THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



The Chamber of Commerce of Los Angeles is an 

 exceptionally active and aggressive institution and 

 has done the section which it represents a vast amount 

 of good. Los Angeles is one of the best advertised 

 cities in the country by which is meant that its good 

 points have been deservedly well presented and the 

 results show in its steady increase in population 

 and prosperity. For the last six years during 

 which many sections of California have labored 

 under some form of depression, Los Angeles city has 

 steadily gone ahead, and no agency has done more 

 to force that result than its Chamber of Commerce. 



THE NORTH PLATTE CANAL. 



The North Platte Canal is one of the pioneer irri- 

 gation enterprises of Nebraska. It was constructed 

 in 1883 and 1884, and the operation of the canal, and 

 the application of water from it has continued con- 

 stantly since that time, giving it the oldest and best 

 priority on the North Platte river. For the first five 

 or six years but a limited number of farmers availed 

 themselves of the opportunity of irrigating their lands 

 under it. This was owing to the fact that in those 

 days it was believed that the rain belt would move 

 its western limit westward with such rapid strides 

 that an irrigation ditch in a few years would be use- 

 ful only as a monument of the folly of its promoters. 

 Continued drouths, repeated crop failures and the 

 explosion of the rain belt theory, has added largely 

 to the usefulness of this canal, and has aroused the 

 people to a realization of the fact that their success 

 depends entirely on irrigation. 



This canal is owned by the North Platte Irrigation 

 and Land Company, whose officers are Mr. T. B. 

 Sweet, of Topeka, Kansas, President, and Mr. H. J. 

 Page, of Denver, Colorado, Secretary. The office of 

 the company, at North Platte, Neb., is in charge of 

 Mr. E. F. Seeberger, who has the local management 

 of the canal. Its headgate is located on the south 

 bank of the North Platte river, about twenty-five 

 miles west of the city of North Platte, and the canal 

 runs from thence in an easterly direction for a dis- 

 tance of about twenty-five miles, covering about 

 40,000 acres of a fine body of land lying between the 

 North and South Platte rivers. The bottom width of 

 the canal at its head is thirty feet, gradually reduced 

 to twenty-four feet in the first two miles, and its car- 

 rying depth is five feet. About 12,000 acres of land 

 are now being irrigated from it, and the other lands 

 lying under it are being rapidly prepared for irriga- 

 tion. The original cost of this enterprise was $30,- 

 000, and about $20,000 have since been expended for 

 wing dams in the river and other permanent im- 

 provements. 



The results of irrigation in this locality can best be 

 obtained from the reports of the farmers under this 

 canal which show that there have been no crop fail- 

 ures and that the yields of crop per acre have been 

 about as follows: Corn, 40 to 70 bushels; wheat, 30 

 to 40 bushels; oats, 30 tc 90 bushels; barley, 40 to 60 

 bushels; potatoes, 100 to 400 bushels; alfalfa, three 

 cuttings, yielding about six tons annually. 



Thts company sells perpetual water rights of 1.44 

 second feet for each eighty acres. The land was 

 mostly settled by good farmers from the east, who 

 had no experience in irrigating, and they started 

 with farms ranging from 150 to 320 acres each. Ex- 

 perience now has taught them better and gradually 

 their farms are being cut up into smaller tracts of 

 from forty to eighty acres. Many of the best and 



most successful farmers under this canal are con- 

 tentedly making money off tracts of that size, and 

 are extending tbeir operations more in the direction 

 of more intensive farming, than by spreading them- 

 selves over larger areas of land. 



The Union Pacific Railway parallels the canal, and 

 has five stations and sidings along its line, thus af- 

 fording the very best facilities for the farmer in ship- 

 ping his crops and stock. 



The opportunities for a man with limited means 

 under this canal are the very best. The soil is un- 

 excelled, the water supply is ample and unfailing, 

 while the chances of obtaining a farm on long terms 

 and easy payments are made extra good, by the fact 

 that the North Platte Land and Water Company 

 which owns a large tract of this land is now offering 

 to sell in parcels to suit on terms that require but a 

 moderate payment down with yearly payments that 

 can be readily spared by the farmer out of a portion 

 of what he realizes from his crops. 



The best way to get an irrigated farm of rich bot- 

 tom land with railroad facilities to-day is to write to 

 E. F. Seeberger, Superintendent, North Platte, Ne- 

 braska, or H. J. Page, Secretary, Room 20, Bank 

 Block, Denver, Colorado. 



THE EAST RIVERSIDE IRRIGATION DISTRICT. 



The East Riverside Irrigation District is situated 

 one half in San Bernardino County and one half in 

 Riverside County, California. The land is of the 

 choicest, and lemons and oranges grow to perfection. 

 The elevation is 1,000 to 1,300 feet above sea level, 

 and a commanding view of the whole San Bernardino 

 Valley is had, while the locality is free from frost. 



In 1890 the district was formed under the Wright 

 Act, comprising 3,500 acres. 



Since the formation of the district $175,000 of bonds 

 of the district have been sold, the works have been 

 nearly completed, water developed and about 500 

 acres improved and planted to lemon and orange 

 orchards. Following is a statement of the works and 

 property: 



The main water conduit, a 24-inch pipe line, 10 

 miles long, made of sheet steel coated with as- 

 phalt $120,000 



61 acres of artesian water land 30,000 



6 artesian wells 10,000 



1 receiving reservoir 1,000 



4 miles of distribution pipes, office building, 



flumes, etc 14,000 



Total $175,000 



The whole issue of bonds is $250,000, which leaves 

 $75,000 available for the completion of the water 

 system. 



The six wells have been tested and it has been 

 found that by pumping the water from them twenty 

 feet they will furnish a sufficient supply of water for 

 the irrigation of the whole district. The temporary 

 power is derived from a gasoline engine, but it is 

 proposed to employ hydraulic power, by a stream 

 brought from the mountains, for pumping when the 

 system is completed. 



This power will cost very little for maintenance, 

 and will reduce the whole system to a gravity plant, 

 and the estimated cost of obtaining the water, piping, 

 and motors complete is $25,000. 



Then the district will have $50,000 for the com- 

 pletion of its main laterals and sub-laterals for 

 distribution of the water, as the lands are developed. 



