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<br />,,,.l <br /> <br />OG22G: <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />most suitable areas to bring into irrigated cultivation. Yesterday, we inspected <br />the l~chaud Flats area of about 65 square miles located a~ng the southeastern <br />shore of American Falls reservoir. Today, we traveled over the Mountain Home bench <br />where the abundant covering of sagebrush is evidence that this land can be as <br />productive as any other area in Idaho if we can just get the water to it. <br />Unlike the Michaud Flats development, which is now before Congress for authori- <br />zation, the l-buntain Home development is not dependent upon upstream storage of <br />Snake River water. The lands have an average elevation of 700 feet above the level <br />of the river, which about rules out any pumping from the Snake River under present <br />economic standards. Boise River water could be diverted tllrough a tunnel but all <br />of the dependable flow of the Boise has been appropriated. <br />Thus it is going to take some involved and costly construction to get water <br />to the ~buntain Home plateau. There are several possibilities and we are investi- <br />gating them all. One is to divert water from the Payette River into the Eoise <br />River watershed and, by exchange arrangements, end up with new water flowing out <br />on ths Mountain Home lands. <br />Another Boheme proposes pumping of Snake River water into Lake Lowell and the <br />pumping of ground water in the Boise Valley to replace water which would then be <br />diverted upstream for use on the VDuntain Home lands. A detailed ground-water <br />survey is a prime essential in this proposal, and we are now cooperating with the <br />Geological Survey in this work. <br />There are some smaller areas in southwestern Idaho in addition to the ~buntain <br />Home lands which are susoeptible to irrigation, but just how good they are or how <br />feasible it is to get ~~ter to them we will not know until further investigations <br />are completed. <br /> <br />8 <br />