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<br />'. <br /> <br />The early years saw a period of rapid development. <br />By 1912 nearly 1,000 new irrigated farms had been established <br />on the project. The valley was booming from tile new con- <br />struction and from the rapid expansion of farming and the <br />accompanying building and improvement activity. Between 1912 <br />and 1914 the population of the valley farms increased by 50 <br />percent. In 1914 alone, the settlers built 86 new houses; <br />enlarged 31 more; and built barns, granaries, other farm build- <br />ings, school houses, and churches. Gross farm income per acre <br />in 19Jb averaged $15. The next year, the per-acre grose crop <br />income on project farms increased by 25 percent. Approximately <br />85,000 sheep and 3,000 cattle were L~ported for fattening <br />during the w:inter on the crops produced on the newly irrigated <br />farms. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />Although construction of all the clams and canale <br /> <br /> <br />consumed many more years, as each additional feature was built <br /> <br /> <br />it was possible to supply more land on the project. Finally, <br /> <br /> <br />with the construction of the last regulatory reservoir in <br /> <br /> <br />1928, the project was virtually completed. <br /> <br /> <br />Projects of such magnitude must of necessity.be <br /> <br /> <br />planned and started long before the ultimate need for added <br /> <br /> <br />production arises. It took twenty-five years, beginning :in the <br /> <br /> <br />era of horse and slip scraper construction and ending in the <br /> <br /> <br />age of electric dragline and bulldozer, to harness the river <br /> <br /> <br />with stone and steel and c~~crete. <br /> <br /> <br />The North Platte Project consists of Pathfinder Dam <br /> <br /> <br />and Reservoir having a capacity of over a million acre-feet, <br /> <br />6 <br />