170 IRRIGATION. 



A private ditch, belonging to Mr. G. H. Church, of 

 Boulder Co., is 10 miles long, 5 feet wide and 1 foot deep. 

 The fall is excessive, viz. : 13 feet to the mile. It cost 

 $1,000. It is connected with a reservoir, as its supply is 

 not continuous, and a reserve is thus maintained. Forty 

 acres of land, with the farm stock are watered, and a fish 

 pond is supplied by it. The cost of watering is from 50 

 cents to $1 per acre, according to the character of the 

 season. 



The Upper Platte and Bear Creek Ditch, is owned by 

 a company in Arapahoe Co. It is 5 miles long, 16 feet 

 wide, and 20 inches deep at the head, diminishing to 

 wards the foot. The cost of maintenance, which is as 

 sessed yearly upon the owners, averages $30 to $35 for 

 144 square inches of water, or a supply sufficient for 150 

 or 1GO acres. Interest on the original cost must be added 

 to this annual charge, to reach the yearly cost of water 

 ing. No information as to the original cost has been 

 given. There are many other irrigation works, con 

 structed either by joint effort or by incorporated com 

 panies, who lease the water at a remunerative yearly rent. 

 These rents vary from $1.50 to $3.00 an acre per year for 

 each square inch, which is equal to $1 to $2 per acre of 

 land watered. The cost of the manipulation of the wa 

 ter, after it is received by the farmer, will obviously vary 

 with the character of the crops. On the average 50 cents 

 per acre, annually, will cover all expenses of distribution. 



As an instance of what has been and may be done in 

 localities where partial irrigation may be usefully applied, 

 a case which occurred in the Arkansas valley, in Central 

 Kansas, may be cited. Here is a broad, level, fertile 

 valley, some miles in width, with gently rising table lands 

 on either flank. Mowing through the center is the 

 Arkansas river, a broad, magnificent stream, which 

 neither floods nor dwindles in volume in the whole year. 

 For several hundred miles after it issues from the moun- 



