NATIONAL RECLAMATION OF ARID LANDS. 487 



the Farmers" ditch about 1 mile northeast of its headgates. The 

 entire phmt is to be operated by electricity from a central power 

 station located near the middle of the line of pumping stations. 



The bottom lands at this point are very wide and constitute an 

 excellent catchment area for rainfall, and the gravels beneath the 

 bottom lands form an underground drainage for the contributory 

 watershed, extending both north and south of the river valley. 

 There is practical!};' no surface run-oti' from this portion of the 

 plains. The ground is so level and porous and the gravels beneath 

 the surface so ample that they act like drains in removing all of the 

 rainfall that is not appropriated by the vegetation and evajDoration. 

 The entire jDumping plant is designed to recover an average of 100 

 second-feet of ground water for a period of 150 days, which is equiva- 

 lent to a total of 30,000 acre- feet for the irrigation season. A portion 

 of the water recovered Avill be carried under the Arkansas River by 

 a siphon 800 feet long, with a capacity of 100 second-feet. The 

 Farmers' ditch covers portions of the uplands and bottoms which 

 possess soil of excellent quality. The semiarid region of western 

 Kansas requires but a small amount of water per acre of irrigated 

 land, as the natural rainfall and the quality of the upland soil ren- 

 ders possible a very high duty of water. 



The value of the land in this part of Kansas in its natural condi- 

 tion is from $5 to $10 per acre. When reclaimed by irrigation it is 

 easily worth from $100 to $150 per acre. The principal crops are 

 sugar beets and alfalfa, considerable quantities of which are already 

 under cultivation. Sugar-beet factories are already located within 

 easy shipping distance from Garden City. Back of the lands to be 

 Avatered are wide strips of excellent grazing lands, which will grow 

 cane and forage plants without irrigation. Water will be furnished 

 to about 5,000 acres during the summer of 1907. 



SOUTH DAKOTA. 



BcJJe Fourche jwoject. — In many respects this is one of the most 

 remarkable irrigation projects yet undertaken by the Government. 

 It involves the construction of one of the largest earth dams in the 

 world, a structure over a mile long, 100 feet high in the highest place, 

 and 20 feet wide on top. Its cubical contents will be 42,700,000 cubic 

 feet, or about one-half that of the Pyramid of Cheops, which is esti- 

 mated to have occupied nine hundred years in construction. This 

 dam will create an artificial lake larger than any body of water in 

 the State, a lake 60 feet deep, with a water surface of about 9,000 

 acres when filled. 



About 65 per cent of the land under this project belongs to the 

 Government. More than 1,000 new farms will be created in a valley 

 where the principal product has been low-grade range cattle, and the 



