i6o 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



the cost will be 20,000 for the construction of the 

 ditch and securing water tights ; and another of 

 12,000 acres, where the cost will be about 50,000. He 

 adds that he wishes to enlist capital in the enterprise. 

 The lands are adapted to the culture of deciduous 

 fruits, and diversified farming and hops are especially 

 profitable there. The list of questions propounded 

 would require extended space to answer in full. The 

 organization must be in compliance with the State 

 laws. The next thing is to secure a board of directors 

 that will command confidence. The next, and most 

 important detail, is the employment of an engineer, 

 whose competency is beyond question. No greater 

 mistake is ever made than to employ engineers lack- 

 ing experience and ability because there is a saving 

 of salary. Better pay 85,000 or $10,000, according to 

 the magnitude of the work, for an engineer who will 

 make no mistakes, whose experience insures success 

 from the moment the works are begun until they are 

 completed and avoid those risks, than to pay twice or 

 sometimes, five times as much for bad management, 

 faulty location and blunders. With a legal organiza- 

 tion, a good board of directors and a competent engin- 

 eer, the company is in condition to invite capital. 

 Wherever a water supply can be provided at a cost 

 to the farmer of not exceeding $8 or $10 per acre for 

 the prime cost of water right, and an annual rental of 

 $1 or 81.25 a year, irrigation will always be justified, 

 and with good management will be profitable. There 

 are localities where special conditions justify a very 

 much larger outlay, but diversified farming and de- 

 ciduous fruit culture will justify such an outlay as is 

 named if properly utilized. 



UNDERFLOW OF RIVERS. 



The Utah Experiment Station has issued a bulletin 

 on-" Seepage Waters and the Underflow of Rivers." 



During the summer of 1894 many measurements 

 were made of the canals and tributaries of Ogden and 

 Weber rivers to determine, if possible, whether water 

 could be diverted and applied to the surface of culti- 

 vated areas in the upper valleys without injury to the 

 priority users in the lower valleys. 



The preliminary investigations, which extended 

 through July and August a period much too brief 

 on which to base accurate results seem to demon- 

 strate the accuracy of the following statements: 



1. That the diversion of water from a stream and 

 its application to the soil in the upper valleys in the 

 early part of the irrigation season when water is 

 abundant, increases the available supply to the irri- 

 gators of the lower valleys in the latter part of the 

 season. 



2. In most cases a time is reached, usually about 

 midsummer, when no portion of the water diverted 

 from the stream in the upper valleys reaches the 

 lower irrigators in time to*benefit them. Such diver- 

 sion and use damage the irrigators of the lower 

 valleys. 



3. In some instances the outflow from the upper 

 valleys during July and August was much greater 

 than the inflow, although a large part of the inflow 

 was used for irrigation purposes. 



4. The behavior of irrigation waters in any drain- 

 age system can be determined only after' a series of 

 carefully made measurements extending over a period 

 of years, and that much ill-feeling, trouble, and litiga- 

 tion would be avoided if the State would collect the 

 necessary data. 



ARIZONA 



New hay is on the market. 



Grain crops are nearly all headed out. 



The prospect is excellent for a large crop of fruit. 



Strawberries beginning to come in, and apricots 

 will be on the market by the first of May. 



Mr. William Clark, the leading florist of Colorado 

 Springs, is visiting Phoceix, looking into its floral re- 

 sources and possibilities. It is probable that he will 

 locate a branch of his establishment here, where 

 flowers bloom the entire year and hot houses are un- 

 necessary. 



Cattle feeding in these valleys is a very profitable 

 business. One instance is furnished Mr. Beji Gold- 

 man, of Tempe. On the 27th day of December, 1894, 

 he bought 70 head of steers that weighed 72,692 

 pounds. The steers were sold the 22d day of March, 

 1895 and weighed 83,915 pounds, a gain of 11,223 

 pounds in 85 days, or nearly two pounds per head 

 per day. The net cash gain was $543. This is a 

 record hard to beat, and shows what can be done with 

 cattle on alfalfa. 



Since the advent of the new railroad the price of 

 lumber has dropped 810 per thousand all around. 

 The result is easily seen in the increased number 

 of buildings being erected on every side. Still, there 

 are very few vacant houses, and not one unoccupied 

 room on either side of Washington street the main 

 business street of Phoenix. 



The Yuma Improvement Co. are about to begin 

 work on a pumping and gravity system that will 

 cover 70,000 acres of fine land just below the town of 

 Yuma. 



Arizonans ought'to appreciate their own University, 

 when they are told that Professor William P. Blake, 

 the noted mining engineer, has placed his son there 

 as a student, and that a civil engineer who has had 

 good training in Princeton University has registered 

 as a special student under Professor Boggs. Several 

 students have pursued courses in assaying in the 

 School of Mines, largely under Professor Goodloe's 

 care, and one of them is now the assistant superin- 

 tendent of a prominent California mining company. 

 The men and the equipment of the University of 

 Arizona are of the best, and these are what constitute 

 the worth of such an institution. 



CALIFORNIA. 



There is a boom in alfalfa culture about Win- 

 chester. 



It is expected that a sorghum mill will be put in at 

 Hemet. 



The berry growers of Azusa, Glendora and Covina 

 have organized an association and will do all their 

 packing at a central warehouse. 



The South Riverside Land and Water Company 

 has begun work leveling down the banks of the 

 canal through Elsinore. 



This is the season of the orange blossom, and from 

 all over Southern California there ascends to Pomona 

 and to Flora incense as sweet as ever greeted the 

 senses of a goddess. 



The case of the Vernon Irrigation Co. against the 

 city of Los Angeles, has been decided in favor of the 

 company, and therefore some anxiety has been 

 aroused as to the effect upon the city's right to use 

 all the water of the river. The decision of the court 



