206 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



western Texas and Kansas as geologist and surveyor 

 for Ohio and Chicago land companies. Professor 

 Reece has given much attention to agriculture and 

 spent part of his recent vacation in western Kansas, 

 examining irrigating wells and ditches and in investi- 

 gating the profits of raising alfalfa in western Kan- 

 sas and Nebraska. 



lakes capable of holding enough water to irrigate 500 

 acres. 



A conservative estimate places the cash value of 

 the crop of potatoes raised by irrigation by Henry 

 Lehman, near Culbertson, on twenty-five acres, at 



NEBRASKA. 



Western Nebraska has been thoroughly aroused 

 the past season to the importance and value of irri- 

 gation. The local papers have teemed with discus- 

 sions upon the subject, reports of ditches projected 

 and under construction, and advice to the people who 

 had not the means of irrigation supply to secure the 

 same without delay. It will be well for that State if 

 this feeling continues with unabated or increasing 

 ardor, unchecked by the occurrence of occasional co- 

 pious rains. Western Nebraska irrigated will be a 

 rich, populous, prosperous region. Without irriga- 

 tion it will continually tempt immigrants, only to dis- 

 appoint them and waste their time and money. 



Lexington precinct, in Dawson county, recently 

 voted to issue $10,000 worth of bonds to aid and en- 

 courage a stock company to build a canal which will 

 irrigate 30,000 acres of land in the valley. 



A civil engineer recently made a trip over the 

 country and to the South Loup river, and reported fa- 

 vorably to the irrigation committee as to the feasi- 

 bility of irrigating the land surrounding Grand Is- 

 land. 



At a late meeting of the Madison County Alliance 

 the whole irrigation subject was fully discussed, and 

 it was shown that that vicinity could be cheaply irri- 

 gated and that it would pay to do so. 



An enthusiastic meeting was lately held at Gibbon 

 to consider a proposition from the Kearney Canal Co. 

 to supply the farmers in the township with water. 



At a recent meeting of the City Council of Shelton, 

 Engineer O'Brien submitted a map showing how the 

 two lower tiers of townships of Buffalo county could 

 be irrigated from the Kearney canal. 



A survey is being made for the Loup City and 

 Rockville Irrigation ditch. The Middle Loup river 

 will be tapped below Arcadia. 



Governor Crounse, early in September, refused to 

 call an extra session of the legislature to aid the 

 drouth sufferers. 



The farmers and business men of Adams county 

 are discussing the building of an irrigation ditch. 



Chadron hopes to be able to secure the location of 

 a big sugar factory there. 



The farmers along the line of the Meeker irriga- 

 tion ditch, near Culbertson, all report good crops. 



Farmers in the Lodge Pole valley are taking steps 

 to show the feasibility of irrigating. 



The Grand Island Independent places the loss of 

 their county at $500,000, owing to their not having ir- 

 rigated this year. 



York county is agitating a scheme to tap the 

 Platte river. 



President I. A. Fort says that Lincoln county will 

 have hundreds of acres under irrigation next year. 



Perkins county has voted $90,000 in bonds for irri- 

 gation purposes. 



On the highlands of Cherry county are a number of 



The Sherman County Irrigation Water Power and 

 Improvement Co. has elected permanent officers for 

 the ensuing year as follows: Directors, A. P. Culley, 

 R. J. Nightingale, Aaron Wall, J. Phil. Jarger and 

 Carsten Truelson, who selected the following officials : 

 C.L.Drake, president; Charles Riedel, vice-presi- 

 dent; W. R. Miller, secretary; and R. J. Nightingale, 

 treasurer. The proposed canal will be sixty feet 

 wide and about thirty-five miles long. It will draw its 

 supply of water from Middle Loup river. 



The absorbing question in Nebraska is, "Are you 

 going to irrigate? '' 



NEW MEXICO. 



The Municipal Investment Co., of Chicago, is build- 

 ing an irrigation ditch, which commences at Santa 

 Cruz canyon and follows the Rio Grande river to 

 Albuquerque, a distance of about eighty miles. The 

 estimated cost is $600,000, and it is expected to 

 irrigate over 100,000 acres. 



New Mexico and Arizona are rapidly being con- 

 verted into very profitable agricultural regions. 



A new railroad is being built from Eddy, in the 

 Pecos valley, to Albuquerque. On the southeast it 

 connects with the Texas & Pacific system. 



There is good clay for the manufacture of tile in the 

 vicinity of Eddy. 



The building of the railroad between Eddy and 

 Roswell, in the Pecos valley, is progressing rapidly. 



SOUTH DAKOTA. 



The artesian wells of the great Dakota basin, the 

 greatest artesian area in the world, are building up 

 an enduring irrigation sentiment in that portion of 

 the country by adding many dollars to the incomes 

 of the lucky fellows who have such a water supply to 

 aid in crop growing. The "township law" of 

 South Dakota, under which townships may vote 

 bonds for sinking a township well, has not proven 

 satisfactory. When it comes to the matter of locat- 

 ing the well, every man in the bonded area wants the 

 well on his land. There are, however, a large num- 

 ber of the wells in active and beneficial use. 



Edgemont, South Dakota, is combining with a de- 

 velopment of the smelting industry the advantages of 

 grazing, dry farming and irrigation. The enterpris- 

 ing people of that locality will find that the irrigation 

 interest, studiously and industriously developed, will 

 excel, in the way of cash returns, all the other re- 

 sources combined. 



Charles Mix county proposes to sink eleven arte- 

 sian wells. 



A number of farmers living in the Cheyenne valley 

 in Fall River county have decided to put in an irri- 

 gating wheel to take water from the Cheyenne river 

 above the falls. They expect to build a ditch five 

 miles long, which will irrigate a great number of 

 acres. 



A. C. Bartholomew, of the South Dakota Agricult- 

 ural College, recently made some interesting irriga- 

 tion experiments in Brul6 county. He states that 



