AMERICAN AND INDIAN IRRIGATION WORKS. 



BY H. M. WILSON. 



THE development of the scientific practice of irri- 

 gation engineering in this country is a thing of 

 to-day. It can scarcely be said that fourteen years 

 ago there existed a single irrigation work of magni- 

 tude designed on sound engineering principles. The 

 art of American irrigation engineering has only been 

 developed within the past decade, while most of the 

 more modern and creditable works are but approach- 

 ing completion. 



Like everything which Americans undertake, now 

 that they have really begun the development of their 

 irrigation resources, they are bringing to bear upon it 

 their proverbial push and energy, and the advance 

 made in the number and magnitude of works under 

 construction is only keeping pace with the skill and 

 intelligence displayed by engineers in overcoming 

 difficulties and developing the science of American 

 irrigation engineering. The changes wrought in the 

 practice of this science in the past few years are 

 astounding. There are under construction to-day 

 numerous irrigation works, both for the utilization of 

 the perennial flow of streams by direct diversion and 

 for saving the storm flow of intermittent streams by 

 means of storage. There are completed or under 

 construction a dozen canals with capacities varying 

 from one thousand to two thousand second feet, with 

 bed widths of from fifty to seventy feet, and the 

 lengths of the main lines of which are from fifty to 

 one hundred miles, with as many more miles of later- 

 als and distributaries. Such canals will irrigate from 

 one hundred thousand to one hundred and fifty 

 thousand acres each, and will render habitable twice 

 that area, each affording on an average of forty acres 

 to a farm, homes and support for fifteen thousand 

 people. Of storage reservoirs there are a half dozen 

 completed or under construction, which will impound 

 from one thousand to three hundred thousand 

 acre-feet each, or sufficient to irrigate and reclaim 

 more than half that many acres of land. 



The irrigation works of the United States are 

 second in importance to those of no other country in 

 the world, and, while not of such magnitude as those 

 of India, compare very favorably with them in mode 

 of construction. The area of land commanded by 

 works completed or under construction is second only 

 to that in India, and, excepting the Cavour canal in 

 Italy, there is no work of this kind in Europe which 

 compares in size with our modern canals. 



ESSENTIAL POINTS OF DIFFERENCE. 



There are six essential points of difference between 

 the irrigation works of this country and those of 



India. The first relates to ownership and legislation; 

 the second to the character and mode of life of the 

 people who inhabit the two countries; the third to the 

 climatology; the fourth to engineering; the fifth con- 

 struction; and the sixth and last to superintendence 

 and maintenance. 



The first point of difference is dependent chiefly on 

 the fact that in India all land and all water belong to 

 the government, and that the irrigation works are de- 

 signed, constructed and maintained by the govern- 

 ment. In consequence of this the legal questions in- 

 volved are comparatively few and relate chiefly to 

 the amounts of water to be distributed to consumers 

 and the right of way through improved land. The 

 question of profit is not always paramount, and 

 while the direct money return is often small, the in- 

 direct return to the government is always large in en- 

 hanced revenue from the rental of land, in immunity 

 from famine (and the consequent heavy drain on the 

 treasury for relief and charity), and in the general 

 benefit to the people resulting from increased re- 

 sources and exports. While the people of the United 

 States or the general government are benefited as is 

 the government of India from the last cause, the 

 owner of the irrigation works is not directly, as he 

 is invarably a private individual or a corporation. 

 As the irrigated lands are all under private owner- 

 ship, and the water the property of the public until 

 appropriated, the owners of irrigation works do not 

 benefit by enhanced land values unless they purchase 

 and own land. The priority of right to appropriate 

 water and the ownership thereof give rise to some of 

 the most troublesome and expensive legal complica- 

 tions with which the Western people have to deal. 

 In this country the laws relating to the ownership of 

 irrigable lands and works, and rights of way have be- 

 come so voluminous and differ so greatly in the vari- 

 ous states as to create one of the most serious impedi- 

 ments to the inception of irrigation enterprises. Di- 

 rect money profit is essential to any irrigation project 

 in this country, and in our most successful works this 

 profit has as yet been chiefly realized from the sale 

 and ownership of land, the value of which has been 

 increased by furnishing it with a water supply, rather 

 than from the sale of the water developed by the pro- 

 ject. 



IGNORANCE AND POVERTY. 



The second point of difference referred to is a re- 

 sult of the ignorance and poverty of the agricultural ists 

 of India as compared with those of the United States. 

 A large proportion of the cultivated land of India is 

 irrigated by water raised from wells. This is not 



107 



