1905 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



231 



ville. About 200 good artesian wells 

 have been sunk in this neighborhood 

 in the last five years. Water from 

 artesian wells is in high repute in this 

 local for irrigation purposes. 



Gravity systems, pumping plants, 

 and artesian wells are all utilized by 

 farmers who live in the valleys of the 

 Colorado and San Antonio rivers, the 

 most important of the Gulf streams. 

 Agriculturists realize more fully each 

 year the advantage to be derived in 

 years of deficient rainfall from a sys- 

 tem of irrigation. 



Many of the truck farms in southern 

 Texas are supplied from surface wells, 

 the water of which is pumped into 

 small reservoirs of from 3,000 to 5,000 

 cubic feet capacity. Over 500 such 

 wells are in use at present. It is esti- 

 mated that 75 per cent, of the irriga- 

 tion in Texas during 1904 was accom- 

 plished by means of pumping plants, 

 and 70 per cent of the area supplied 

 by pumps was cultivated in rice. 



The use of impounding reservoirs 

 has not entered very largely into the 

 irrigation economy of the State, but 

 as the demand for water grows, atten- 

 tion is turned to this source of supply, 

 and the storage reservoir at Wichita 

 Falls will soon be duplicated at scores 

 of other points in Texas. San Saba 

 Valley, above the town of San Saba, 

 is one of the most fertile sections in 



the world, and definite plans have 

 been made for the construction of a 

 dam across the canyon about 18 miles 

 above the twon to form an immense 

 storage reservoir from which water 

 can be conducted to the valley below. 

 This canyon is about 50 miles in 

 length, and by means of a series of 

 dams and canals it is believed that 

 about 40,000 acres above and below 

 the town of San Saba can be brought 

 under ditch. Irrigators along this 

 stream from the head of the canyon 

 to the springs already take practically 

 the entire normal flow of the stream, 

 making any system in the lower San 

 Saba depedent largely on storage water. 



The Llano River in Kimble County 

 supports at present many small irriga- 

 tion plants, but large systems could 

 be constructed in the vicinity of Junc- 

 tion City to utilize the flow of the 

 South Llano. 



The headwaters of the Nueces and 

 Frio are torrential in character and 

 impounding reservoirs can be con- 

 structed in the canyons northwest of 

 Uvalde, from which the water could 

 be carried to the valleys above and 

 below the Southern Pacific Railroad. 

 Devils River also offers opportunities 

 for impounding waters and carries a 

 substantial and reliable discharge. It 

 would water lands in the vicinity of 

 Del Rio. 



FOREST LEGISLATION IN THE 



NORTHWEST 



OREST legislation in Washing- 

 ton for the session of 1905 was a 

 result of the efforts of an association 

 of timbermen formed for the purpose 

 of securing some legislation favorable 

 to the timber industry relating princi- 

 pally to right-of-ways. A forest fire 

 bill was introduced during the closing 

 days of the session, and passed prac- 

 tically as introduced, with the excep- 

 tion of the cutting down of the appro- 

 priation. 



Like many other new states in the 

 West, Washington finds that its re- 

 quirements in the way of appropria- 

 tions exceed, very often, its ability to 

 raise the necessary money ; and as a 

 result at the close of a session there 

 are always a large number of inter- 

 ests which are unable to get proper 

 consideration, owing to the state of 

 the treasury. 



Two years ago, or during the ses- 

 sion of 1903. "a forest fire law" was 



