THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



VOL. XIII. CHICAGO, SEPTEMBER, 1899. NO. 12. 



THE PROGRESS OF WESTERN HMERICfl. 



Irrigation 

 Congress. 



Missoula. Montana., has been 

 selected as the place for to 

 hold the eighth annual sessu n 

 of the National Irrigaliun Congress, and 

 it is confidently expected, by those best 

 Cilculated to know, that this will be the 

 most interesting and most largely attend- 

 ed Congress ever hel-i. The work done in 

 Congress and elsewhere by earnest, work- 

 ers for the irrigation movement has not 

 been without result. Heretofore these 

 conventions have been attended by scien- 

 tists, engineers and men directly interest- 

 ed in irrigation, but this year, it is expect- 

 ed that business men and manufacturers 

 all over the country will be represented, 

 as this clsss is slowly realizing that the 

 opening up for settlement of many million 

 acres through the aid of irrigation means 

 a direct gain to them as well as to the 

 people living in the arid sections. It 

 means to the manufacturer a larger and 

 more wealthy dags of people to whom to 

 sell goods. Chairman I. D. O'Donnell, 

 manager of the Minnesota an-i Montana 

 Land and Improvement Co.. when inter- 

 viewed regarding the coming meeting 

 said that the prospects for the number and 

 influence of the delegates were very prom- 

 ising. While eastern people are not what 

 may be termed enthusiastic over the con- 

 gress, still Mr. O'Donnell said "it, would 

 surprise you to see some of the letters I 

 have received even from Wall street men, 

 who are popularly supposed to use water 

 only in connection with stocks." As one 

 writer aptly puts it "irrigation is becom- 

 ing recognized as an "issue" in politics, 

 the same as other vital questions." 



Eastern delegates who go ov r the 

 Xorthern Pacific read will not only pass 



through the famous Yellowstone Valley, 

 but will also gain much in an educational 

 way from seeing the great irrigation sys- 

 tems in operation, the miles of ditches, 

 and incidentally may be led to do some 

 "tall thinking" after witnessing the vast 

 amount of water which, instead of being 

 stored in reservoirs for future needs, is 

 making its way to the Missouri and Mis- 

 sissippi rivers, to aid them in their dis- 

 astrous floods in the South. 



Montana is very proud to have secured 

 the convention and will do her utmost to 

 make her visitors welcome. The con- 

 vention will be held Sept. 25, 26 and 27. 

 The secretary of the congress announces 

 that delegates and others attending the . 

 meeting at ilissoula may buy tickets to 

 Missoula and return. Sept. 19, on all lines 

 west of Chicago and St. Louis, and 

 possibly farther east, at one fare plus $2. 

 This concession is not made to the dele- 

 gates alone, but is for a home-seekers' 

 excursion. As these tickets have stop- 

 over privileges, those taking advantage 

 of this rate will have an opportunity to 

 sec something of Montana. 



Everything Reports from the Board of 

 has i'ts Charities of Indiana as to the 



Uses. . . . 



hospital for the insane at 



Evansville, Ind., show that the hospital 

 has found a way to dispose of sewage to 

 advantage. The sewage is disposed of by 

 chemical process and the solid portion is 

 pressed into cakes and used for fertilizing. 

 The liquid portion runs over a gravel bank 

 which so effectually purifies it that it 

 comes out perfectly clear and odorless and 

 is pumped into a tank to be used for 

 irrigation purposes. Thus the sewage is 



