PLSO The Oregon Surveyor January February 2021

The Oregon Surveyor | Vol. 44, No. 1 24 Surveyors in the News Surveyors were much in the news during the development of Oregon. Through the archives of the University of Oregon Library, this column revisits and celebrates some of those stories of our profession. Into the Wild Horse Country By Pat Gaylord, PLS Have you ever wondered how irriga - tion ditches were graded, built, and maintained in the West? Surveyors made the news in old Oregon for many reasons and it wasn’t always boundaries and disputes that put them there. Malheur Enterprise Vale, Oregon October 26, 1912 WARM SPRINGS DITCH TO BE CLEANED OUT An outfit consisting of fourteen head of horses, a number of men, and the necessary equipment for the cleaning of the Warm Springs irrigation ditch left the John E. Johnson ranch Thurs - day morning for the Drewsey country. Surveyor John E. Johnson who has charge of the work, left yesterday. Mr. Johnson states that the clean - ing of the seven miles of the Warm Springs ditch will mean lots of hard work fromnow until the middle of De - cember. He expects to secure more men and teams near Drewsey in or - der to complete the job this year. The Warm Springs ditch was built about 14 years ago and feeds some fine tracts of land about 20 miles be - low Drewsey. This work to be done will enable the watering of more land. Surveyor Johnson will make the sur - veys at once for the outfit and then expects to go into the Wild Horse country to do some other work for the Pacific Live Stock Company. x Surveyors in the News