50 



THE IBBIQATION AGE. 



land can come in at any time it sees fit. There are twenty- 

 three separate pumps in this project, ten on the north 

 side of the Arkansas river and thirteen on the south side. 

 The pumps, or stations, are 1,000 feet apart. The line of 

 ten on the north side follows the river, while the line of 

 thirteen on the south side runs off to the south at right 

 angles with the river. There are from nine to fwelve 

 wells at each pump. 



The Garden City project is located fourteen miles west 

 of Garden City, near the little town of Deerfield, on the 

 Finney-Kearny line. It has a capacity of 50,000 gallons 

 per minute or 110 second feet. The average is about 

 sixty-five second feet. 



The power is furnished by two turbine engines, each 

 30-horse power, direct connected to electric generators. 

 The power is conveyed over a direct transmission line 

 about four and one-half miles long, to the pumphouses 

 along a concrete canal. As stated above, these pump- 

 houses are 1,000 feet apart. The water is collected in a 

 concrete flume, that from the thirteen pumps on the south 

 side being conveyed by syphon under the bed of the river 

 :o the main flume on the north side, and thence into the 

 old Farmers' ditch just below its headgates. 



Under the provisions of the reclamation act of date 

 of June 17, 1902, the farmers agree to return to the gov- 

 ernment the cost of construction, plus maintenance, in ten 

 annual payments. The estimated cost of the project is 



before the next year's season shall begin, holds 24,000 

 acre feet of water. The water is stored in the fall and 

 winter and is let out into the Great Eastern Canal when 

 required during the season. 



The operation of the Garden City reclamation project 

 and of the sugar company's ditches, mainly through Lake 

 McKinnie, has given rise to a very large acreage of sugar 

 beets. Lake McKinnie irrigates probably 6,000 to 7,000 

 acres, though not this acreage of beets this year. The 

 sugar company made contracts for an acreage of about 

 12,000 for -the present season, but as Lake McKinnie did 

 not furflish the necessary amount of water, as the Garden 

 City project was late in installing all its machinery, and 

 as the season was especially dry, the harvest will be only 

 about 6,000 to 7,000 acres for the present season. At this, 

 the sugar contents of beets being exceptionally high, the 

 crop will be about 60 per cent, which means money to 

 both farmers and factory, though no great amount. The 

 factory opened in October and will run until the supply 

 is exhausted. 



The success of the Garden City reclamation project 

 has been such that the sugar company now is erecting a 

 pumping plant on the south side of the river at an esti- 

 mated cost- of $250,000, to irrigate about 6,000 acres and 



On Farm of A. W. Longley, near Bishop, Cal. 



$350,000, or $35 per acre, or $3.50 per acre annually, plus 

 the maintenance, which is about $2.75 per acre. After a 

 majority of the payments have been made the project 

 shall pass into the hands of the farmers, through their 

 corporation, the Finney County Water Users' Association. 

 Under the provisions of law, no landholder may own 

 more than 160 acres under the project, and must reside 

 within twenty miles of the land. He must be an actual 

 occupant. No tenants are allowed. 



The construction of the Garden City reclamation proj- 

 ect was the first great boon to the Arkansas Valley and 

 to this particular section. The second was the arrival of 

 the United States Sugar and Land Company in 1905. The 

 great sugar factory here, just on the west edge of town, 

 was built in 1906, and the first "campaign" was that year. 

 The factory cost over one million dollars, and improve- 

 ments have been made since. It has 1,000 tons capacity 

 daily, and is an independent concern; that is, has no con- 

 nection with either the Havemyer or Oxnard branch of 

 the beet sugar business. 



The United States Sugar and Land Company owns 

 30,000 acres of land in Finney and Kearny counties, and. 

 as told above, owns all the ditches, or irrigating canals, in 

 these two counties, except the Farmers', or government, 

 Alamo and Amazon ditches. Its great source of water sup- 

 ply, however, comes from its gigantic reservoir in Kearny 

 County, Lake McKinnie, named in honor of the president 

 of the company. This reservoir, which will be enlarged 



supplement the work of the government plant and Lake 

 McKinnie. This plan will be paterned closely after the 

 reclamation plant, using about 500-horse power. 



The sugar company's pumping plant is a testimonial 

 to the underflow, the success and merit of the government 

 plant, and to the coming of the Kansas-Colorado electrical 

 project. There will be seventeen pump stations in the 

 sugar company's plant. The formation or arrangement will 

 be similar to that of the government plant. About a dozen 

 test wells are down, and satisfactory tests are being made 

 daily. The plant will be ready for operation by next 

 season. 



Another big thing that has come to this section is the 

 Garden City national forest reserve. This stretches from 

 Garden City to the Colorado line, on the south side of 

 the Arkansas River, in what is known as the sand hills 

 country. 



The original Garden City reserve, set aside by presi- 

 dential proclamation in October, 1905, included 97,000 acres. 

 Last spring it was further added to, the later document 

 calling for 305,280 acres. There is not that acreage, how- 

 ever, for there is considerable railroad land that will have 

 to be segregated. The forest finally will comprise about 

 200,000 acres, or perhaps 225,000. 



The Garden City forest still is in embryo, but work is 

 being pushed as rapidly as possible by the government. 

 One section has been set out this year, or 135,000 young 

 trees in all. Of this number 80,000 are pine, of the west- 

 ern yellow variety, and 30,000 mulberry. 



