THE IRBIGATION AGE. 



is but to suggest a wide range of the most interesting 

 and beneficial studies, in which every farmer and irri- 

 gator can himself take part. Measurements already 

 made by the Office of Experiment Stations give some 

 data, but many more are needed. The average depths 

 found to have been received, including measurements 

 from nearly all of the Western States, are, for potatoes, 

 3.94 feet; for alfalfa, 3.39 feet; for orchards, 2.76 feet: 

 for sugar-beets, 2.15 feet, and from grain crops, from 

 1.40 feet to over 2.00 feet. 



The agricultural future of California will depend 

 less upon the number of acres of land under irrigation 

 than upon the care with which the farmers of the State 

 irrigate. If too little water is used, land falls far short 

 of producing its maximum yield. If too much is used, 

 both the crops and the land are injured; the farmer 

 who uses the excess is poorer by the cost of the excess, 

 and other land which might be irrigated remains wholly 

 or partially unproductive for want of water. It is safe 

 to say that a large majority of the irrigators of Cali- 

 fornia now use far too much water. Deficiencies of 

 rainfall of irrigated over unirrigated districts are often 

 made up several times over in single irrigations, and it 

 is seldom the case that, where water is applied at all, 

 only one irrigation is given. It was part of Aristotle's 

 philosophy to use only so much of the world's goods as 

 the attainment of the specific purpose in view required. 

 The same philosophy needs to be applied by the irriga- 

 tors of California. When it is, the duty of water will be 

 far higher than it now is. We must learn that too little 

 water applied is deficiency and that too much water is 

 waste. It is, of course, true that before we can give 

 this philosophy its full effect in irrigation, we must learn 

 just what is deficiency and what is waste; yet pending 

 the determination of these facts, we might well remem- 

 ber that the majority of us at least shall need to apply 

 less water to our fields long before we shall need to 

 apply more. In other words, we should remember that 

 our task in California is in increasing the duty of water 

 rather than in decreasing it. 



CORRESPONDENCE 



SCOTTSBLUFF, NEB., Sept. 15, 1905. 



Editor IRRIGATION AGE Resolution No. 1 offered at the 

 National Irrigation Congress, at Portland, by your corre- 

 spondent, was inspired by the fact that, I am a homesteader 

 under the projected Interstate (Government) Canal, and 

 eventually I will be compelled to pay my pro rata of expense 

 incident to watering the lands. The unfortunate policy of 

 delegating to engineers duties with which they are unfamiliar, 

 has already cost our water users several dollars per acre. 

 One error which entailed much of this loss lies in a coa- 

 tract made with H\ D. Lingle, involving the Whalen Falls 

 Canal. One year ago Mr. Lingle was offering this canal, 

 with all its water rights, priorities and privileges for $150,- 

 000 and no takers. The Government engineer, Mr. John E. 

 Field, was in position to exact terms, and instead of closing 

 a contract on a reasonable basis, he was bickering, and mean- 

 while pressing some doubtful and probably untenable claims 

 against the Tri-State Land Company. A rumor went around 

 that Heyward G. Leavitt, president of this company, was 

 negotiating for purchase of Mr. Lingle's canal, and had of- 

 fered $200,000. Mr. Leavitt publicly denied this, stating 

 he had been approached by Mr. Lingle and after examining 

 the project had declined to make an offer for it. Engineer 

 Field evidently believed Mr. Leavitt was after the Lingle 

 holdings for he hastened to complete a contract on the fol- 

 lowing basis : 



Mr. Lingle retained his priorities and exclusive privileges 



on 270 inches of water and 20,000 acres of select lands in 

 Wyoming. The Government is to construct the canal and 

 convey the water to the Lingle headgates, for forty cents per 

 acre per year. In return the Government secures a right 

 of way over the Whalen Falls route. Whether or not this 

 is a good bargain from either standpoint, is illustrated by 

 the fact the Continental Trust Company has since guaranteed 

 first mortgage bonds on Mr. Lingle's holdings to the extent 

 of $300,000, twice the amount they were previously valued 

 at. Soon after this contract was approved by the interior 

 department, Mr. Lingle secured from the Wyoming State 

 Land Board privilege to charge $30 per acre for a water 

 right and 50c per acre annual maintenance fee. Twenty 

 thousand acres at $30 per acre makes a product of $600,000 

 for something which was offered a few months before for 

 $250,000, $450,000 loss to water users of the other 100,000 

 acres under the Interstate Canal, and a perpetual drain, for 

 40c per acre is an wholly inadequate payment for main- 

 tenance. 



Realizing the cost of this one error, also hoping engineers 

 might hail creation of a business commission as a relief from 

 duties extraneous to their professions, I offered resolution 

 No. 1. I endeavored to place it in the light of "relief" out 

 of charity to those who committed the error. The resolu- 

 tions committee ask Mr. Newell his opinion, and he pro- 

 nounced it "a direct slap at the President." The author, 

 having considerable admiration for our chief executive, had 

 no desire to be placed in such an attitude, and withdrew the 

 resolution. 



After deliberation, however, I am convinced that Dr. 

 Newell is unduly sensitive, and did not speak advisedly, 

 because I have an abiding faith that the executive ear is upon 

 the ground, welcoming suggestions for increased efficiency 

 in Governmental service. 



The rapid growth of the reclamation has brought from 

 obscurity numerous lieutenants, and it is to be expected that 

 mistakes will occur. Some have been promoted who are 

 unworthy, and others that are worthy and conscientious may 

 err because of inexperience, and errors may be ovelooked 

 even if expensive, if they who commit them do not seek to 

 discipline the individual who has the temerity to rise and 

 remark. Contumacy is unbecoming in trustees, and this re- 

 grettable attribute on the part of Dr. Newell and Mr. Field 

 is creating apprehension, and unless financial details are given 

 more consideration, and plans adopted looking to selection 

 of skilled business specialists, it will be impossible to satisfy 

 existing doubts, short of investigation. The detail of grades, 

 excavations and embankments has sufficient scope for master 

 minds, but it does not develop financial genius essential for 

 combatting superior business abilities of this utilitarian age. 



Engineers Newell and Field have a happy faculty for 

 uniting any one possessing independent ideas with those an- 

 tagonizing, federal reclamation, ostensibly to weaken their 

 representations. To endeavor to subdue and discredit com- 

 plaints by erroneously associating critics with affected in- 

 terests is as useless as it is unfair, and is not honest. 



G. L. SHUMWAY. 



HAILEY, IDAHO, Sept. 15, 1905. 

 EDITOR IRRIGATION AGE: 



S. D. Boone left recently for the head of Pish 

 Creek, expecting to be away four or five days. He goes 

 to look over the site of an irrigation reservoir that he 

 and Charles Hernsheim propose to construct next year. 



This reservoir will be so situated on Fish Creek as 

 to conserve the water from that stream and its tribu- 

 taries, and it will afford a supply of water sufficient to 

 irrigate 75,000 to 125,000 acres of land even in the 

 driest years. This land will be within ten to twenty 

 miles of Carey, and, therefore, directly tributary to that 

 town. It being lava soil, it is very fertile, and will pro- 

 duce almost any crop of the temperate zone. 



While the water will be sold with the land, it will 

 hardly be upon as great a pro rata as has been done 

 heretofore, as too much water has generally been used 

 in irrigating in this region. Better crops could hare 

 been gotten with less water. If the company follows 

 present plans it will collect in its reservoir a sufficiency 

 of water to irrigate 250.000 acres. 



