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<br /> <br />',:'1i <br /> <br />14 <br /> <br />PAaNIA PROJECT,' caLaRADa <br /> <br />Project farm8 <br /> <br />Praject lands are all in private awnership. The farms vary in size ~ <br />from ~ fe~ acres af archard. 'Or truck-garden land (the awner warking <br />part tIme m nearby caal mmes) to. farm units af aver 100 acres with <br />full-time farmer aperatian. The average size farm has 28 acres cul- <br />tivated. In 1942. there were 465 farm units in the praject area; 312 <br />af the units were under the Fjre Mauntain canal with 85 percent awner <br />aperated and 15 percent tenant aperated, and 153 af the units were <br />in the Leraux Oreek area where a large number are tenant operated. <br />Less than 5 percent of the farms are in units af over/160 acres. With <br />canstruction of the project and resulting increase in farm incame, a <br />majority of the farms now leased will be owner operated, and the <br />farms of aver 160 acres will be divided into smaller units. <br />Variations of soil quality, water rights, and location of the land with <br />respect to roads and markets create wide differences in land values. <br />Favorable air-drainage conditians, necessary for successful fruit pro- <br />duction, are limited to certain tracts and are instrumental in establish- <br />ing land values. Land under the Fire Mauntain canal, well located <br />and having a good water right, sells in normal times for $70 to $100 an <br />acre with orchard land valued at $200 to $300 an acre. . Developed <br />Leraux Oreek lands abave the Fire Mountain canal are nat sa well <br />adapted to. the grawing af high-value crops and sell in normal times <br />for about $40 an acre. A large partian af arable Leraux Oreek land <br />above the Fire Mauntain canal is undevelaped and still covered with <br />sagebrush. <br />Tax assessment values set an farm land are determined largely by <br />the adequacy af the irrigatian water supply available to. the land. <br />Gaad quality land fully.irrigated is assessed at $90 per acre, and nan- <br />irrigated grazing land as low as $1.50 per acre. Tax rates in 1942 <br />ranged fram $2.81 to. $4.65 per $100 af valuatian in the project area, <br />depending an schoal district levies. The average tax assessment an <br />irrigated acre is $1.88 far lands under the Fire Mauntain canal and <br />$0.75 far Leraux Oreek lands. Tax delinquency has been law as the <br />- county has fallawed rigidly a tax sales pragram. <br />In 1941, less than 20 percent af the farm units were martgaged, the <br />tatal martgage indebtedness being anly abaut $150,000. During the <br />years af 1942 and 1943, when crap prices were high, the majar partian <br />af the 1941 autstanding martgages was paid aff in full, leaving the <br />present martgage indebtedness very small. <br /> <br />PRaJECT LANDS <br /> <br />Soils <br />The sails af the area have develaped under a semiarid climate. <br />They are characteristically light-colared, average in arganic ml),tter <br />cantent; maderately to. well leached af saluble salts and in places have <br />a zane of lime accumulatian in the upper subsail harizan. On the <br />basis af made af farmatian there are two. graups, alluvial sails and <br />residual sails. The alluvial sails are the mast extensive graup. They <br />accur principally an valley terraces, alluvial fans, and mesas camprised <br />af autwash debris and prabably glacial detritusaf shale, sandstane, <br />and. igneaus rack arigin. Textures range from sandy laams to clays <br />with silt loams predominating. They have a gaod water-holding <br />capacity and far the mast part have adequate drainage. In a few <br />areas, awing to. the presence af relatively large amaunts af rack in the <br />