1905 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



21 



water measurements, opened by Mr. 

 John C. Hoyt, chief computer. 



On the afternoon of the previous 

 day, there was some discussion of the 

 methods of preparing engineering es- 

 timates of the actual cost of work ac- 

 complished, and the details of the 

 original records for obtaining the 

 facts, in the section of costs and re- 

 sults, and in the general meeting on 

 Thursday afternoon, Mr. Robert S. 

 Person, Auditor for the Interior De- 

 partment, with several of his assist- 

 ants, continued in the same line, out- 

 lining the subject of auditing accounts. 



The most important address of the 

 meeting on Friday, January 6, was 

 Mr. Cyrus C. Babb's discussion of the 

 Milk River project in Montana and its 

 international complications. The prob- 

 lem is a complex one, involving con- 

 sideration by the state departments of 

 both this country and Canada. Mr. C. 

 J. Blanchard discussed the advertising 

 side of the reclamation work, and sug- 

 gested improvements in the present 

 system of advertising for bids for con- 

 struction. 



A discussion of "Bench Marks" by 

 Mr. E. Johnson, jr., hydrographer in 

 charge of the Mississippi River dis- 

 trict, occupied a meeting of hydrog- 

 raphers ; and in the afternoon they 

 were addressed on the subject of 

 "Equipment for Cable Stations," by 

 Mr. E. C. Murphy, inspector of stream 

 gaging. 



On Saturday the morning session 

 was principally occupied in discussion 

 of the Snake River Valley in Idaho, 

 and addresses were made by Mr. D. 

 W. Ross, who is in charge of the Gov- 

 ernment's work in that state, with brief 

 addresses by Senators Dubois and 

 Heyburn, and Representative French. 

 ' Mr. E. C. Murphy discussed the "Cost 

 of Stream Gaging" at the afternoon 

 session, and Mr. Williams, represent- 

 ing Mr. Willis L. Moore, Chief of the 

 Weather Bureau, made an interesting 

 address. The Truckee-Carson project 

 in Nevada was presented by District 

 Engineer L. H. Taylor, of that state; 

 and Mr. J. C. Hoyt contributed a pa- 

 per on "The Study of Data by Local 

 Men." 



Mr. Thomas H. Means, engineer of 



soils, and the foremost authority on 

 alkali, presided over a section of the 

 conference on Monday which dis- 

 cussed one of the most perplexing 

 phases of irrigation work that is, the 

 duty of water, and the relation of alka- 

 li and drainage. The decision finally 

 rendered with reference to the deter- 

 mination of farm units and the amount 

 of water to be used is contained in the 

 following set of rules adopted at the 

 conference : 



(1) The farm unit classification 

 shall show in each farm unit the boun- 

 dary of the irrigable land, and the area 

 of the irrigable land, in acres. 



(2) A water right application shall 

 state the number of acre feet per an- 

 num to be furnished per acre. 



(3) The charge for water rights 

 shall be the same per acre of irrigable 

 land. 



(4) The land shall be classified into 

 two grades, irrigable and non-irriga- 

 ble, and all farm units shall contain the 

 same area of irrigable land as nearly 

 as practicable, except in the case of 

 areas near towns and those susceptible 

 of growing more valuable crops, thus 

 providing for two sizes of irrigable 

 areas in the farm units. The maxi- 

 mum number of acres of irrigable land 

 fixed for each class in a project shall 

 be adhered to as closely as possible. 



(5) The charge per acre for water 

 rights on private land shall be the same 

 as for public land, and the irrigable 

 land in each tract shall be determined 

 in the same way as for public land, the 

 irrigable area allowed one man in no 

 case to exceed 160 acres. 



The duty of water as generally de- 

 termined supplies the engineer with 

 the information upon which he can 

 base the size of his storage reservoirs 

 or the amount of land which he can 

 irrigate with his given supply of water. 

 In the design of canals for the delivery 

 of this water, and pumping plants, it 

 becomes necessary, in addition, to 

 know the rate and time of delivery of 

 water to the lands. In each irrigation 

 district there is usually one time of the 

 year when water is used in larger 

 quantities than at any other time in 

 the year. The determination of this 

 time and the maximum amount of 



