PULSE OF THE IRRIGATION INDUSTRY. 



ANCIENT IRRIGATION. 



Discoveries were made recently in the 

 lava beds of New Mexico which prove that 

 thousands of years ago there existed in 

 New Mexico a system of reservoirs, irriga- 

 tion and viaducts that is unparalleled at 

 this age. 



Under the lava, which covers hundreds 

 of square miles, are found traces of ce- 

 mented ditches and reservoirs that are 

 marvels of civil engineering. Our irriga- 

 tion engineers have much to learn from 

 the people, older than the Pueblo race, who 

 inhabited New Mexico when the race from 

 which Columbus sprang were still barbar- 

 ians. The ancients provided against seep- 

 age by cementing the bottoms of their 

 ditches whenever they were conducted 

 across loose soils. Their ditches wound 

 in and out at the base of mountain ranges, 

 following the sinuosities of canyons and 

 rounding points in such a manner as to 

 -catch all the storm water before it was ab- 

 sorbed by the loose sands at the mountain's 

 bases. 



Reservoirs at convenient basins stored 

 the waters, which was led in cemented 

 ditches across the loose soils where it was 

 needed for use. Chasms were crossed by 

 viaducts and wonderful engineering de- 

 vices were used for the removal of silt that 

 might be used as an aid to the fertility of 

 loose and rocky soils, otherwise valueless. 

 Into some of the ditches lava had run, 

 showing their great antiquity. Others are 

 now covered with shifting sands, but 

 enough are s-till visible in many places in 

 New Mexico to enable the skilled engineer 

 to understand the system which prehis- 

 toric New Mexicans rendered so effective. 



In those days the deserts bloomed like a 

 garden and a civilized race of millions oc- 



cupied the arid southwest. If congress 

 desires to aid the work of reclaiming our 

 arid lands they can do it no more effect- 

 ively than by sending out a competent 

 engineering force to study the few remains 

 of the most ancient inhabitants of this 

 country, enough of which are still visible 

 to teach valuable lessons of water conser- 

 vation. National Advocate. 



A STUDY OF THE WATER-RIGHT 

 PROBLEM OF CALIFORNIA. 



In response to a petition signed by many 

 of the leading citizens of California, the 

 U. S. Department of Agriculture has, 

 through the Irrigation Investigations 

 branch of the Office of Experiment Sta- 

 tions, begun an exhaustive inquiry into 

 irrigation conditions in that state. The 

 petitioners say that " nowhere in America 

 are there irrigation problems more impor- 

 tant, more intricate, or more pressing than 

 in California * . ' [where] great 



sums have been lost in irrigation enter- 

 prises, still greater sums are endangered, 

 water titles are uncertain, and litigation is 

 appalling/' 



During the last ten years the State Su- 

 preme Court has heard more than 100 irri- 

 gation cases, while many of tho most im- 

 portant issues have been heard in the 

 United States Courts, some of them going 

 to the U. S. Supreme Court. This litiga- 

 tion not only renders existing property 

 rights insecure but puts a stop to further 

 investment along this l ; ne. 



In addition to the general work on the 

 use of water in irrigation, which is being 

 carried on in all the arid states, the work 

 in California includes a comprehensive 

 study of the whole irrigation situation, 

 looking to the remedying of the evils which 



