248 THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



gated 408,2-40 bushels, worth $163,296. The number of sheep reported 

 at the same time, owned by Idaho citizens, was 899,628 shearing an aver- 

 age of 7 pounds of wool each, which at present prices would be equal to 

 a yearly income of over one half million dollars for the state. 



Different systems of irrigation are practiced, varying chiefly with the 

 kind of crops cultivated. The majority of farmers I have interviewed 

 use the flooding method and claim the soil will produce one-third more 

 cereals and vegetables by perfect flooding than by any other method. As 

 a general rule the soil is of a similar nature in all the river valleys, being 

 sandy and easily worked. The bench or higher lands contain some alkali 

 in spots, and are more mineralized and gravelly. The hilly slopes and 

 greasewood valleys have a rich, black, loamy soil, which, with heat and 

 moisture make quick growth of trees and plants. So far as I have been 

 able to observe by two trips through the state, there is less alkali and 

 mineralized land than in any other cultivated states of similar area in the 

 West. This poison is drained away by furrow irrigation where the fall 

 is sufficient, or by sub surface ditches in the flooded fields. In some 

 places a rank growth of alfalfa or tall white clover successfully keeps 

 down the alkali by shading the ground. 



In 1893 the total mileage of ditches in Idaho, including corporation 

 and individual canals, was estimated at a little over 13,000 miles. This 

 has not been increased to any great extent on account of local and na- 

 tional financial depression, but the number of individual owners of water 

 rights has increased annually. The northern lake counties Idaho, 

 Kootenai, Latah, Shoshone and Nez Perces are in the sub-humid region, 

 being in direct line of the warm Japan current from the coast, carrying 

 rain laden clouds that furnish abundant moisture. The annual rainfall 

 during the growing season is never less than ten inches in these half 

 arid counties. Although the Chinook winds keep the temperature mod- 

 erate and bare the ground on the lowlands of snow, there aie no hurri- 

 canes or tornadoes in any part of the state. Snow falls on the high 

 tablelands, occupying four-fifths of the state, to an average annual depth 

 of six feet, which means about four acre feet of water held there until 

 needed in the growing season. 



The arid counties requiring irrigation are so fortunately situated 

 that nearly all the tillable land could be cheaply covered by ditches from 

 natural reservoirs, obtainable in every section. In 1893 the ditches were 

 distributed among the counties as follows: Ada, 62 ditches, 408 miles in 

 length. Alturas, 10 ditches, 18 miles in length covering 14,500 acres. 

 Bear, 69 canals, 206 miles in length, irrigating 21,500 acres, under the 

 Mormon colony system of small farms. Bingham, 86 canals, 517 miles 

 in length, irrigating 284,750 acres by the Mormon colonial plan. Boise, 

 20 ditches, 60 miles in length, capable of irrigating 83,500 acres. Cache, 

 298 farm ditches, 299 miles in length, furnishing enough water for 82, 000 

 acres. Custer, individual ditches, to irrigate 24,000 acres. Elmore, 50 

 ditches, 25 miles in length, to irrigate 10,000 acres. Lemhi, 250 ditches, 



