PULSE OF THE IRRIGATION INDUSTRY. 



It is safe to say that the East Riverside Irrigation 

 District is one of the most successful organizations of 

 its kind in the State of California, and while it is true 

 that the locality possesses great natural wealth and 

 advantages, this success is largely due to a strict and 

 honest adherence to the principles of the Wright 

 Act in the organization and government of the 

 district and to able management of its officers, who 

 are Hon. E. A. Chase, president; W. R. McCully, 

 secretary; Capt. F. C. Finkle, chief engineer; Par- 

 rington & Adair, attorneys. 



PUMP IRRIGATION NOTES. 



It is generally conceded hot only in theory, but it 

 is backed up by practical application, that for low 

 heads or for elevations not exceeding 100 feet, the 

 simple form of handling water with Centrifugal 

 Pumps stands at the head. 



The San Francisco Tool Company, of Nos. 30 to 32 

 First street, San Francisco, California, was the first 

 company to give attention to this work, and makes 

 this work a specialty. 



In the San Joaquin and Sacramento valleys, par- 

 ticularly in that portion occupied by the Swamp Land 

 Reclamation Districts, centrifugal pumping plants 

 have been used with marked success, and the Com- 

 pany has put in a large number of pumping plants 

 ranging from five to one hundred thousand gallons 

 per minute capacity. 



The use of the very large pumps is, naturally, 

 owing to their construction, limited to comparatively 

 low heads, and in no case thus far have any large 

 plants been put in handling water over 30 feet. 

 With the smaller or moderate size centrifugal pumps, 

 100 feet and even more is not an uncommon matter. 



In a recent catalogue, the Tool Company give 

 descriptions and illustrations of some of its recent 

 plants, and it would be well for any one interested to 

 secure a copy. It also contains much of interest on 

 irrigation matters generally. . 



In Southern California and Arizona, the Tool Com- 

 pany has also installed many large pumping works 

 for irrigation purposes, and it has shown that in many 

 cases it is much cheaper in first cost and opera- 

 tion to put in a pumping plant than to use a gravity 

 system. 



This Company has practical data, which shows 

 that in large tracts, and where the lift does not ex- 

 ceed twenty to twenty-five feet, water can be furn- 

 ished at a cost of fifty cents per acre, including all 

 charge of operating and fixed charges of interest, 

 taxes, depreciation, etc. A copy of their catalogue 

 will be sent upon request. 



MAKING AMENDS. 



By mistake the article on page 261 of the Decem- 

 ber number of THE AGE, on the subject, "A Grain 

 for the Arid Regions," was published under the name 

 of our well-known contributor, W. C. Fitzsimmons, 

 though it was from the pen of J. W. Gregory, another 

 contributor who is well known to our readers. The 

 article on the preceding page, entitled "Who Owes 

 the Money?" was also written by Judge Gregory, the 

 second word of the title, as it appeared in THE AGE, 

 being a misprint. 



Professor L. G. Carpenter of the State Agricultural 

 College of Colorado, at Fort Collins, has continued 

 the past year the measurements on the amount of the 

 water which returns to the stream after used in irri- 

 gation. The results have been much the same as in 



previous years. This year, in cooperation with the 

 State engineer, measurements were made down the 

 Platte as far as the Nebraska State line. 



In the State Agricultural College of Colorado a 

 short course lasting for four weeks isgiven beginning 

 early in January, and in which lectures are given by 

 various members of the faculty. A series of twelve 

 lectures is given by Professor Carpenter on topics 

 connected with irrigation. 



The Larimer County Water Supply and Storage Co., 

 which has used this year for the first time their "Sky- 

 line"' canal which is at an elevation of nearly 10,000 

 feet, have decided to keep a man on the canal all win- 

 ter, and to run such water as they are able to supply 

 their reservoirs and store for the use of the coming 

 season. The company has constructed a low dam at 

 Chambers lake which will hold several feet of water 

 over an area of 113 acres. 



The Home Supply Canal is reconstructing their 

 dam on the Big Thompson which was washed out 

 in the freshets of last spring, the engineer being J. H. 

 Nelson who constructed the original dam. It is fifty 

 feet high of masonry, in a narrow gorge, and is used 

 only as a lift dam, not for storage. The contract 

 price is very low. 



The second annual meeting of the Inter-State Irri- 

 gation Association will be held at El Reno, Okla., 

 beginning Jan. 25, 18^5. A very complete program 

 has been prepared and many prominent people will 

 participate. The indications point to a large and 

 successful meeting. 



The climate of California h^s not only attracted 

 the attention of the world, but has wooed many peo- 

 ple to take up their residence within the borders of 

 the "land of sunshine" State. Southern California par- 

 ticularly has been the scene of the location of many 

 colonies, and the colony plan is beginning to be 

 recognized as the one method of making homes in 

 Arid America. Of the successful colonies the Tierra 

 Bonita group may be mentioned as among the first. 

 The managers of this group of colonies, Palmer and 

 Chapin, were men well qualified by long years of 

 experience in business and newspaper work, as well 

 as by their honesty and integrity, to carry such an 

 enterprise to successful completion. The fact that 

 they are securing many new settlers and that they 

 have retained the good will and respect of their old 

 ones indicates the high reputation they bear for ful- 

 filling promises. Their Chicago office, 85 Washing- 

 ton street, contains a very nice exhibit of the fruits 

 and other products of Southern California, and they 

 also have many fine photographs of scenes on their 

 land. 



P. C. Morgan of Garden City, Kas., lately received 

 a check for $25 from the Aermotor Windmill Com- 

 pany as a reward for raising the most garden truck on 

 a certain piece of ground, drawing water from a deep 

 well and using an Aermotor windmill. 



Some gentlemen from Wisconsin have lately been 

 investigating the possibility of successfully raising 

 tobacco in the Salt River Valley in Arizona. 



The Texas Farm and Ranch says: "The Pecos 

 Valley needs a branch of the agricultural experiment 

 station, totally and eternally divorced from politics, 

 the domination of cliques and subserviency to favor- 

 ites. Intelligently managed, such a station would 

 save the farmers and fruit growers many costly mis- 

 takes, many failures and much dissatisfaction. 1 ' 



