CHAPTER XXI. 



ELECTRICITY IN IRRIGATION. 



^T^ HERS can be no doubt that the great irrigation 

 p*- enterprises of the future must depend more 

 ^^iil or less upon power for lifting water, and this 

 can best be supplied by eledlricity. The 

 running water of natural streams of the arid west is 

 virtually all appropriated, and promoters of irrigation 

 works in the future must look below the surface for 

 water-supplies. In figuring on the possibilities of 

 elecflricity for developing the necessary power, the fol- 

 lowing computation based on a proposition to irrigate 

 twenty sedlions of land with thirty-four motors oper- 

 ated from one central power-station may be valuable in 

 aiding operators to calculate the feasibility of such 

 plan. There are 6,272,640 square inches in an acre of 

 land. There are 231 cubic inches in a gallon. 

 Twenty-seven thousand one hundred and fifty-four 

 gallons will cover an acre one inch deep. A twenty- 

 five horse-power motor will pump 1,000 gallons a min- 

 ute and raise the water fifty feet . One thousand gallons 

 a minute for twenty-four hours will cover fifty-three 

 acres one inch deep. Fifty-three acres a day for seven 

 days equals 371 acres. 

 448 



