180 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



service. The canal ends in a dam, the walls of which 

 are built of stone and the front of which is strengthened 

 by pilasters. The upper part, where the mechanism is 

 placed for moving the sluice gates, has a widtn of 

 twenty-five feet. These gates are mo.ved on rollers in 

 frames set into masonry. These raised, the water rushes 

 out in a cascade on account of the difference of level 



tunnel is utilized for motive power and afterward dis- 

 charged into irrigating ditches and used for purposes 

 of fertilization." 



FRONT EI EVATION OF DAM 



between the bottom of the canal and that of the tunnel, 

 amounting to ai/out eight feet. The object of the dam 

 is to control the current whenever found necessary. 



REAR ELEVATION OF DAM. 



The entrance of the canal which receives the waters 

 consists of an arch with a radius of sixteen and one-half 

 feet, supported on vertical walls. This section gradu- 

 ally diminishes until it is reduced to that of the tunnel, 

 so that between the commencement and the final point 

 of reduction it is the section of a cone. 



The tunnel is a little over six miles long, the height 

 is fourteen feet and the width thirteen. The tunnel has 

 a brick lining of sixteen inches. 



The tunnel opens into a discharge cutting, which 

 is the third and last of the principal parts that com- 

 pose the work, and was the first to be completed. It is 

 a mile and a half in length and was formed by opening 

 a natural excavation made by the waters in the ravine 

 Acpalan, the stream having been turned by a special 

 canal. All the water flowing through the canal and 



DRAINAGE IN MISSOURI. 



Mr. Otto Kochtitzky, of Cape Girardeau, Mo., 

 writes : "I have read with interest the article upon 

 Irrigation in the Nile Valley, and am impressed with 

 the thought that our Mississippi Valley, which needs 

 only drainage and protection from overflow, is several 

 times larger, and in many ways susceptible to a de- 

 velopment far beyond what is possible in Egypt. This 

 is an era of great undertakings, and we should have 

 the reclamation work of the Mississippi Valley brought 

 under a system. 



"There is a large drainage ditch under way in the 

 north part of Remiscat County, and buyers of real es- 

 tate regard that section as an attractive field for in- 

 vestment. Mr. Pollard, the veteran dredging contrac- 

 tor of Illinois, is pushing the work vigorously. 



A. V. Wills & Sons, of Pittsfield, 111., have been 

 working at a large dredging contract in Stoddard Coun- 

 ty. They have recently secured the contract in New Ma- 

 drid County for the dredging of four ditches eight miles 

 long, which will form a continuation of the work in 

 Stoddard County. They are now building two new 

 machines for this work." 



It is probable that this year we will organize for 

 the construction of the main drain for Little River 

 and Castor River throughout this valley. 



A project has been worked out, says the Earlville 

 (111.) Leader, for a big drainage ditch in Freedom 

 Township, which is thus described by that paper : 



"The mouth of the ditch is to be at or near the west 

 side of Crooked Leg creek bridge, just below Freedom 

 postoffice, and it will follow the creek northwesterly 

 across Sections 10, 9, 4, 5 and 6, in Freedom Township, 

 and will be about five and one-half miles long. It is 

 planned to follow the general course of the creek as far 

 as possible, but the kinks and crooks will be taken out 

 of the stream, and it will run on section lines so far 

 as practicable. It will drain some 7,000 acres of which 

 probably 550 at a rough estimate, are now of little 

 value for tillage, and the crops on these 500 acres will 

 in two years pay the expense of reclaiming them. There 

 are now two miles of tile drain that have a very poor 

 outlet and in some cases absolutely no outlet at all, all 

 of which may be diverted into the ditch, which will be 

 an open water way, probably twenty feet wide and of 

 an average depth of say six feet. Of course, at places 

 it will be deeper and at other points not so deep. 



Frank Hackman, who has circulated a petition and 

 is the prime mover in the proposed improvement, ob- 

 tained the signatures of forty-three of the fifty-three 

 farmers whose land will be affected bv the ditch." 



DRAINAGE OF ALKALI SOILS. 



The Bureau of Soils of the Department of Agri- 

 culture has just completed the tile drainage of an ex- 

 perimental field of tweney acres near Fresno, Calif. 

 The object of the work is to demonstrate the practica- 

 bility of washing out the excess of alkali from the sur- 

 face soil by irrigation, and by proper after cultivation 

 and cropping to restore the soil to its former fertility. 

 The land is now (March 20) being prepared for the- 

 first flooding. 



