1028 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



AGRICULTURAL ENGINEERING. 



Water supply in Nebraska, O. V. P. Stout {lifehraslca Sta. Bui. 

 41, pp. 153-172, map 1). 



Synopsis. — A preliminary report giving all available data relating to the flow of 

 water in the principal streams of Nebraska and discussing the value of the North 

 Platte, the Loiip, Republican, Frenchman, South Platte, and Platte rivers for 

 irrigation, with suggestions regarding storage of flood waters and the use of 

 underground water. 



In view of the general attention which has recently been directed to 

 Nebraska as a field for irrigation development, the station "has under- 

 taken the collection of facts and the investigation of conditions which 

 have to do directly with irrigation in Nebraska, and the presentation 

 of results and conclusions in a series of bulletins, of which this one may 

 be considered a preliminary or introductory number." 



All accessible data relating to the flow of streams in the State, includ- 

 ing the results of gauging made under the direction of the station, are 

 given in tables, dnd estimates, "as definite as the data will warrant, of 

 the capabilities of each stream to supply a perennial flow to canals," 

 are made. A map shows the location of proposed and completed irri- 

 gation ditches in Scotts Bluff and Cheyenne counties, along the course 

 of the Korth Platte Eiver. 



"Complete statistics as to the whole amount of land now under ditch in the valley 

 of the North Platte are not at hand, but it is believed to be considerably in excess of 

 200,000 acres. Under constructed ditch, and under survey with prospect of construc- 

 tion, there are at least 600,000 acres." 



From the data thus far collected it is estimated that the total mini- 

 mum summer flow of this river available for irrigation is 3,150 second- 

 feet and that this in connection with the flood water for which storage 

 facilities are being provided is sufficient for the 600,000 acres included 

 in the various irrigation enterprises in this valley. 



"The Loup River, with its several branches and tributaries, is next in importance 

 to the North Platte as a source of supply for irrigating canals. The need for irriga- 

 tion of the lands which it may water is not, however, so imperative as in the case 

 of the North Platte, but . . . here, as elsewhere in Nebraska, outside the eastern 

 counties, some form or method of irrigation must be devised and put into operation 

 if the agricultural population is to have guaranty of a secure living." 



The flow of these streams is very constant, due to the return of seep- 

 age water, but the data thus far collected are not sutFu-ient to furuish 

 a safe basis for estimating their capacity for irrigation. Only "the 

 Middle and North Loups, and the main stream below their confluence, 

 present favorable conditions for irrigation development." In other 

 parts of this river system the valleys are so narrow and the adjacent 

 table-lands so high "that even where it is physically possible it is 

 rarely financially practicable or advisable to lead the water to such 

 table-lands." 



