44 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



the best usefulness of irrigation is to be 

 found in this region, yet any crop may be 

 largely increased by irrigation. 



A PLANT IN WISCONSIN. 



THAT Wisconsin is going into irriga- 

 tion is evident from the following 

 description of a new plant near Madison 

 owned by Mr. George Raynor, of the 

 Madison Democrat. That gentleman 

 writes to THE IRRIGATION AGE: 



"I am laying 3,300 feet of six-inch 

 standard cast-iron water pipe to reach 

 the three high points of a 100-acre farm 

 adjoining Madison and on the sho're of 

 Lake Mendota. I will place at the lake 

 a 25 horse power gasoline engine and 

 rotary pump. The plant as it is now be- 

 ing put in will cost $2,000 or $20 per acre. 

 About one-fourth of the water will have 

 to be lifted 100 feet, and three- fourths 

 about 60 feet. I expect to raise 30,000 

 gallons per hour and hope that the rains 

 will supply the land until July and that 

 after that two irrigations of four- acre 

 inches each will answer. I expect to put 

 the eight-acre inches on the entire 100 

 acres at a cost of $2 per acre annually for 

 fuel and one man to attend engine and 

 distribute water. To this will be say six 

 per cent on the $20 per acre, making in 

 all nearly $3.25 per acre annually. The 

 -crops will be timothy, clover (I will also 

 try four acres of alfalfa this year), apples, 

 of which there are now 250 bearing trees, 

 a few plums, cherries, grapes, potatoes, 

 cabbages and other garden truck. I be- 

 lieve there is not any as extensive irriga- 

 tion scheme as I am at work on to be 

 found in this state. The advantages I 

 have are: First, abundance of the very 

 best water; second, the very best drain- 

 -age; third, rather easy distribution of 

 water when once raised to the three high 

 points. The one great disadvantage is 

 the extreme mechanical lift of from 60 to 

 100 feet." 



INDIANA, OHIO, MICHIGAN, MINNESOTA AND 

 IOWA CONVINCED. 



In Indiana and Ohio several artesian 

 wells are being sunk. At the recent meet- 

 ing of the Michigan Horticultural Society 

 the operations of the experiment station 

 in that State in irrigating garden truck 

 were described. The yield was six-fold 



greater. Members also testified to the 

 great success of irrigation m their orchards 

 the past season. Minnesota has caught 

 the ''well fever" from South Dakota, and 

 numerous wells are being sunk. There is 

 a general movement for dams and artificial 

 lakes or reservoirs. Iowa is sinking wells, 

 but the irrigating canals will also obtain 

 in that State. One extensive enterprise 

 has already been commenced upon, known 

 as the Iowa Irrigating Ditch Company. 

 The incorporators are A. A. Newkirk, 

 Clover Sickler, Wilson Marsh, Charles A. 

 Bryam and Frederick Marsh, who are 

 South Dakota and Iowa men. They pro- 

 pose to operate an irrigating canal and 

 will construct immense reservoirs in which 

 to store surplus water during the winter 

 and early spring. Survey work on the 

 canal has just been completed. 



Wisconsin cranberry growers are all 

 going into irrigation. 



KANSAS PUSHING AHEAD. 



Kansas development made great prog- 

 ress during 1895, and her people have 

 seen to it that the fact was put on record. 

 The demonstration at Music Hall in Chi- 

 cago just as the great display at Battery D 

 was about closing was a telling stroke. 

 The speeches of GovemorMorrill and Mr. 

 Burton were fully reported in all the Chi- 

 cago papers, and a good notice was sent 

 broadcast through the Associated Press 

 dispatches. That the United States and 

 Europe know all about Kansas prospects 

 there can be no sort of doubt. W. C. 

 Edwards, secretary of state, projected the 

 Music Hall meeting and raised the neces- 

 sary funds. Among those on the stage 

 were J. S. Emery, E. E. Moses, L. F. 

 Frizell, E. G. Hudson, E. Stanley, J. V. 

 Beekman and E. Wilder. Mr. Ingalls 

 was to have been the principal orator but 

 his trains failed to connect. 



THE RUSH OF EVENTS. 



A large project is on foot in the Platte 

 valley, in Colorado, involving the con- 

 struction of a storage reservoir covering 

 something like 8,000 acres, holding water 

 sufficient to water over 100,000 acres of 

 land. 



Adjudication is in progress respecting 

 the rights of priority on the Laramie 

 River and its tributaries in Colorado. 



In the valley of the Cache a la Poudre 



