46 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



The Doming Land and Water Com- 

 pany, beside paying off almost the entire 

 floating debt, have taken up $50,000 of 

 their bonded debt in the past year by the 

 sales of land to original bondholders. 

 The demand for water is steadily increas- 

 ing, and the company is in every way 

 prosperous. 



The recent floating of the Rio Grande 

 Irrigation and Land Company in London 

 is, when the real facts are known, hardly 

 encouraging to American promoters of 

 similar enterprises. Before the stock was 

 offered to the public, nearly two-thirds of 

 it was underwritten by parties, who, for a 

 consideration in the shape of a share of 

 the promoters' profits, guai'auteed to take 

 stock in case the public failed to subscribe, 

 and, as the public did not respond very 

 freely, the underwriters had to take up 

 the shares. The concern was very ex- 

 tensively advertised and, if successful, will 

 encourage investors in irrigation enter- 

 prises, but in the meantime it is pretty 

 evident that irrigation securities are not 

 looked upon with favor by the general 

 public. 



NORTH DAKOTA. 



Water was struck on the Buttke farm in 

 an artesian well that probably has the 

 strongest water flow ever secured from a 

 shallow well in the Northwest. The water 

 burst the pipes far below the surface, 

 gushing out for many feet around the 

 original opening, heaping up immense 

 quantities of sand and debris. 



W. W. Barrett, the State Superintend- 

 ent of Irrigation, is an earnest worker in 

 behalf of the forestry interests. He is 

 now advocating what he terms the Sylvan 

 system, which provides for the planting 

 of trees by the school children. 



OKLAHOMA. 



H. V. Hinckley of Topeka, Kansas, 

 furnishes the following interesting state- 

 ment: 



In the report made to the Governor by 

 the delegates to the Albuquerque Congress 

 is found the following: (See bulletin 18 

 O. K. Ag. Ex. Sta. page 14.) 



"Some statistics furnished us by the 

 secretary of the Kansas Irrigation Com- 

 mission will prove interesting in this con- 

 nection. The average cost of different 



kinds of power for elevating water for irri- 

 gation, as compiled by that commission, 

 is as follows: Horse power, $73.75; wind- 

 mills, $118.31; steam engines, $283.12; 

 gasoline engines $486. From these 

 figures we may justly decide in favor of 

 the windmill as the proper power, although 

 it is more expensive in first cost than the 

 horse power, but it requires no attention 

 after once in operation." 



We trust that our Oklahoma readers 

 will take these figures only for what they 

 represent. The average cost of the pump- 

 ing plants, with no data as to water lift or 

 acreage irrigable, gives absolutely no idea 

 of the relative merits of the various powers 

 for any given case. 



SOUTH DAKOTA. 



More land is being put in shape by irri- 

 gating by artesian wells, windmills, etc., 

 in this State than ever before. 



The Huronite has been a long time 

 agitating for good artesian wells at $1,000 

 apiece, and it is now announced that they 

 may be had for that throughout the Jim 

 valley. 



The Dakota Farmer protests against the 

 waste of millions of acres of unused grass 

 of a quality so rich and nutritious that 

 no tame grasses can surpass, if they equal 

 it. In the older States the meadows are 

 the most profitable -parts of the farm. The 

 point seems to be well taken. 



The business men of Chamberlain have 

 agreed to give $250 in cash, and also to 

 get a list of four hundred cows from which 

 the owners will guarantee to deliver the 

 milk they produce to L. D. Beardsley of 

 Mapleton, Minnesota, as an inducement 

 to start a creamery. 



Aurora county has forty-one artesian 

 wells. Thirty-five are owned by farmers 

 and used for irrigation and stock watering, 

 the other six are owned by townships and 

 cities and are used for stock and fire pur- 

 poses. The wells range in size from two 

 and a half to seven inches, and are from 

 475 to 1,000 feet deep, with a capacity of 

 from 50 to 600 gallons per minute. 



The Milwaukee road has an irrigated 

 farm near Mellette. Nearly 400 acres 

 will be under water. Twenty acres are 

 devoted to experiments for the testing of 

 grasses, vegetables and trees. 



