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1HE IRRIQA1ION AGE. 



versa!. It is not a subterfuge of politics, 

 but a real economic necessity. Nothing is 

 more clearly brought out in the figures of 

 the population of the various states, which 

 the census bureau has just published, than 

 the disparity in numbers of the population 

 of the eastern and western states. Some 

 of the comparatively small eastern states 

 far outstrip their western sisters, which 

 have room enough ai:d to spare for half a 

 dozen of them. Idaho, Colorado, Nevada 

 with only one or two persons, or in case of 

 Idaho only a fraction of a person, to each 

 square mile territory is not a strong show- 

 ing. To be sure these states have much 

 land unsuited to the life of large popula- 

 tions, but there are millions of acres scat- 

 tered along the river valleys which could 

 easily be made habitable and extremely 

 productive by the introduction of water to 

 the dry lands. From all sides rises the 

 cry for action. Nebraska has just had an 

 enthusiastic irrigation congress; reports 

 come from Texas and New Mexico of a 

 scheme to use the waters of the Rio 

 Grande; Colorado has an established ex- 

 ample of the benefits of such work, and 

 California owes much of her agricultural 

 prestige to the reclaiming of her great cen- 

 tral valley by irrigation. The western 

 states are enthusiastic; the United States 

 Geological Survey is helping, and there 

 are sure to be beneficial results of a wide- 

 spread national character. 



Irrigation by Electricity. 



Frederick H. Newall, chief hydrogra- 

 pher of the government geological survey, 



has given his unqualified indorsement to- 

 the plan for irrigating the arid West by 

 electric power, and predicts that the inno- 

 vation will add untold acreage to the irri- 

 gated land. The scheme seems feasible 

 and should result in even more good than 

 Mr. Newall now expects. 



The plan is a very simple one, by which 

 the water is made to generate its own dis- 

 tributing power. The streams in the 

 mountains will be used to run the ma- 

 chinery at the powerhouse, and the elec- 

 tricity thus generated will be transmitted 

 to the field below, where it can be applied 

 to an electric motor operating a centrifu- 

 gal pump whieh will lift the underflow 

 from the stream to the surface and distrib- 

 ute it over the surrounding land as re- 

 quired. The farmer turns on his motor 

 and the water flows. When he has enough 

 he shuts it off and prevents useless waste. 



The practicability of the scheme has 

 been demonstrated by the number of plants 

 already in operation in the San Joaquin 

 valley, where it is claimed that the water 

 is being pumped at a less cost than that of 

 gravity ditches. Colorado presents many 

 opportunities for installing plants in the 

 canons economically, and the benefit will 

 be widespread when such plants are in- 

 stalled. The ultimate development of this 

 class of work must rest largely upon water 

 conservation, the restraining of the spring 

 flood to supply a continuous discharge dur- 

 ing the summer months, keeping the power 

 plants in operation as well as furnishing 

 water for the ditches. Colorado Weekly 

 limes. 



