THE IRRIGATION AGE. 53 



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Whatever may have been the former hopes for Western Nebraska 

 as a rain belt agricultural region they have all been dispelled by the 

 short crops harvested since 1890. The people of the east have heard 

 much of the suffering and misery due to the drought and hot winds, 

 and to those unacquainted with the situation it has been the impres- 

 sion that the misfortune was a general one throughout the State. 

 While it is true that agriculture was far from renumerative, even in 

 the eastern counties, during 1894, yet it is equally true that suffering and 

 privation was confined almost if not wholly to the semi-humid region, 

 as above defined. Eastern Nebraska is no more subject to droughts 

 than Michigan, Ohio or Indiana, but in the western counties of the 

 State it must be acknowledged that agriculture without the aid of irri- 

 gation is so uncertain in its returns as to render its pursuit, to say the 

 least, undesirable. This conclusion was practically reached some years 

 ago, and since that time the progress of irrigation in the great valleys 

 of the State has been remarkable indeed. 



Nowhere in the semi-arid region is the altitude so favorable, the 

 available water so abundant or the problem of Reclamation so simple as 

 in Western Nebraska. In considering locations, altitude is often lost 

 sight of by the unitiated, and yet, this is a factor that has a most im- 

 portant bearing upon the success of agriculture in the arid West. 

 Those looking for irrigated lands, however, need have no misgivings 

 upon this score so far as Nebraska is concerned, for so favorable is the 

 elevation of even the high table lands in the extreme western portion 

 of the Stale, that whenever sufficient moisture is present corn can be 

 grown equal in quantity and quality to any produced in the vicinity of 

 the Missouri river. 



Excluding the Platte river there are four water sheds from which 

 water supplies can be obtained: those of the White, Nobrara,Loup and 

 Republican rivers, affording in the aggregate several thousand cubic 

 feet per second. The Platte river, which alone has its source in the 

 mountains, is a peculiarly favorable stream for irrigation purposes. 

 Not only does its flood season occur during the months of June and 

 July when its discharge varies from 6,000 to 12,000 second feet, thus 

 coinciding with the period of greatest use, but its declivity, like that 

 of most western streams, is relatively great and its banks low. Here, 

 as in the other valleys of the State, little or no rock that cannot be 

 plowed, is met with in the construction of canals. The broad level 

 bottom lands and benches afford especially advantageous opportunities 

 for the use of graders in the removal of earth. As a consequence, 

 earth work is cheaply done and the cost of reclamation correspondingly 

 slow. When we add to these facts the additional fact that there is a 

 population in the semi-humid region exceeding that of Montana, or 

 that of Wyoming and Idaho combined, the causes responsible for the 



