PULSE OF THE IRRIGATION INDUSTRY. 



SECRETARY COBURN OF KANSAS. 



THE quarterly report of the Kansas State Board 

 of Agriculture, issued March 31, 1895, is a very 

 valuable contribution to the industrial literature 

 of the West. It deals principally with four topics 

 alfalfa, irrigation, well-water supply and sub-soiling 

 although it presents incidentally valuable infor- 

 mation upon many other subjects. In manner of 

 arrangement, and in typographical beauty, as well as 

 in the matter of its contents, this report is one of the 

 most valuable which has been published in the West, 

 and it ought to be in all farmers' libraries. 



This is a good occasion to speak personally of Hon. 

 F. D. Coburn, the secretary of the State Board of 

 Agriculture, and secretary and treasurer of the new 

 State Board of Irrigation. Mr. Coburn is certainly 

 one of the most useful men in the public life of the 

 West to-day. Like all men who accomplish much 

 for the public, he is an enthusiast. He believes in 

 Kansas and irrigation. He is becoming more and 

 more an aggressive force in the industrial life of 

 Kansas. 



Secretary Coburn was born in Wisconsin, and de- 

 scended from the Yankees of New England and the 

 Dutch of New York on his father's and mother's side, 

 respectively. He did not have many early advan- 

 tages in the way of schooling, but has had a varied 

 experience in the practical side of life. At the age 

 of 17, he ran away from home to enlist in the Union 

 army. After the war he went to Kansas, and began 

 life in the then new State under very humble cir- 

 cumstances. Next, he taught school, and then went 

 into business for himself, dealing in cattle and land 

 and gradually acquiring a comfortable independence. 



Secretary Coburn has made a great study of Kan- 

 sas agricultural problems, and in 1880 was invited to 

 accept a position in the State Board of Agriculture, 

 of which he later became secretary. He has also 

 contributed much to current agricultural literature, 

 and for some years was editor of the Kansas City 

 Live Stock Indicator. He also preceded Senator 

 Peffer as editor of the Kansas Farmer. The publi- 

 cation of a book entitled " Swine Husbandry" in 1877 

 made Secretary Coburn a prime authority on that 

 subject. 



The recent act of the Kansas Legislature providing 

 for a State Board of Irrigation opens a new chapter 

 in the history of that State. As secretary of this 

 board it is to be expected that Mr. Coburn will ren- 

 der a most important public service, possibly the best 

 of his life. He certainly has an opportunity to do so, 

 and he is the sort man to utilize it. 



While haying faith in the possibilities and benefi- 

 cence of irrigation in his State, even upon the higher 

 lands, Mr. Coburn persistently maintains that for the 

 masses the greater essential to a more successful 

 agriculture is a better conservation of the rain waters 

 by means of sub-soiling; making more receptive and 

 retentive the compacted, impervious prairies by their 

 deeper stirring, breaking-up, and more thorough till- 

 age. In other words, he thinks that in the business 

 of most Kansas farmers irrigation is to be regarded 

 as merely an adjunct rather than a main dependence. 



A very good portrait of Secretary Coburn is pub- 

 lished elsewhere in this number of THE AGE. 



IRRIGATION IN "THE CENTURY 

 MAGAZINE." 



THE Century Magazine for May contains an article 

 of fifteen pages, by the editor of THE IRRIGATION 

 AGE, entitled, "The Conquest of Arid America.'' 

 The article is beautifully illustrated with drawings by 

 Harry Fenn, Mary Hallock Foote, and other famous 

 artists. It also contains maps and diagrams. The 

 importance of the article consists in the fact that the 

 greatest of American magazines has given a generous 

 recognition to the Western cause. This is simply 

 more evidence of the phenomenal rise of the subject 

 to popular interest and of its recognition in the most 

 influential quarters. 



It must be perfectly plain to all who have followed 

 the developments of recent months, that the time has 

 come when the making of new institutions in the 

 Great West can be begun on a large scale and swiftly 

 carried forward. All that is required is to devise 

 plans that satisfy the popular needs, and to provide 

 land upon terms which homeseekers can meet. 



THE HOMESEEKERS' ASSOCIATION. 



THE Homeseekers' Association was organized by 

 prominent clergymen of the city of Chicago for 

 the purpose of furnishing reliable information 

 in regard to the various lands which were opened to 

 settlement by colonists, and in regard to lands which 

 were in the hands of private companies and individ- 

 uals and were offered for sale to emigrants. 



As the clergy have more time thah business men, 

 they are better able to gather information in regard 

 to any particular locality or community, and the in- 

 formation thus gathered can usually be relied upon 

 as being very nearly correct. It is the intention of 

 the association to expose fraudulent land schemes 

 and to denounce boomers. They expect to be able to 

 throw around the intending settler many safeguards, 

 and thus protect him from the clutches of those whose 

 only object is to secure what little money he may have* 

 and then leave him stranded. 



The officers of the association are : Robert F. Sulzer, 

 President; Rev. C. E. Morse, Vice-President; R. R. 

 Beam, Secretary; Rev. Dr. John Rusk, Correspond- 

 ing Secretary; and Rev. W. H. Reynolds, Treasurer. 

 The Directors are Rev. Geo. A. Mitchell, Dr. H. W: 

 Thomas, Rev. P. S. Henson, Father Ambrose Vretta, 

 E. Erskine McMillen and Dr. J. W. Carr. The asso- 

 ciation has been endorsed by the newspapers of 

 Chicago, and it is certainly doing a work that reflects 

 great credit upon the gentlemen who have organized 

 it, and it will also result greatly to the advantage of 

 intending settlers. The address of the association is 

 821, Association Building, Chicago. 



HOW TO ORGANIZE AN IRRIGATION COMPANY. 



A correspondent asks for information as to the 

 formation of an irrigation company; the toll, or rate, 

 per acre usually charged; the amount of water re- 

 quired to irrigate a given amount of land; and other 

 data that would assist in such an enterprise. He has 

 one proposition of 5,000 acres, where it is estimated 



