THE IERIGATION AGE. 



343 



The climate is delightful, not too high, yet the air is 

 bracing and invigorating, with cool nights in summer and 

 plenty of sunshine in winter. Everything grows there that 

 is possible in any irrigated land of like latitude. 



As stated in the opening of this article the water supply 

 is unlimited, exhaustless. With a water shed in the mountains 

 of 25,000 square miles, the North Platte river will cease its 

 flow only when the earth shall have melted away in fervent 

 heat. The owners of the Tri-State Canal have planned a 

 magnificent future. The headgates are as solid as steel and 

 cement can make them, resistless when assailed by the spring 

 floods of the Platte. The canal is built with a view not only 

 to carry the needs, but an abundance of water. The headgates 



remarkably well. One man in 1908 raised 30 acres averaging 

 28 tons to the acre. Another had fifteen acres averaging 25 

 tons to the acre, and reputable parties report yields as high 

 as 33 tons. Potatoes are also a paying crop and Scotts Bluff 

 bids fair to rival the famous Greeley spuds. In fact there is 

 . already a premium on Scotts Bluff potatoes in both St. Louis 

 and Denver markets and Denver is under the shadow of the 

 Greely product. C. H. Irions, living near Scotts Bluff, raised 

 12,000 bushels last year, selling them for 48 cents per bushel, 

 netting $96 per acre from 60 acres. Capitalizing his land on 

 that return makes it worth $1,600 per acre. W. H. Haig of 

 the same country had 80 acres in potatoes last year which 

 netted him over $100 per acre. 



Modern Method Used by Payne Investment Co. in Showing Irrigated Lands in the Xorth Platte Valley. 



are 130 feet in width and the canal 90 feet wide at the bottom 

 for the first two miles. At this point is the sluiceway, 

 built to remove the sand from the canal. It is depressed 

 several feet below the level of the canal and when the gates 

 are opened the water carries the sand back into the river. A 

 great expense is saved in this simple operation. The check 

 gates hold the water while this cleaning is being done and 

 they too, are as substantial as modern skill and science can 

 make them. Not a flume has been built along the entire length 

 of the canal, about sixty miles in all. 



As a basis of comparison it may be noted that the North 

 Platte river carries nearly five times the volume of water in 

 the Cache la Poudre which has made the Greely district in 

 Colorado the famed country of the west. It carries four times 

 the volume found in the Arkansas river, which waters the 

 Rocky Ford district of Colorado. 



The crops of this favored district are much the same as 

 those of the Colorado country on the south. Sugar beets do 



Instances of this sort can be multiplied. The soil is there, 

 the water is available in anv quantity desired, you have the 

 sunshine and ajr. It is a country where one depends upon 

 the "farmer man," not upon the "weather man," for. crops. It 

 is the home of alfalfa, every condition being ideal for perfect 

 curing, and there is a big demand for the product. The mills 

 of Omaha pay a premium for the Scotts Bluff alfalfa on ac- 

 count of its bright color and excellent condition. Some phe- 

 nomenal oat crops have been grown, 135 bushels to the acre 

 being the record, 80 to 100 bushels not being uncommon. 

 Wheat produces from 35 to 45 bushels to the acre, cabbage 

 will yield as high as 25 tons to the acre and onions are as 

 prolific as in the Egyptian country on the other side of the 

 globe. One man grew 2,700 bushels on four acres last year, 

 for which he received $1,300, or a revenue of $325 per acre. 

 All root vegetables do well and small fruits produce abun- 

 dantly. 



Those who have given careful attention to apples have 



