22 



THE IKBIGATION AGE. 



canal irrigation, and that run-off varies in amount 

 from a flood to a thread-like, meandering stream, which 

 is an aggravation as a source of irrigation water. Of 

 course, there are exceptions in large streams, the great 

 waterways of the country, some of them the main 

 arteries of commerce and apparently inexhaustible in 

 water supply. 



We have not, however, reached the full limit of 

 land cultivation by irrigation, and when the vast re- 

 gions yet unreclaimed, but the most fertile in the 

 world, shall have been put under water, or, rather, be 

 ready for water, as a scientist recently observed. "Where 

 is that water to be got ?" The fact is that it would re- 

 quire the services of several Mississippis to supply the 

 demand, and even then in a dry season there would be 

 a deficiency. It was owing to the fact that there was 

 not surface water enough, and that the reclamation 

 of arid and semi-arid lands had, apparently, come to 

 a standstill, that the Government has interested itself 

 in the subject of reclamation by irrigation and turned 

 its attention to the construction of gigantic dams, 

 reservoirs and the sinking of wells to secure an ade- 

 quate volume of water for the purpose of building an 

 empire of fruitfulness in what has always been consid- 

 ered an unfertile and dreary desert. 



That there is an abundance of water beneath the 

 surface of the earth is beyond controversy. There is 

 not a desert spot on the globe which, lurking down 

 below its burnt exterior, does not contain natural reser- 

 voirs of water in abundance. Even the midst of Sa- 

 hara is beginning to blossom like a rose wfth water 

 brought from beneath its sands with very little trouble, 

 'and in our own country the great American desert is 

 becoming a vast green pasture and orchard of thriving 

 trees and vines through a little scratching of the sur- 

 face to obtain the life-giving moisture that never fails 

 to be where it is wanted. 



All this leads to the subject of wells, but as that 

 "matter has been gone over in a fairly full manner, and 

 "as this book is riot intended to be scientific or techni- 

 cal, but a primer of irrigation, the methods of digging 

 wells, their variety and history may very well be omit- 

 ted and this chapter limited to the means of extracting 

 the water from them. 



PUMPS. 



The only suitably economical method of raising . 

 ^ water from a lower to a higher level, as from a well, 

 is by means of a pump. When pumps were first in- 

 vented or used it is difficult to say, and, moreover, it 

 is of very little moment to know the exact date or the 

 inventor's name. It is quite certain that if he were 

 able to return today and view the innumerable varie- 

 ties of them, and their tremendous capacity, he would 

 not be able to recognize the principles he sought to put 

 in a practical form. 



SUCTION PUMPS. 



The ordinary pump is the suction pump, con- 

 structed upon the principle that water will fill a 

 vacuum to the height of 33.9 feet vertically at sea 

 level. The piston of this pump fi^s tight in a 'smooth 

 ' cylinder and has a small valve in its upper end which 

 opens upward. The piston is lowered as far as the 

 piston rod will permit, the valve opening to allow it 

 to descend easily. Then the piston is lifted up by 

 means of a level to the full length of the piston rod. 

 the valve this time being closed. By repeating this 

 'up and down motion a vacuum is created in the cylin- 



der of the pump that is, the atmosphere is extracted 

 and if there is any water it begins to come up and can be 

 made to overflow through a spout placed at the surface. 

 Now, water can not be "sucked" up in this manner more 

 than 33.9 feet in a perfect vacuum, and as a perfect 

 vacuum, that is a reservoir absolutely free from at- 

 mospheric air, the estimated height at sea level to which 

 water can be drawn by means of a suction pump does 

 not exceed twenty-eight feet. 



The altitude above the sea level and various at- 

 mospheric conditions reduce this suction lift materially, 

 for instance : 1,500 feet above sea level the suction lift 

 is 25 feet; 1,500 to 2,000 feet, 24i/ 2 feet; 3,000 feet, 23 

 feet; 4,000 feet, 22 feet; 5,000 feet, 21 feet; 6,000 feet, 

 201/2 feet; 7,000 feet, 20 feet; 8,000 feet, 19 feet; 9,000 

 feet, 18 feet; 10,000 feet, which is as high as pumping 

 for irrigating water will probably go, water can be 

 sucked up only. 17 feet. Some engineers say that 20 

 per cent less would be a factor of safety in putting in 

 a pump. 



These pumps can do a great deal of work if kept 

 constantly at it. Take a suction, single-acting pump 

 that is, one with only one cylinder, having a cylinder 

 five inches in diameter, and a six-inch length of stroke, 

 and it will deliver one-half a gallon per stroke. The 

 faster the man who works the pump makes the strokes, 

 the more water the pump will deliver. At ten strokes 

 per minute, which may be called "leisurely," he would 

 be able to raise 300 gallons an hour, and by doubling 

 the diameter of the pipe or cylinder, he would increase 

 the capacity of the pump four times and deliver two 

 gallons per stroke. By using horse power such an ordir 

 nary pump may be made to raise six times as much 

 water, and with a longer lift, one of ten feet, one horse 

 power, an ordinary pump is able to raise 200 gallons per 

 minute, an amount sufficient to give an acre of ground 

 half an inch of water in ten hours. 

 WINDMILLS. 



Animal power is not commensurate with irrigation 

 on anything but a very small scale, as for a small kitchen 

 garden with a few small fruits. Other power must be 

 brought into requisition to attain profit in gardening 

 or general agriculture, where irrigation is practiced. 

 The most common and economical power, though vari- 

 able at times, is the wind. It is utilized by means of a 

 windmill, which may very properly be called a "wind 

 engine." 



The origin of windmills, like that of numerous 

 other things' of benefit to mankind is lost in the ob- 

 scurity of time. About the twelfth century they came 

 into practical use in Holland for the purpose of drain- 

 ing and grinding grain. This mill was of a very unique 

 construction, with a shaft called the wind shaft, which 

 carried four arms or whips on which long, rectangular 

 sails were spread. The whip carrying the sail was often 

 thirty to eighty feet long, so that the tips of the sails de- 

 scribed a circle sixty to eighty feet in diameter. These 

 sails came down close to the ground, and every one who 

 has read the adventures of Don Quixote will not be sur- 

 prised that his encounter with the windmill on the snp- 

 ' position that it was a cruel giant ended disastrously. 



There is now at Lawrence, Kan., the ruins of what 

 is said to be the first windmill of this type erected in 

 the United States. It was erected by an English com- 

 pany at an expense of $10,000 upon the Holland plan. 

 Since that time the windmill has become a thing of 

 beauty and power, and for cheapness it is within the 



