THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



until lately the contention for water was keen and 

 ceaseless, one hears now of suits against canals on 

 account of the damage done by too much water. In 

 Fresno drainage has become a vital question. The 

 largest vineyard in the district has not been watered 

 for two years. 



THE WESTERN NEBRASKA PROBLEM. 



With these examples before us there is no question 

 but that irrigation in western Nebraska should pro- 

 duce in time marvelous results and make agriculture 

 a certain success over a very large territory in which 

 the present settlers are very much discouraged and 

 unwilling to try further experiments, and in which 

 new settlement is very slow. 



If there is enough water flowing uselessly through 

 western Nebraska to insure crops, if added to the 

 natural rainfall, if this water can be made available 

 when needed, if the water can be raised to the 

 level of the great plains where homestead succeeds 

 homestead for a hundred miles and more, if the 

 cost is not prohibitory, then there is no reason except 

 lack of enterprise and absence of organization, fur- 

 ther to delay work on a grand scale. 



Each one of these points will be discussed in turn. 



The greatest streams entering Nebraska are, the 

 Platte rivers, the smaller streams, the Niobrara in the 

 northern part of the State, Lodge Pole creek, between 

 the Plattes, and the Frenchman and Republican in 

 the southern part of the State. 



In square miles these streams have the following 

 drainage basins: 



North Platte, before it enters Nebraska 28,300 



South Platte, " " " 20,000 



Lodge Pole 2,700 



Frenchman to junction with Republican 5,100 



Republican, all forks, to junction with French- 

 man 6,600 



The relative sizes of these rivers is even greater 

 than the drainage area indicates, for the two 

 Plattes have their sources in the mountains \vhere the 

 annual rainfall is greater than on the plains, where 

 there is more shade and less evaporation, and where 

 the winter and spring snows accumulate and melt in- 

 stead of evaporating without moistening the ground. 

 In fully one-half the Frenchman and Republican 

 basins, there is no flowing water whatever, all the 

 rainfall being absorbed in sand creeks or little lakes, 

 without outlet. 



In the absence of exact measurements extending 

 over a number of years any estimate of the volume 

 of water carried off by these streams must be the 

 merest guessing, but at least we are certain that 

 enough rain falls annually over the Platte basins to ir- 

 rigate 50,000 square miles, if none of it were lost in 

 seepage and evaporation, and allowing for these losses 



enough water runs to waste down the Plattes, especi- 

 ally flood time, to irrigate the whole of western Neb- 

 raska. 



RESERVOIRS NEEDED. 



Unfortunately the flow of water in rivers, depen- 

 dent as it is on rainfall, varies like the rainfall, and 

 comes when it is not needed, or in too great quantity 

 to be utilized. Without storage basins and reservoirs 

 the quantity of land to be benefited by irrigation will 

 be restricted to that reached by the minimum flow in 

 the ditches during the crop months. This can be but 

 a small part of the whole, for all the flood water will 

 be lost and all the fall and winter flow. 



Happily, on all the western table lands there are 

 natural reservoirs which, with very little expense, can 

 be turned into immense storage basins. A single 

 basin of this kind is already in operation in Prowers 

 county, Colorado, near the Kansas line, and though 

 the enterprise has been financially mismanaged, the 

 reservoir, which covers 2,400 acres, has contained 

 water for two years, and is supposed to be capable of 

 furnishing sufficient wate to reclaim 100,000 acres. 

 Comparatively small ditch enterprises and the reser- 

 voirs have already made Prowers county more pros- 

 perous than any eastern Colorado or western Nebras- 

 ka and western Kansas county, yet the Arkansas 

 river which feeds these ditches has a drainage basin 

 very much smaller than the North Platte river, es- 

 pecially in the mountain region. 



Big rivers have deeper valleys than little rivers. 

 It is much harder to get at them and to tap them with 

 ditches. The mighty Missouri carries enough water 

 to irrigate both Dakotas, but its fall is so slight, 

 scarcely more than the necessary fall for a large 

 ditch, that it is impossible to divert its stream. The 

 little Lodge Pole with its little drainage basin and 

 small volume of water, falls at the rate of twelve feet 

 per mile after it enters Nebraska, but the larger 

 Plattes fall with little more than half that rate; nev- 

 ertheless with sufficient fall to make it entirely pos- 

 sible to run large ditches from the river bed to the 

 table lands. 



A large ditch is imperative. It costs less to con- 

 struct in proportion to its carrying capacity than a 

 small ditch ; it will carry more water with less fall 

 per mile, and this is all important, for the beds of the 

 Platte are low and the table lands high, and it will 

 take many miles of careful travel before Platte water 

 can reach the uplands of Nebraska. Also, the larger 

 and longer the ditch, the more land becomes availa- 

 ble for irrigation. As the ditch rises away from the 

 river more and more land lies between them, and for 

 each mile of ditch constructed there is an ever grow- 

 ing area that can be furnished with water. The ditch 

 must also be large, because there is the most water 

 running to waste in flood season, and during these 



