is a rich agricultural section, largely set with fruit, and the water is badly needed to size up the fruit and, thereby, guarantee a crop every year. Preparations are under way for actual construction work and, except for a legal defect in the procedure leading up to the bond issue, work would be under way at the present time.
    "The Eagle Point Irrigation District proposed to secure water from Big Butte Creek, but has not submitted definite plans and the area is uncertain, though it is not expected to exceed 8000 acres."
Oregon Journal, Portland, August 22, 1920, page 15


Medford Mail Tribune, December 21, 1921, page 1


    The turning of water into the main canal of the Medford Irrigation District today is great news. It marks an epoch in the history of Medford and the Rogue River Valley--final success after over a decade of struggle and discouragement.
    With normal weather from now on, the value of irrigation promises to have dramatic and convincing demonstration. In many districts the soil is now hard and dry. An average rainfall from now on would, without irrigation, mean a loss to orchardists of hundreds of thousands of dollars. For blossoms are now set for the largest pear crop in the history of Southern Oregon. Without irrigation this crop could not, by any possibility, be sized up and brought to successful maturity. With irrigation, it can be.
    Like any other fundamental economic change, irrigation must involve a certain period of readjustment. New methods invariably bring new problems and responsibilities. But such readjustments will be successfully made, and in the not very distant future Medford and the Rogue River Valley will look back upon May 5th, 1922, as the dawn of a new era--the establishment of prosperity for the first time, upon a permanent and steadily growing basis.
Medford Mail Tribune, May 5, 1922, page 4


Medford Mail Tribune, June 9, 1922, page C1


    MEDFORD, Aug. 2.--Although $150,000 bonds of this issue were reserved especially for residents of Medford and vicinity, already more than $50,000 of the bonds have been sold. It may be impossible to personally meet all my clients and friends before the balance has been sold. This letter is therefore written to get the facts before as many as possible.
    Nineteen thousand, eight hundred acres are covered under the tax lien of this issue, at the rate of $20.22 per acre. Figured against the choicest land, 6,300 acres, presently to be irrigated, the debt amounts to but $63.49 per acre. The value of these lands is conservatively figured at $1,500,000, while the bond issue amounts to but $400,000. These lands will increase in value and the bonded debt will be reduced by annual payments.
    Big Butte Creek furnishes the water supply, a positive, adequate, reliable supply. No reservoir is required, only a small diversion dam. No difficult engineering problems are presented. A harmonious organization of farmers, who knew what they wanted, the advice of progressive local bankers, cooperation of expert engineers, and the result was attained. Money was not wasted.
    No land under this District can be released until every cent of principal and interest of every fast bond has been paid.
    The lien of these bonds secures the holder in exactly the same way as a school district bond.
    Figure it up. Night and day, year in and year out, these bonds pay interest--there is no period of idle money, no time taken out for reinvestment, no delay in payment of interest, no federal income tax to pay, no expenses and no requests for favors, extensions or delays. Any man who will figure can fully prove this.
    In these bonds you have better than 3 to 1 security and the joint and several obligation of 94 owners and their families (that's what it amounts to). The principal and interest is collected through taxes by the Sheriff and the terms of payment are easy, 6% small annual installments over a 25-year period. Yes, and every dollar loaned goes to add more than a dollar in the way of increased value and earning capacity. Mortgages come after tax liens, as you know.
    All the affairs of the world are not yet settled. Our people have been loaning the world. You cannot afford to go up in the Balkans to collect 8% or 10%, and you cannot afford to pass the best home investment that may be offered in years. You know Eagle Point people. You know they pay their taxes, that they must pay their taxes, and you know that Rogue River Valley land is Gilt Edged Security when so reasonably bonded.
    I have sold bonds for 28 years but have never offered any bond with greater confidence in its security.
    With kindest regards to my friends.
Medford Mail Tribune, August 3, 1922, page 4


    Although railroad strike news today was not encouraging, J. E. Mulcahy, general freight agent of the Southern Pacific, informed the Mail Tribune that he was certain there would be no tie up on the S.P. lines, and he is confident that there will be no serious trouble on eastern railroads. "There are too many sane heads on both sides of this controversy," said he, "to make a general walkout possible. I look for a settlement in the near future."
    Mr. Mulcahy has been in the valley several days looking over the fruit prospects from a tonnage standpoint, and he is very enthusiastic over the situation. M. Montgomery, local S.P. agent, predicts there will be 1150 cars of pears shipped from the valley this year, compared to 609 shipped last year. This is the largest pear crop ever produced in Jackson County, and the credit for the increase is universally attributed to irrigation established on a comprehensive scale for the first time this year.
Medford Mail Tribune, August 11, 1922, page 1


