1 904 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



321 



the flood seasons, the amount of water 

 available is entirely conjecture, but it is 

 known to be very great at times and 

 very small at others, being often en- 

 tirely dry at places. From these con-' 

 ditions it is very evident that any reli- 

 able system of irrigation must depend 

 on reservoirs, not only to hold the 

 spring waters for midsummer use, but 

 to carry the surplus of waters of a maxi- 

 mum year through a series of from 

 three to five years to meet the condi- 

 tions of drouth which sometimes pre- 

 vail. 



At present only a small area of land 

 is irrigated along the Little Colorado 

 River, there being small tracts of from 

 1,000 to 3,000 acres farmed by irriga- 

 tion and scattered Mexican ranches con- 

 sisting of only a few acres of garden 

 and meadow. Approximately 16,000 

 acres are irrigated at present, but a 

 large part of these lands lack water 

 through July and August. This diffi- 

 culty has been partly met by small res- 

 ervoirs, but faulty construction and the 

 resultant frequent breaking of dams 

 make these reservoirs expensive and of 

 but little real benefit. 



In the valley of the Rio Puerco, the 

 main tributary, are several fine bodies 

 of land, but the fact that there are no 

 reservoir sites above them renders them 

 unavailable unless the underflow can be 

 pumped onto them. Below the junc- 

 tion of the Rio Puerco and the Little 

 Colorado is a valley from one to five 

 miles wide, part of which is fertile, cul- 

 tivable land, and below Winslow this 



valley widens out to eight miles in width 

 and has a fine sand loam soil. 



Zuni River and Cottonwood Wash 

 drain considerable areas, mostly "bad 

 lands," but their flow can not be de- 

 pended upon, much of the time becom- 

 ing lost in the soil, and at all times car- 

 rying so much silt as to make the storage 

 of their waters impracticable. 



The winters are not severe and the 

 summers are hot and dry. Originally 

 this section was a fine grass country, 

 supporting large herds of cattle, but 

 excessive pasturing of sheep and sev- 

 eral dry seasons nearly ruined it as a 

 grazing country. Alfalfa is the prin- 

 cipal crop, but sorghum, corn, barley, 

 and wheat give fair yields. Gardens 

 and sugar beets do well, and fruit trees 

 grow well, although the late frosts are 

 injurious. Owing to the mild winters 

 the main crops will always be forage. 



Several dam sites were found, canal 

 lines run, and estimates of cost made 

 after thorough investigations of all the 

 features. A general summary of the 

 report shows that a storage capacity for 

 428,440 acre feet can be obtained ; that 

 there are 161,000 acres of agricultural 

 land so situated that it could be irrigated 

 from this system ; that under irrigation 

 this land will produce profitable crops, 

 and that there is a market for these 

 products. To determine accurately how 

 many acres could be irrigated and the 

 cost of this irrigation it will be necessary 

 to establish gaging stations to obtain the 

 needed data on the water supply and to 

 make tests for silt and evaporation. 



FOREST PLANTING IN WESTERN KANSAS. 



BY 



R. S. KELLOGG, 



BUREAU OF FORESTRY. 



FOREST planting along the eastern 

 border of the Great Plains began 

 years ago and has resulted in abundant 

 success. Agriculture is pushing steadily 

 westward, however, and where in 1873 

 the buffalo held almost unmolested sway, 



a single county raised nearly 4,000,000 

 bushels of wheat in 1903. The cattle- 

 man succeeded the buffalo, and he in 

 turn will be dispossessed until much of 

 the ' ' short-grass country ' ' is under the 

 plow. Given a soil having the great 



