DEMONSTRATION FARMS. 



177 



tical sort of typical demonstration of what may be 

 accomplished by irrigation, and it has already sown 

 good seed far and wide, and most valuable results to 

 the whole Great Plains region are "in sight." What 

 has been done here has made enthusiastic irrigation- 

 ists of our Governor Morrill, our Ex-senator Ingalls 

 and a great many more of our leading editors and 

 public men, beside, what is more important, serving 

 as an object lesson to hundreds of farmers from the 

 surrounding country some from long distances 

 who have come, and seen, and studied for themselves 

 and gone home to spread the gospel of irrigation 

 the redemption of the desert 



And everybody interested is welcome to come and 

 see what our people are working out for themselves. 

 Judging from nearly fifteen years' observation, I feel 

 safe in saying you will be well treated by our people. 



IRRIGATION IN BARSTOW, TEXAS. 



BY J. W. WOODROUGH. 



THE IRRIGATION AGE has already touched 

 upon the sources, size and infallibility of the 

 Pecos as an irrigating medium. Unlike the Rio 

 Grande and other Texas rivers, it flows a constant 

 and never failing volume of water almost as rich in 

 silt and fertilizing matter as the Nile itself. 



One of the largest irrigation plants in Texas, The 

 Pioneer Canal Co., of Barstow, have tapped the river 

 by means of a simple but safe and practicable dam, 

 diverting the river from its bed into their large main 

 canal, which conducts it away in winding courses for 

 twenty miles, through a rich and fertile valley, cross- 

 ing the river by means of an aqueduct, or flume, 400 

 feet in length, and passing through the town at Bar- 

 stow. Main canals and laterals, as constructed and 

 in process of construction, render about 100,000 acres 

 of land available for irrigation by the waters of the 

 Pecos river. Many laterals and sublaterals branch 

 off at intervals of one to two miles, and on either side 

 lie fields and orchards that promise, in a short time, 

 to vie with the most beautiful in the United States. 

 Many of the farmers under the canal have devoted 

 themselves to raising alfalfa, with eminent success. 



The loose, sandy loam of the valley produces won- 

 derful crops of hay, from five to seven cuttings, and 

 as much as two tons per acre per cutting. The 

 orchards that have been set out prove the unusual 

 suitability of the climate, soil and water for fruits of 

 all kinds. All kinds of grain and root crops have 

 been raised, and farmers here contend that nothing 

 grows anywhere in such abundance that the Pecos 

 valley cannot beat it. The town of Barstow, where 

 the Texas & Pacific R. R. crosses the Peeps river is 

 the county seat of Ward county, and promises fair to 

 become a beautiful city at no distant day. It boasts 

 the finest school house and court of any town in West 

 Texas. Both of the above mentioned buildings are 

 built from red sandstone quarried in the hills a few 

 miles from the town. The dwellings are of the most 

 substantial and artistic character, and betoken the 

 good taste and elegance of the citizens. The owners 

 of the town site stipulate that no frame building shall 

 remain unpainted, and that no liquor shall be sold in 

 the town limits. 



These provisions, and the generosity of the town 

 company in supplying trees and shrubbery to the 

 citizens, are a guarantee that the tone and beauty of 

 home shall not be impaired by surroundings. Both 

 townspeople and farmers have enjoved uninterrupted 

 prosperity this year, and have bothered very little 



about politics and strikes, and the crops have pros- 

 pered without exception. New lands have been 

 taken up, and alfalfa, fruit, trees, corn, cotton, gar- 

 dens and happy homes have taken the place of the 

 wild grass and mesquite. Thousands of arid acres 

 have been reclaimed and made to blossom like the 

 rose. 



Much remains to be done, but with the experience 

 of the pioneers as a guide, new comers can make 

 their calculations as to cost and returns accurately 

 and with confidence that there are no hidden draw- 

 backs. We do not need to rely on theories and infer- 

 ences; the great capabilities of the country are 

 demonstrated an accomplished fact. We acknowl- 

 edge gratefully the assistance the columns of THE 

 IRRIGATION AGE have rendered us. THE AGE is 

 foremost in the great fight against aridity, sterility 

 and homelessness, and we are proud to feel ourselves 

 combatants in the ever increasing ranks. 



CENTRAL KANSAS ENTERPRISE. 



BY A. C. ROMIG. 



T RRIGATION in Central Kansas is yet in the ex- 

 perimental stage, and the advocates of intense 

 farming and artificial wetting encounter many- 

 skeptics, who take a pessimistic view of the whole 

 business. Fortunately, we have a liberal percentage 

 of live, progressive farmers, who understand the situ- 

 tion and possibilities, and will this season demon- 

 strate the profits of irrigation. 



Hon. C. B. Hoffman, of Enterprise, has 120 acres 

 under ditch, leased in small parcels to practical irri- 

 gators from Colorado, at an annual rental of ten 

 dollars per acre. For motive power he is util- 

 izing the Enterprise mill dam on Smoky Hill river, 

 operating on a Mange centrifugal pump of 150,000 

 gallons per hour capacity. 



M. M. Whitlaw, of Abilene, has a No. 3 link belt 

 elevator of 700 gallons per minute capacity, and is 

 wetting twenty-five acres in the Smoky Hill bottom,, 

 pumping direct from the river and distributing 

 through furrows and laterals. There are other link 

 belt and wind mill pump and reservoir plants that 

 will demonstrate the possibilities of upland irrigation. 



The ditch or canal system in vogue in the mountain 

 districts is with us impracticable, because of high 

 banks, low gradients and long conduits. As expressed 

 by Prof. Carpenter, of Colorado Experimental Sta- 

 tion, Kansas must develop her own system, which 

 will be the lifting process from streams and wells, and 

 by individual effort. 



This system may have its defects and cost a little 

 more, but it leaves the farmer freed from the domin- 

 ation of an overshadowing corporation. He main- 

 tains his individuality, is independent, and dictates 

 his own policy. 



It is conceded that our crop failures are largely due 

 to lack of moisture in the sub-soil. This defect, we, 

 in Kansas, propose to remedy wherever practicable, 

 by arresting the surplus water in its mad haste to 

 reach the Gulf of Mexico, and spilling it out over the 

 fields in the fall, winter and early spring, thoroughly 

 saturating the sub-soil and making a deposit of mois- 

 ture that will honor the drafts sure to be made upon 

 it in the hot months of summer. 



When every farmer shall have his plant of five to 

 twenty acres or more, as he will in the near future, 

 giving him assured living for his family, Kansas will 

 evolve the most thrifty and independent rural popu- 

 lation and develop the best country on earth. 



