326 



THE IEEIGATION AGE. 



This journey was taken to secure data for future arti- 

 cles to appear in these columns and upward of one hun- 

 dred splendid photographs were secured to be used in 

 connection with relative descriptive matter. An as- 

 tounding condition of prosperity exists throughout this 

 broad area and not one of the hundreds encountered 

 on the trip had a word of disparagement to utter con- 

 cerning present crop or other conditions. Every one 

 with whom we talked expressed satisfaction with the 

 outcome of this year's work and unbounded confidence 

 in results from future effort. Accompanying the writer 

 on this trip was Mr. Nicholas Sinelnicow, special repre- 

 sentative of the Minister of Agriculture of Eussia, who 

 secured a large number of photographs of agricultural 

 and irrigation scenes which are to be reproduced in 

 form of a book which that gentleman will prepare for 

 his government. Mr. Sinelnicow was deeply impressed 

 by the many evidences of prosperity and it was difficult 

 for him to comprehend the achievement of many irri- 

 gation farmers who informed him of their success. He 

 could with difficulty understand how a man could pur- 

 chase a twenty or forty acre farm under irrigation at 

 from fifty upward to one hundred or one hundred and 

 fifty dollars an acre and raise crops the first year suffi- 

 cient to pay the entire cost of the land. 



Many instances of this character were encountered 

 near Billings, Helena-, Bozeman, Manhattan and Mis- 

 soula in Montana and along the line of the Northern 

 Pacific Railway in eastern Washington. All of these 

 facts will be brought out and illustrated in future num- 

 bers of THE IRRIGATION AGE as well as in the book 

 to be prepared by Mr. Sinelnicow. 



THE THIRTEENTH NATIONAL IRRIGATION CON- 

 GRESS, AT PORTLAND, OREGON, 

 AUGUST 21 TO 24. 



Many Important Papers Read and Resolutions Passed. 





A PLAN FOR SUB-IRRIGATION. 



A. Hemmant says in Denver Field and Farm: I 

 have a very small irrigation plant raising water from 

 a well by wind power, using part of the water for 

 surface irrigation and part for sub-irrigation. For sub- 

 irrigation I use three-inch tile laid fourteen to sixteen 

 inches below the surface in rows five and one-half feet 

 apart, the rows connected by a head row in which is 

 laid one T joint for each lateral row. The rows must 

 be absolutely level, not following the inequalities of 

 the surface in order that the low places shall not get 

 more water than the higher ones and the ends of the 

 rows must be closed with brick or stone, so that moles, 

 rats or other vermin can not get in. 



A square box set in the ground at one end of the 

 head row gives access to it and from thence to all 

 other rows and it should have a wire netting over 

 the top to keep out trash as well as vermin. The top 

 of the box should be raised above the surface of the 

 ground enough to keep out storm water, as by that 

 means mud and trush would be carried in and fill up 

 the tilings. The tile is porous and the uncemented 

 joints allow the water to pass through freely. This 

 mode of irrigation has several points to recommend 

 it above others: First One can turn on the water 

 and not have to watch it. 



Second-^-The ground does not begin to bake in 

 a few minutes after the flow of water is stopped as in 

 the case with cultivated ground under surface irriga- 

 tion. Third Most of the moisture being several inches 

 below the surface, the rootlets go down instead of 

 spreading out near the top of the ground as in surface 

 irrigation where they are likely to be burned by the 

 hot sun and torn bv the cultivator. 



Resolution Declaring That No Relationship Exists Be- 

 tween the National Irrigation Congress and Max- 

 well's National Irrigation Association and that 

 No One Ever Has Been or Will Be Au- 

 thorized to Collect Money for or in 

 Behalf of the National Irrigation 

 Congress Next Congress to 

 Meet at Boise, Idaho, 

 in 1906. 



The Thirteenth National Irrigation Congress met 

 at Portland, Oregon, on Monday, August 21, and was in 

 session four days, its labors being ended on Thursday 

 afternoon, August 24. There were nearly 4,000 dele- 

 gates appointed by Governors of various States and 

 others authorized to send representatives and of that 

 number nearly eight hundred registered and took part 

 in the deliberations of the Congress. 



The meeting was called to order Monday morning 

 by the president, Governor George C. Pardee, of Cal- 

 ifornia, and addresses of welcome were delivered by 

 Governor George E. Chamberlin on behalf of the State 

 of Oregon ; by Mayor Harry Lane, on behalf of the 

 city of Portland, and H. M. Cake on behalf of the Port- 

 land Commercial Club. 



The responses were made by Governor Albert E. 

 Mead, of Washington, and Hon. H. D. Loveland, of 

 San Francisco. 



This was followed by an able address by the pres- 

 ident, Governor Pardee, after which addresses by Chair- 

 men of sections were delivered by Gifford Pinchot, For- 

 est Service; Dr. A. C. True, Director Experiment Sta- 

 tions, Washington, D. C. ; F. H. Newell, U. S. Reclama- 

 tion Service; H. E. Williams, U. S. Weather Bureau, 

 and C. W. Eberlein, of Rural Settlement Section. 



A song service was given as part of the program 

 on the evening of the first day, at which time the splen- 

 did Mormon choir of two hundred voices from the taber- 

 nacle of Ogden, Utah, rendered the Irrigation Ode, 

 after which Mrs. Gilbert McClurg delivered an ad- 

 dress. 



The real work of the Congress began with the 

 naming of committees on nominations, resolutions, etc. 



The committee on resolutions was as usual the 

 most important of all and its deliberations were exceed- 

 ingly interesting. 



This committee attracted a great deal of atten- 

 tion owing to the many resolutions presented which 

 had much to do with affairs of the country at large. 



A SLAP AT THE MAXWELL-BOOTIIE CROWD. 



The entire forenoon Tuesday was consumed by the 

 resolutions committee in a debate which ended in the 

 adoption of a resolution offered by Mr. Cobban, of Wis- 

 consin, and strongly supported by United States Sen- 

 ator Thomas Carter, of Montana, which was a' slap at 

 the National Irrigation Association of which George H. 

 Maxwell is executive chairman. A resolution had been 

 presented stating that there was no connection between 

 the association and the National Irrigation Congress. 

 It contained the name of George H. Maxwell. Senator 



