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United States Department of Agriculture, 



BUREAU OF SOILS CIRCULAR No. 11. 

 MILTON WHITNEY, Chief of Bureau. 



RECLAMATION OF ALKALI LAND AT FRESNO, CALIFORNIA. 



At the time of settlement of the country south of Fresno there was little 

 indication of the presence of alkali in the soil and no one then sus- 

 pected that serious damage would result from irrigation. When, after a 

 few years, alkali commenced to show in the vineyards and orchards 

 the attention of thoughtful men was directed toward remedying the 

 evil, but up to the time of undertaking the experiment reported in this 

 circular nothing effective had been accomplished. 



In 1900 a party from the Bureau of Soils spent a season in studying 

 the soil conditions around Fresno, and in a report, embodied in the 

 report on field operations of the Division of Soils for 1900, recom- 

 mended drainage, with frequent cultivation and copious irrigation 

 during reclamation, as the solution of the alkali problem. 



Notwithstanding the recommendations in this report and the repeated 

 statements in subsequent reports on alkaline areas in different parts of 

 the country that drainage is a practicable and the only safe and sure 

 means of permanently reclaiming alkali lands, no steps had been 

 taken by persons most deeply interested to check or remove the evil. 

 The Bureau of Soils, after careful consideration, decided that the most 

 convincing way of bringing the truth of its recommendations and the 

 value of drainage in reclamation work before the people was to demon- 

 strate it by the actual reclamation of some of the alkali land. For this 

 purpose the Bureau selected a 20-acre tract of land belonging to S. M. 

 Toft and N. H. Hansen, situated on Fig and Central avenues about 2-i 

 miles south of Fresno and entered into cooperation with these gentle- 

 men to demonstrate to the people of the irrigated region that alkali 

 lands can be easily and economically reclaimed. 



The history of this land, as given by the owners, is as follows: The 

 northern part of the tract -was settled upon by Mr. Toft in 1876 and at 

 that time showed no sign of alkali. In 1889 Mr. Toft bought an addi- 

 tional 20 acres at $350 an acre, an average value for land in that 

 vicinity at that time. The southern part of the tract was first settled 

 upon in 1862 by Mr. Hansen and at that time was partially alkaline. 

 It has never produced good crops. In 1890 alkali commenced to show 

 on the northern part, and in 1898 and 1899 it was practically abandoned. 



