200 Transactions of the 



EXTENT OF COUNTRY IRRIGATED IN CALIFORNIA. 



There is already a large extent of country irrigated here. Indeed,' 

 there is hardly a vegetable garden, or an ornamental yard in either city 

 or country, that is not irrigated. 



All the strawberry vines, raspberries, blackberries, and man}' of the 

 currants, arc irrigated. 



Some of the largest vineyards, like the Cocomungo and Natoma, are 

 also irrigated. All the orange and lemon orchards, and, in fact, all semi- 

 tropical fruits, require irrigation in this climate. Grain is irrigated in 

 some portions of the State, but to a very limited extent. 



Irrigation here is accomplished in three ways: 



First — By ordinary wells, the water being raised by windmills, horse 

 or steam power. 



Second — By artesian wells, where the water flows out of the top of 

 the pipe. 



Third — By ditches, flumes, and pipes, which connect with water- 

 courses. 



No person, who has not given this subject thoughtful inquiry, is aware 

 of the vaiue and extent of irrigation even now. 



What it will be a quarter of a century from now can hardly be ap- 

 proximated. Our large irrigating canals are as yet incomplete and few 

 in number. They are merely the beginning; but this beginning must 

 mark a new era in the productive capacity of the State. 



The San Joaquin Canal and Irrigating Company has built forty miles 

 of canal, having a mean width of fifty feet, and a depth of five and a 

 half feet of water, which is capable of irrigating about one hundred 

 thousand acres of land. Nine tenths of the land through which this 

 canal now passes is owned by one firm, who pay one dollar and twenty- 

 five cents per acre per annum for irrigation. This is a lower rate than 

 is paid either in Italy, Spain, or India, for the use of a like amount of 

 water. The Kings Kiver Irrigating Canal is six miles long, thirty feet 

 wide, and four feet deep, and has a fall of a foot to the mile. This, 

 when extended, will irrigate from sixty thousand to seventy-five thou- 

 sand acres of land, if there is water to run the canal full with that fall. 



The Fresno Canal is now ten miles long, forty feet wide, and three feet 

 deep, with a grade of eight tenths of a foot to the mile. 



The canal owned by Chapman, Lux <fc Miller is thirty miles long, from 

 thirty to thirty-five feet wide, and two and a half to three feet deep, 

 with a grade of one foot to the mile, and will irrigate from forty thou- 

 sand to fifty thousand acres. 



In computing the extent of country a certain canal will irrigate, many 

 questions are presented which will render all estimates uncertain, as: 



First — Whether the canal is run full of water. 



Second — Its grade. 



Third — The character of the irrigation required, some grains requir- 

 ing twice the irrigation that others do, and some soils more water to 

 thoroughly saturate them than others. 



Fourth — Whether two crops are to be raised upon the same land in 

 the same year. 



Fifth — The amount of absorption and evaporation. 



M}' estimates of the capacities of the canals just referred to are below 

 that of the proprietors, but I am persuaded I am near the true figure, 

 for my estimates are founded upon a long line of statistics furnished by 



