THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



277 



after this long season of reflection, he finds himself 

 again in the state legislature and at the head of the 

 same committee, under a promise to so amend the law 

 he had constructed that it shall be utterly impossible 

 to the companies to improperly acquire land, he funks, 

 and ends the struggle in his ponderous brain by asking 

 that a commission be appointed to do what he prom- 

 ised the irrigation convention he would do as soon as 

 the legislature gave him the opportunity. 



It should be understood by the people that med- 

 dling with the laws as they stand will bear very close 

 watching. The speculator is abroad in the land and 

 never had such tremendous influence in the United 

 States Senate as he has today. All the law can do is 

 to punish violators of its provisions and evaders of its 

 enactments, which must be discovered by a thoroughly 

 rigorous inspection conducted by honest trustees. 



Punish fraud, that is duty; dishonest schemes 

 against the public welfare will be found as possible un- 

 der the government system as under any other. No 

 system has yet been devised for the government of the 

 human family, whether by Divine or human lawgiver, 

 that has not recognized the inevitable and unpreventable 

 presence of sin and crime. 



A RUSH TO THE RESCUE. 



The recent floods in the West called for some rush 

 orders for pumps for drainage purposes. One received 

 by Henion & Hubbell, of Chicago, was filled in so short 

 a time that it deserves special notice. 



The entire outfit was shipped by express. The or- 

 der was received in Chicago about half past ten, and 

 within spvpn Tirvnrs fhp pumping plant, complete, dis- 

 mantled for express shipment, ready for connection to 

 steam, left the warehouse. Within twenty-four hours the 

 outfit was at its destination. The pump was a No. 12 

 Centrifugal, directly connected to Vertical Stationary 

 Engine. A six million gallon pumping plant, furnished 

 in seven hours from receipt of order, with piping and 

 connection, is, indeed, establishing a "a record for quick 

 service." 



THE AGE has been making some inquiry about a 

 "packing" plow, one that will "pack" the bottom of the 

 furrow and practically convert it into a water runway. 

 Among others, Deere & Company, of Moline, answer : 



"In reply wish to say that the nearest we- could 

 come to filling this want would be our regular subsoil 

 plow. There is no special device in connection with it 

 for packing the earth at the bottom of the furrow, but 

 we would consider the shovel pressure of the subsoil shoe 

 to be all sufficient for this work." 



"but,"' says the Reedley Exponent, there is such a thing 

 as having too much of it." This is the cold storage 

 truth, also. Why not have our pumps and irrigation 

 ditches labeled: "Touch not, taste not, handle not?" 

 Kentucky is a State that may be relied upon to adopt 

 the suggestion. 



However, joking aside, the Fresno paper tells some 

 sad truths. 



"There are," he continues, "so few irrigationists 

 who can tell when the land has had plenty of water 

 that it invariably happens, in. giving it plenty, it gets 

 too much, and the result is that some of the lands that 

 were made to 'blossom as the rose/ in their early stages 

 of cultivation, are now suffering from an over supply of 

 water. The West Park, for instance, a district four 

 miles west of Fresno, which at one time was the 

 garden spot of the county, is now in such a condition 

 from the use of too much water that the owners are 

 compelled to inaugurate a drainage system. In Utah 

 thousands of acres of excellent land were ruined by the 

 rise of the water table driving the alkali to the surface. 

 Near Fresno the United States government is experi- 

 menting with tile drains for the purpose of draining the 

 land and washing out the alkali. This condition would 

 never have been brought about had irrigators used less 

 water and more intelligence in cultivating their land. 

 There are thousands of acres in this district today that 

 would be greatly benefited if they received less water 

 than they are now getting." 



TOO MUCH WATER. 



"To reclaim our arid lands all that is needed is 

 plenty of water,", is an old saying, and a true one; 



DEEP WELLS IN OKLAHOMA. 



Professor Charles A. Long, connected with the 

 University of Oklahoma, has made some investigations 

 in Oklahoma deep wells, which present some interesting, 

 not to say curious features. In an article upon the 

 above subject, the professor says : 



"In almost every county in Oklahoma wells of over 

 200 feet have been drilled. A few have been put down 

 for prospective purposes, more, however, were drilled in 

 search of water. In general, no water of any practical 

 value is found below a depth of four hundred feet. In 

 many places a strong flow is found at a depth of from 

 two hundred to three hundred feet. As a rule water be- 

 low this depth is salty. Near the base of the Redbeds 

 sandstones are found. Above the sandstones there is a 

 large mass of clays and shales, then the horizon of the 



gypsum Ipdjjpfi OOTTIPS in anrl above this horizon is 



another sandstone member." 



The results, which Professor Long collected from 

 records sent in to Professor Charles N. Gould, resident 

 hydrographer, U. S. G. S., Norman, Oklahoma, do not 

 appear to be very satisfactory along the line of deep 

 wells. 



Perhaps the investigations now being made for the 

 Division of Irrigation of the United States Geological 

 Survey, by Professor Gould and a corps of students from 

 the Oklahoma University, will bear belter fruit. They 

 are working west, carrying on two lines of reconnois- 

 sance along Beaver Creek and the Cimarron river as far 

 as Northern New Mexico, then they will cross to the head 

 waters of the South Canadian and follow that stream 

 down across the Panhandle to Oklahoma, completing the 

 work about the middle of September. The investigation 

 will include a study of the water problems of the plains, 

 streams, springs, wells, reservoir sites, chances for ar- 

 tesian water and the like. 



