TALKS WITH PRACTICAL IRRIGATORS. 



"BETWEEN WIND AND WATER." 



BY J. W. GREGORY. 



THE people residing upon much of the semi-arid 

 land of the United States find themselves liter- 

 ally in the condition described by the above caption, 

 and it may prove a lucky fact for them if they but 

 employ their intelligence making the wind above 

 their heads lift the water from beneath their feet, and 

 employ the latter in irrigating their rich but thirsty 

 lands. 



ABUNDANT SUPPLY OF WATER. 



Under millions of acres of the finest land in the 

 world, in tracts of various sizes, generally very large, 

 scattered all over Arid America, there exists an 

 abundant supply of water, within such depths that it 

 may be hoisted to the surface by various appliances, 

 and used for irrigation purposes. Constantly drifting 

 above the same lands are mighty currents of another 

 and lighter fluid, and in these currents go to waste 

 every hour untold units of power, power which is 

 simply aching to do something, and, in devoid of use- 

 ful occupation, as we are assured by the poet, 



" It doant no what on airth to dew with itself, but flys about, 

 Scatterin' leaves an bloin off men's hatts," 



and doing much more serious deviltry at times. 



UNLIMITED WIND POWER. 



Manifestly the proper thing to be done is to harness 

 the forces of these mighty air currents and put them 

 to work, bringing to the land water to replace that 

 which they have so long and so industriously been 

 carrying away. 



Some genius of a speculative, as well as a mathe- 

 matical, turn has figured out how many thousand 

 horsepower go to waste every day in the average wind 

 which blows over the average quarter section of land 

 upon the great plains. We do not just now recall the 

 exact figures, nor is it necessary. Suffice it to say, 

 there is enough. In fact, the quantity runs well up 

 into big figures. 



KANSAS ENTERPRISE. 



Already the importance of utilizing a fraction of 

 these vast forces in lifting subterranean water to the 

 surface for irrigation purposes is obtaining substantial 

 recognition in a number of localities in California, 

 New Mexico, Kansas and elsewhere. This is notably 

 true of the Arkansas Valley in western Kansas, 

 where, in the vicinity of Garden City, an extensive 

 and valuable experience has already been acquired 



by the settlers in the matter of utilizing wind power 

 for hoisting water for irrigation purposes. Some of 

 the pumping plants have been in operation for up- 

 ward of five years and have given so satisfactory re- 

 sults throughout that a great many similar plants have 

 been installed the past and current seasons, and the 

 practice of windmill pumping for irrigation is spread- 

 ing very rapidly. Garden City has been the progenitor 

 of much that is valuable to the progress of irrigation, 

 and probably of nothing that has been, or promises to 

 be, of more immediate and practical value than the 

 successful inauguration of the practice of irrigation 

 by pumping in the semi-arid region. 



For some time past the people of other localities 

 have been taking note of the success gained in this 

 way at Garden City, and following the example set 

 by the enterprising people there. In the past sixty 

 days people from other portions of the country have 

 gone, singly and in companies, to inspect and study 

 the pumping installations in that locality. Windmill 

 manufacturers, with an eye to business, have had ex- 

 perts on the ground for weeks gathering facts and 

 ideas for their guidance in taking advantage of the 

 demand for wind engines which they anticipate. 

 Parties of farmers from distances of upward of a 

 hundred miles have traveled across the country by 

 team to spend a few days among the pumps and res- 

 ervoirs and take notes for use in their own neighbor- 

 hoods, and last month a party of fifty from northwest 

 Kansas chartered a passenger car and so made a 

 pilgrimage to this center of practical irrigation, 

 where they were handsomely entertained and given 

 all the information at the command of the people of 

 the city and vicinity. 



THE PRACTICE EXTENDING. 



While the conditions are such in the Arkansas 

 Valley as to render irrigation by the use of windmills 

 peculiarly valuable and easily secured, because of the 

 slight lift required, the cheapness of wells and abund- 

 ance of water, yet the practice is spreading rapidly 

 to higher lands and to localities where much more 

 costly installations will be required, yet where they 

 will be made of very great practical value. 



It may easily be shown that irrigation by this means 

 is really expensive and not economical, from a theo- 

 retical standpoint. It may be shown that the cost 

 per acre per year of installing and maintaining a 

 windmill pumping plant is greater than the cost of 

 irrigation by various other means; but the method is 

 practical and valuable for several reasons. 



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