198 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



9. Levees or dykes are constructed 



with a plow and a V-shaped scraper on 



ines previously laid out by an engineer. 



These hold th water on the fields at an 



average depth of three inches. 



10. When rice is 6 to 8 inches high it 

 is flooded by fresh water by pump, canal 

 or otherwise. Water is delivered at the 

 highest point on the farm, and by little 

 flood gates in the levees fills level after 

 level between the levees till the whole 

 farm is flooded at least three inches 

 deep. It is kept so flooded for about 70 

 days. 



11. An ample supply of fresh water, 

 affording daily from one and a half million 

 to two million gallons for 200 acres, is 

 absolutely necessary for 60 to 70 days. 

 This keeps the rice flooded three inches 

 deep and makes up the daily loss from 

 evaporation. 



12. Irrigation is supplied by canals 

 built upon the highest ridges of the prai- 

 rie, from a fresh water bayou or river 

 from which water is pumped into the 

 canal. Or water is had from deep wells 8 

 inches in diameter and varying in depth 

 from 135 to 200 feet. From one such 

 well a 16 horse power engine can pump 

 enough water for 200 acres. 



13. When rice is ripe all water is 

 drawn off, so that the land is as dry for 

 harvesting, as in seeding (One can't 

 drain water from a marsh.) 



14. Rice is cut with standard self 

 binders, harvested, shocked, threshed just 

 like wheat or oats. 



ARID LANDS RECLAIMED. 

 Over 1,500,000 acres of land, once arid 

 and classed as hopelessly sterile, have so 

 far been reclaimed by irrigation in Ne- 

 braska. The work has reached such pro- 

 portions that the state has established a 

 bureau of irrigation and has a dozen ex- 

 perts employed during the summer super- 



intending the distribution of water and 

 reclamation of lands. 



An intricate network of canals and 

 ditches spreads out from either side of 

 Platte River from its western entrance 

 until almost half way across the state. In 

 Scott's Bluff county, where it first enters, 

 there are already nearly 350 miles of 

 ditches carrying water to 340,000 acres. 

 In Cheyenne county, next east, there are 

 246 miles of ditches, feeding 96.500 acres; 

 in Deuel county, next east, there are 285 

 miles, giving life to 105,700 acres; in Lin- 

 coln county, immediately adjoining, there 

 are 385 miles, watering 201,500 acres. 



This reclaimed district is larger than the 

 combined area of Rhode Island and Dela- 

 ware, and it is estimated that between 

 60,000 and 70,000 people have found homes 

 by this diversion of water, that formerly 

 went to waste, to useful purposes. All 

 this has been accomplished without a cent 

 of aid from the government. Private cap- 

 ital alone has furnished the means, and 

 although some of these enterprises, 

 through over capitalization, haye proven 

 failures, the greater number of them are 

 owned by the men whose farms are watered 

 and who cheerfully stand for the propor- 

 tionats assessments and conform to a rea- 

 sonable set of rules governing the use of 

 water. 



State Engineer Dobson is preparing to 

 carry on the work of reclamation on a much 

 larger scale during this spring and sum- 

 mer. His present plans contemplate the 

 temporary restraining of the spring floods 

 of the Platte, and by this means he ex- 

 pects to add another 1,500,000 acres to the 

 irrigated section. From July to October 

 the Platte River is a river in name only. 

 All of its meager flow is impounded by 

 Colorado irrigationists long before the 

 water reaches Nebraska, and to obviate the 

 disadvantages arising from this condition, 

 the engineers are planning a storage sys- 

 tem. No permanent reservoirs are possi- 

 ble unless with government aid, but tern- 



