204 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



prises that has ever been perfected in our country in 

 all its history. The Imperial canal is the largeest of 

 its kind in the known world. The headgate or intake 

 of this canal is located in the west bank of the Colo- 

 rado river, four miles west of Yuma. It is 125 feet on 

 its base, ten feet below the lowest water mark of the 

 Colorado river, with a solid stone foundation, all sub- 



BARLEY CROP AT IMPERIAL. 



stantially built of solid concrete. From the intake the 

 canal runs in a southerly direction along the west bank 

 of the Colorado river until it reaches what is known as 

 the old bed of the Salton. From this point the canal 

 takes a westerly direction to the Imperial Settlements. 

 Today the present canal with its laterals, reservoirs and 

 settling basins, is over 400 miles in length and com- 

 pleted at an expenditure of several millions of dollars. 

 There is no question as to the successful future of the 

 Imperial Settlements. In no place in the reclaimed 

 districts of the West where lands have been brought 

 under successful irrigation have I found such a variety 

 of agricultural products maturing perfectly. Vegetable 

 products of every character, wheat, barley, oats, rye, rice, 

 cotton, alfalfa, sugar beets, corn, kaffir corn, broom corn, 

 Egyptian corn, milo maze, millet, sorghum, tomatoes, 



HEAD GATE OF CANAL NEAR YUMA. 



melons, beans, okra, peppers, all reaching a perfect 

 growth and maturity. I speak authoritatively from the 

 fact that I went over the entire district and learned 

 that by actual producers it was estimated that as 

 much as 30 tons of sorghum, milo maze, and kaffir 

 corn was grown to the acre, while alfalfa was cut as 

 many as six times, yielding from a ton to a ton and 



one-half per acre. So it is a foregone conclusion that, 

 as a forage producing territory, it will have no su- 

 perior in the United States. Hogs and cattle are be- 

 ing shipped into the Imperial country from Califor- 

 nia and Arizona in large quantities. And it is a fore- 

 gone conclusion that the Imperial country will in the 

 very near future become one of the greatest feeding 

 countries of the Southern Pacific coast. 



The barley fields of the Imperial Settlements 



VIEW OF MAIN CANAL, IMPERIAL. 



yielded from 50 to 75 bushels per acre. Early vegetables 

 such as cantaloupes, melons, okra, peppers and tomatoes 

 making marvelous yields, and melon growers at the pres- 

 ent time can place their product on the market in 

 large quantities earlier than any other part of the United 

 States, and they can be shipped to any po'rtion of our 



ALFALFA FIELD, IN IMPERIAL. 



country without difficulty. Near the headgate of the 

 Imperial canal there are a nmnber of date palm trees, 

 and I had the pleasure of exhibiting the first bunch of 

 ripe dates ever shown in this country in our Chicago 

 office, and the date expert for the agricultural depart- 

 ment of the United States is authority for the state- 

 ment that this is the only place known in America 

 where the most delicate varieties of the date palm "the 

 Neglettnoor date," will perfect its fruit. This is a 

 desert date and is imported to the United States only 

 in small quantities and sells readily here at 50 cents 



