UNITED STATES 



LAMATION 



Government Irrigation Work During the Month. 



Steam Pumps Contract has been 

 MgatlSr , ir'ded the Buffalo 

 isteam rump Company, 

 of Buffalo, New York, for furnishing 

 pumping apparatus for the Garden 

 City irrigation project, in Kansas. 

 The apparatus consists of thirteen 

 motor-driven centrifugal pumps of 

 five second-feet capacity. These 

 pumps are to be installed and ready 

 to operate in the early spring. The 

 contract price is $20,230. 



Owing to the magnitude of the 

 pumping project at Garden City, the 

 engineering methods which are being 

 devised to raise the underground wa- 

 ters, and the important bearing this 

 National work will have upon the ul- 

 timate development of a vast area 

 of very fertile land in the broad 

 river valleys of the Great Plains, 

 the plans of the Government are of 

 general public interest. The opera- 

 tions are being watched not only by 

 those residing in that part of the 

 West, but by many citizens of the 

 East. 



Where the In the early boom days 

 F^^l"^cf^^ of western Kansas and 



Nebraska large sums of 

 Eastern money, principally from New 

 England and New York, were in- 

 vested in farm mortgages. A succes- 

 sion of dry years caused many fore- 

 closures, and Eastern investors found 

 themselves possessed of large areas 

 of land of doubtful value, and for 

 which there was no demand. A not 

 unnatural feeling of resentment to- 

 ward western Kansas prevaded the 

 East for years ; but the settlers were 



no more to blame than the investors, 

 and the settlers likewise were heavy 

 losers. Many of them had put all 

 their resources into the effort to es- 

 tablish farms in this new country,, 

 and when it was demonstrated that 

 the region was unfit for farming they 

 had to move back poverty stricken to 

 older communities, in a period of hard 

 times. 



But, though the climate was at 

 fault, the soil was rich. Much of 

 this land lacks only water to make 

 it productive and valuable. The Plains 

 rivers are apt to be undependable for 

 irrigation, as they go dry in the sum- 

 mer, when water is most needed, and 

 the rainfall is uncertain and insuffi- 

 cient. In all the valleys, however, 

 and at no great depth below the sur- 

 face, there is an inexhaustible supply 

 of underground water, which has a 

 decided though slow movement 

 through the underlying gravels. 



Water From The Reclamation Ser- 

 Deepinthe yj^^g j^^g devised a plan 

 Ground ^^ ^^jjj^^ ^^^^ ^^ ^^^^ 



water in the Arkansas Valley, which 

 is unique and unusual. To bring the 

 water to the surface a series of wells 

 have been bored, the aggregate 

 length of which is more than four 

 miles, and a series of pumps which 

 have just been purchased from. Buf- 

 falo, New York, are to be installed,. 

 The project will have 230 wells, vary- 

 ing in depth from 40 to 300 feet, and 

 sunk in groups of ten wells, with one- 

 pump for each group. These wells 

 vary from 12 to 15 inches in diameter,, 

 and it is estimated that each group 



