CHAPTER XX. 

 SEEPAGE AND DRAINAGE. 



HNE of the most startling revelations of later 

 years a(5ling as a serious menace to modern 

 agriculture, as carried on by present irrigation 

 methods, is the loss of many thousand acres 

 of valuable bottom-lands, by the indudlion of seepage 

 waters, coming as they do through subterranean ways 

 from the great canals or other sources of water-supply 

 on the higher lands. We of the irrigated west are 

 to-day confronted by a condition more serious than the 

 most extravagant theory, and the means of abating the 

 evil will need the closest study of our most careful 

 thinkers and scientific men. In the earlier days of 

 western development and before the extent of irriga- 

 tion was fully realized, the choicest lands were con- 

 sidered those lying along the lower river-bottoms, and 

 naturally enough were the first to be occupied and util- 

 ized by settlers. In course of time these lands, excep- 

 tionally rich and available, were all taken for their 

 alluvial fertility and adaptability to irrigation facilities. 

 The second bottom-land was thought to be entirely out 

 of the question for other than grazing purposes, but 

 with the advent of time and the organization of com- 

 panies and capital for constructing the great canals, 

 these lands soon became even more desirable than the 

 bottoms, and ready capital found the means for their 

 occupancy and usefulness. 

 438 



