IRRIGATION BY PUMPING IN KANSAS. 



BY C. C. HUTCHINSON. 



THE enormous influence exerted by the IRRIGA- 

 TION AGE, can only be appreciated by those who 

 travel across the continent and take note of this 

 work. Here in Kansas it brought to the front a dozen 

 men who were called cranks by their neighbors, but 

 who practiced and advocated irrigation in season and 

 out of season, until now this faithful handful of men 

 has become a thousand, and the State recognizes the 

 importance of the subject by legislation and by ap- 

 propriation for experimental work. 



The State irrigation convention held in 1894 at 

 Hutchinson, on the banks of the Arkansas river, was 

 the largest gathering of the kind ever held in the 

 United States, and awakened an interest in the entire 

 State, which has been increasing ever since. A 

 peculiarity of irrigation here is that it is based al- 

 most entirely upon pumping. 



To those who have a ditch full of water flowing 

 along the highest portion of their ranch or farm, this 

 pumping irrigation seems but a poor substitute for 

 gravity flow. But the conditions in Western Kansas 

 are extremely favorable for pumping, owing to the 

 great abundance of sheet water found under all the 

 valleys, and to a greater or less extent under the up- 

 lands. Upon the other hand, there is not much 

 water which can be obtained directly from flowing 

 streams, although a considerable amount may be 

 impounded in small reservoirs. Sheet water in un- 

 limited quantities underlies the broad Arkansas River 

 valley at a depth of four to ten or twelve feet below 

 the surface, and at a depth of ten to twenty feet in 

 many other smaller valleys of Western Kansas. On 

 the uplands, wherever tested (with few exceptions 

 possibly) water is found 40 to 200 feet below the sur- 

 face. This water is always pure and cold. 



Thousands of pumps are drawing water from these 

 various depths to the surface of these fertile valleys 

 and plains. Wind mills are running, and others be- 

 ing erected, of all patterns, from the farm built 

 "jumbo" to the highest priced steel wind mills, 

 standing on tall steel towers; while gasoline engines 

 are numerous, and an occasional steam plant of 10 to 

 80 horse power. People who are familiar with irri- 

 gation are convinced that in this pumping system is 

 the solution of vital questions here, and those who 

 have pumped water a year or two are enthusiastic as 

 to the results. 



Some people and some newspapers are antagoniz- 

 ing the "irrigation fever' 1 by advocating deep plow- 

 ing, and especially sub-soiling. All this commotion, 

 resulting largely from the efforts of the AGE, fur- 

 nishes additional evidence that "the world do move,'' 

 and leads to the following brief suggestions : 



1st. Let him whose soil or sub-soil is hard use a 

 sub-soil plow, which merely lifts and loosens, but 

 does not bring new soil to the surface. All such land 

 will be benefhted, and it is a desirable preparation of 

 such soil for pumping irrigation. 



2d. The wind power of this country has hitherto 



been recommended only for its healthfulness and for 

 its cooling summer breezes, but it affords a cheap 

 power for pumping, which is also being utilized for 

 grinding, cutting fodder and filling silos, churning, 

 washing, sewing, running light machinery, and may 

 sometime provide stored electricity. 



3d. It is not expected to irrigate large tracts by 

 pumping. Single wind mills of various sizes are now 

 irrigating one acre, five acres, and in some instances 

 ten acres, depending upon size of mill, height of lift, 

 character of soil and manner of applying water. 



Outside the valleys, and excepting a few counties 

 with extraordinary underflow of water, it is not ex- 

 pected that more than five or ten acres will thus be 

 irrigated out of every 160 acres. 



4th. But this insures a living for a working family 

 on every quarter section where water is obtained, and 

 whoever has wit enough to successfully irrigate will 

 soon have sense enough to adapt his cultivation and 

 crops to the soil and climate, and want will be un- 

 known. 



5th. It is becoming known that reservoirs are 

 needful to furnish sufficient head to carry an irrigat- 

 ing stream where it is needed, and to warm water in 

 the sun before applying to growing crops. Few of 

 these reservoirs are built with sufficient care to make 

 them tight. The top soil should be removed to a depth 

 of six or eight inches, entirely outside the foundations 

 of the banks. Then plow around where the banks are 

 to stand, and harrow the same, pump water onto it and 

 puddle by plows or scrapers; or better yet, by tramp- 

 ing of stock. Now scrape inside of this ring and 

 commence the banks, wetting the same as you build 

 up. When the banks are high enough plow and har- 

 row the bottom of the reservoir, and after wetting it 

 a foot or more in depth thoroughly, puddle it by 

 tramping of stock. If the soil is sandy haul clay and 

 spread it in the trough through which water flows 

 from the pump, stirring the clay with a rake that it 

 may be worked into the sandy soil on the bottom. If 

 the reservoir leaks after completion keep a supply of 

 clay, or clayey soil, in a long trough, carrying the 

 pump water into different portions of the reservoir, 

 and these fine particles of clay will be carried by 

 the leaks and percolations in the bottom or sides of 

 the reservoir and finally make it as tight as a jug. 

 For fish breeding, the water standing below the sur- 

 face of natural soil is desirable, and breeding black 

 bass, perch, croppie, etc., is profitable and agreeable. 



Of course, if you have a naturally good bottom, do 

 not go through it into sand. Bore down with an auger 

 and find out. 



6th. People here do not sufficiently appreciate 

 that water from a pump should be applied to the soil 

 whenever the wind blows enough to pump; be it fall, 

 winter or spring. By this means and constant sur- 

 face tillage, but little, or very much less, summer 

 irrigation is needed. Wind mills erected this year 

 will thus show greater results next year than now. 



Hutchinson, Kansas, April 20, 1895. 



'75 



