)lants in the mountain canyons of Kings River, to transmit this power to 

 the plains and to distribute it to the farmer for use in running pumping 

 plants. With cheap power of this kind pumping plants could be used 

 on the Fresno plains at points not reached by canals, or, even during 

 fa season of short supply, on lands under existing canals. Pumping 

 would tend to lower the water table, and as probably 50 per cent of 

 the water applied to the land would be lost by evaporation and trans- 

 piration by vegetation, there would result a permanent lowering of the 

 level of underground- water. For the lowering to amount to much 

 rather extensive pumping would be -necessary, and to accomplish this 

 a cheap power must be had. This lowering of the water table would 

 have the same effect as drainage and would permit the reclamation of 

 alkali land. 



During the winter months the level of standing water falls, the aver- 

 age depth being from 6 to 10 feet and in some places even more. This 

 level is manifestly lower than could be obtained by any drainage scheme 

 and if maintained would obviate the necessity for artificial drainage. 

 A great deal could be done towards alkali land reclamation in the 

 winter months by pumping from wells and keeping the land flooded. 

 In this way the alkali which is at the surface would be washed into and 

 distributed through the subsoil. This process, of course, would not get 

 rid of the alkali, for it still remains in the subsoil and heavy flooding 

 every few years would be necessary to keep it down. 



These are some of the practical suggestions offered for the reclama- 

 tion of alkali land, but none of them is as feasible and as economical 

 as the method proposed and demonstrated by the Bureau of Soils, and 

 none of them guarantees a permanent reclamation. The only way to 

 permanently rid the Fresno district of alkali and seepage water is by 

 underdrainage. 



It was necessary in the reclamation of the Toft-Hansen tract to. effect 

 drainage by pumping, but fortunately in the area at large there is no 

 necessity for pumping, since, with the exception of very small areas, all 

 land tributary to the district under consideration can be drained by 

 gravity. While the cost of pumping water has been very much reduced 

 in recent years and pumping plants are being used in irrigation and 

 drainage, the experience gained by the Bureau's field parties and the 

 facts brought out by a study of pumping plants for drainage at home 

 and abroad are strongly opposed to the use of such plants when it is 

 possible, without too great outlay, to carry off the water by gravity. 

 The conditions around Fresno are exceptionally favorable for a gravity 

 system. 



Having determined that a gravity system is feasible, the next step is 

 to (hid out how such a system can best be operated, whether through 

 the use of open or closed drains. Open drains of the proper depth for 



