FOURTH ANNUAL SESSION OF THE KANSAS 

 IRRIGATION CONGRESS. 



BY L. BALDWIN. 



THIS organization convened at Great 

 Bend, Kansas, according to previous 

 announcement, and held one of the most 

 important meetings in the history of the 

 irrigation movement. The attendance and 

 interest increased from the reading of the 

 call on Thursday morning until late Satur- 

 day evening, three sessions each day. We 

 had material for another day's discussion, 

 but as Sunday was approaching we had to 

 adjourn. The papers read and the sub- 

 jects discussed indicated a high degree of 

 intelligence upon the great subject of the 

 reclamation of the semi-arid lands of Kan- 

 sas. Good critics say our program con- 

 tained more attractive and pertinent matter 

 than was ever before presented. The three 

 members of the Kansas Irrigation Board 

 were present and explained the progress 

 they were making in solving the problems 

 contemplated by the act of the Legislature; 

 the State University furnished Chancellor 

 F. H. Snow, who lectured on the method 

 of getting rid of grasshoppers and other 

 insects that damage irrigated crops. The 

 hints he gave to that end are valuable to 

 our farmers and gardeners; Prof. Haworth 

 lectured upon the artesian waters of Kan- 

 sas, and located the places where we might 

 find flowing wells and where it is useless 

 to explore; President Fairchild and Prof. 

 O. P. Hood, from the State Agricultural 

 College, discussed their subjects in a very 

 instructive way. 



Two experts were with us from the United 

 States Geological Survey Willard John- 

 son and W. G. Russell, who lectured upon 

 the underground and surface waters of 

 western Kansas. The secretary of the State 

 Board of Agriculture was here to tell us 

 about "some other things." Hon. John 

 E. Frost, land commissioner of the Santa 

 F6 road, read a paper on the " Progress of 

 Irrigation in the Arkansas Valley." W. 

 C. Edwards read a paper on '' A Little 

 Farm Well Tilled." Judge J. S. Emery 

 was in his element while exhorting the 

 people living upon the great plains to 

 " stay right where they are," as they were 



sure to have plenty of neighbors in the 

 near future. He quoted Hon. Tom Eeed 

 as saying that ' ' beyond the Mississippi 

 river is the country where will be found 

 the wealth and greatness of the days to 

 come." He quoted an editorial from the 

 Chicago Tribune which read: "Kansas can 

 boast of a greater diffusion of popular ed- 

 ucation and a smaller per cent, of illiteracy 

 and crime than any other community on 

 the face of the globe, and for all that per- 

 tains to a strong and vigorous state the his- 

 tory of civil society furnishes no parallel." 



George Munger, of Eureka, Kansas, told 

 us about his big artificial lake of ninety 

 acres, which he had created by damming 

 a large drain, and which he was using to 

 irrigate an orchard of 600 acres of trees. 

 He raised cabbage to such an extent that 

 he stopped the importation of it into his 

 county. The limits of this magazine will 

 not permit me to keep on, as I have started 

 out, to review all the articles and papers 

 by all the gentlemen on the program, so I 

 will refer them to my official report, and 

 also to the Kansas Farmer, in which the 

 papers read will appear from time to time. 

 The following resolutions were adopted: 



Resolved, First, That we appreciate 

 the work of the State Irrigation Board 

 and know it has done all and only just 

 such work as it could do under the pro- 

 visions of the law creating it, and now 

 think its power or the powers of some 

 other authority or commission should be 

 greatly increased by the next legislature 

 so as to enable it to meet all the wants and 

 needs of our people in carrying forward 

 the great work of reclaiming our semi- 

 arid lands. 



Resolved, Second, That Kansas most 

 earnestly asks the General Government to 

 create an Irrigation and forestry Com.' 

 mission for the examination, utilization 

 and conservation of the water supplies 

 and forest growths of arid and semi arid 

 America. 



Resolved, Third, That we fully ap- 

 preciate the work done in Kansas by the 