    The Talent Irrigation District in the Rogue River Valley effected a saving of about $20,000 in its recent construction operations, according to a statement just issued by district officials. Construction of the huge Emigrant Creek dam, the Ashland lateral and extensions of the distribution system were touched on in the report. A saving on construction is contrary to the usual experience in irrigation district works, the cost usually exceeding original estimates.
    D. C. Henny, consulting engineer of the district, has just rendered what will probably be his final report. The last of the concrete was poured October 12, the last of the metal work was placed October 18, and the superintendent of construction left at the end of the month. One man remained to do a small amount of finishing work on the dam with a small crew to clean up.
    The rains have flooded the lower flat to a point 30 feet above the stream bed level, surplus water passing through the lower 12-inch outlet pipe and through the outlet tunnel gates. About the only work that remains to be done is to grout the contraction joints, and this work will have to wait until the temperature of the concrete has subsided to an approximate level with the temperature of the air.
    Henny reports that the fall rains will prove of great benefit to the district. Completion of the reservoir assures ample supply of water for irrigation throughout the season in 1925. The work was performed under the direction of F. C. Dillard, engineer of the district.
Jackson County News, Medford, November 28, 1924, page 7


    SALEM, Ore., Nov. 25.--The Eagle Point Irrigation District of Jackson County will have to wait a little longer before the state irrigation securities commission promises to extend the guarantee of interest on its $400,000 bonds. The commission told representatives of the district yesterday that it would do so if the cooperation of the people of Jackson County can be obtained. An extension of one and one half years in the guarantee is asked, increasing the present guarantee to five years.
    The commission received crop estimates from Jackson County projects showing that crop returns this year from the Medford Irrigation District were $2,500,000 and from the Talent district $900,000. The former project was developed at a cost of $10,000,000, and the latter at $1,235,000.
    It was declared that the Eagle Point district should make an even better showing considering the development cost.
Medford Mail Tribune, November 25, 1925, page 1


    Judge Walter H. Evans of the circuit court of Portland will open court Monday morning at 9:30 to finish up the determination of the water rights of the Little Butte Creek.
    In 1909 the legislature adopted the present Water Code. It created a water board composed of two superintendents and the state engineer. It provided that on application of any water user on the stream, this board could make surveys and gather information necessary to determining the rights of the parties out of the stream. Everybody who used water out the stream or claimed a right to use it, was brought into the one case.
     In the fall of 1909 the board brought a proceeding to adjudicate the waters of Little Butte Creek. Little Butte Creek runs out of Fish Lake and irrigates a large tract of land in the Little Butte Creek Valley. It has two forks, the North and South Forks, which join at Lake Creek. All of the farmers on the stream have their rights involved in court in this case. Most of them are complaining that the board did not allow them enough water to completely irrigate their lands. Others claim that they are entitled to irrigate more lands than the board allowed. The greatest controversy is between the M. F. Hanley ranch above the forks of the creek, and the Rogue River Valley Canal Company, which brings the water over into the Medford Irrigation District. When the proceeding was started Hanley contested the right of this company and this company contested the right of Hanley, and they settled their differences by a written agreement. The effect of that agreement is to grant Hanley, who has some of the oldest rights on the stream, a first right over the canal company, to 1600 inches of water. The effect of this agreement is in dispute, Hanley now irrigating more than 1500 acres and using about 1200 inches of water. The agreement gave him the right to take 1000 inches around the headgates of the canal company. The other users on the stream below are interested in his being able to do this, because it saves the water for the watershed and therefore for their uses.
    There are some very old rights downstream below the intake of the canal company. Practically all of the users on the stream are opposed to the canal company's taking any water out of the stream until they have had their full requirements. It is contended that some of the land requires much more water per acre than other lands. This is a particularly short water year, and many of the users on the creek were shut off in the summer by the state water board under the decree which the board had made. This, of course, creates a great interest among the farmers as to whether or not their rights are old enough and for enough water to irrigate their lands in the years of short water, as well as in average years. Quite a number of attorneys are representing these various interests, and the case is one which means a great deal to the users concerned.
Medford Mail Tribune, November 28, 1926, page 1


Medford Mail Tribune, April 15, 1927, page 1






Medford Mail Tribune, January 1, 1928, page F4


Medford Mail Tribune, February 16, 1928, page 1


Medford Mail Tribune, February 19, 1928, page 8