DRAINAGE INVESTIGATIONS. 205 



Another example of the beneficial results of investigations made by 

 this Office is in the Yakima Valley, of Washington, where the soil and 

 its alkali conditions are much different from those noted in the Hyde 

 Park tract. A work of much greater magnitude w-as undertaken 

 there by landowners at their own expense. The high price of drain- 

 tile prohibited their use in this case, and box drains made of 2-inch 

 planks of Oregon fir lumber were used for making the drains. The 

 particular work designed and staked out required the use of 97,000 

 feet of lumber and the digging of ditches aggregating 10.350 feet in 

 length. The water came from surrounding elevated portions quite 

 rapidly, and in comi^aratively large volumes, upon the lower land by 

 reason of the open gravel subsoil, the effect being that while during 

 the early spring the water table in the lower tracts was 6 feet from the 

 surface it gradually and persistently rose until in August it flowed 

 over the surface of the ground in the lower tracts. The drains were 

 located with the design of intercepting the water from the high lands 

 and leading it into an established drainage water course, with the 

 intention later of providing interior drainage for tlie affected land, if 

 found necessary. These drains have been in operation two years, and 

 the owners report that the land is dry and is now suitable for any 

 crops they desire to plant. As further proof of this benefit, it is noted 

 that a large hop house has been built upon land which previous to its 

 drainage was swampy and during the latter part of the season covered 

 with water. Ow^ners of neighboring land followed immediately with 

 similar drainage works and report most satisfactory results. It is 

 further noticed as an effect of this drainage that lands which were 

 showing the injurious effects of alkali to a greater or less extent are 

 gradually becoming reclaimed and the hops and other crops planted 

 upon them are reviving and becoming more productive. 



As in the case before noted, the far-reaching effects of drains of this 

 kind are somewhat surprising and'contribute largely to the difficulty 

 in assigning to the lands benefited a proper proportion of the expense 

 of this kind of draniage. It is stated by a farmer, occupying land 1 

 mile distant from the tract just described, and who has been troubled 

 for years by an excess of water in his soil during the latter part of the 

 season, that after the installation of these drains he was obliged to 

 deepen his wells, and that his cellar, whieh before had contained 

 water, became dry. It should be noted that the efficiency of such 

 drains depends largely upon the proper location of drains both as to 

 alignment and depth. 



During the past season this Office has cooperated with the State of 

 Utah in the experimental drainage of some tracts in that State, the 

 legislature having a|)proi)riated $10,000 for irrigation and drainage 

 investigations upon the condition that this Office contribute the same 

 amount, to be available and used during the year 11)05-0. Of this 



