IN THE DEPARTMENTS 



Forest Service, Reclamation Service, and Geological Survey 



Irrigation in A report just issued by 

 Republican the Geological Survey 



1 . Water , ?""* 



No. 216) states that 

 about 35,000 acres are mr'.er irriga- 

 tion in the Republican River Valley 

 in Southern Nebraska. The principal 

 irrigation is on the valleys and bench 

 lands, though some of the ditches, of 

 which there are about 130 miles, ex- 

 tend out on the lower adjacent valley 

 slopes. The extent of irrigable land 

 is large but the supply of water is not 

 adequate for the reclamation of the 

 entire area. In the eastern and cen- 

 tral part of the Republican Valley re- 

 gion that is, in Jefferson, Thayer, 

 Xuckolls, Webster, Franklin, and Har- 

 lan counties the average rainfall is 

 sufficient for the growth of crops 

 without irrigation except in an occa- 

 -i< >nal season. 



It has been hoped that the wells of 

 the uplands and valley bottoms of the 

 southwestern counties of Nebraska 

 would yield enough water for the ir- 

 rigation of large areas, but the supply 

 has so far been found inadequate at 

 most localities The ground water, 

 however, furnishes a sufficient supply 

 fi >r use- in gardens, for raising fruit, 

 vegetable^, and tlo\vers, and to a lim- 

 ited extent for certain crops. The 

 best-known irrigation plant using well 

 water is on the valley bottom a short 

 distance southeast of Benckelman, 

 where a twenty-acre garden is irri- 

 gated from a well twenty even feet 

 deep. The water is raised by a gaso- 

 line pumping engine pumping 150 gal- 

 lons a minute into a reservoir cover- 

 ing three-fourths of an acre to a depth 

 of six feet. 



The One of the western en- 



Los Angeles ter p r j se s that has at- 

 tracted wide-spread at- 

 tention throughout the East and that 

 stands as a testimonial to the bold- 

 ness and energy of western business 



284 



men, is the project recently launched 

 by the city of Los Angeles for bring- 

 ing to the gates of that city, from the 

 Owens River Valley, 250 miles to the 

 m >rth, a supply of pure water from the 

 slopes of Mount Whitney ami its sis- 

 ter peaks along the eastern crest of tin- 

 Sierras. It is planned to bring suffi- 

 cient water to supply the needs of a 

 city with a million and a half inhabi- 

 tants The estimated cost of this en- 

 terprise is $25,000,000. It is launched 

 by a city of 250,000 inhabitants. A 

 water supply of equal expense in pro- 

 portion to the number of inhabitants 

 would cost the city of New York 

 ^400, 000,000. 



The first issue of bonds for the pre- 

 liminary work on the Los Angela 

 aqueduct was floated at par in the 

 midst of the recent depression, although 

 the bonds yield but 4 per cent intnv-t 

 per annum. This in itself is a finan- 

 cial feat of no small magnitude. 



The determination of Los Angeles 

 to go 250 miles across mountain range- 

 and deserts for an adequate supply of 

 pure water was reached as a result of 

 exhaustive study of all possible nearer 

 sources and was finally determined 

 upon only after it had been proved to 

 the satisfaction of those responsi- 

 ble for the city's policy that the 

 Around waters of the adjacent valley-, 

 particularly those of the coastal plain 

 below Los Angeles, which during re- 

 cent years have been looked upon as 

 the most promising source for in- 

 creased supply, are all needed for the 

 agricultural interests already estab- 

 li-hed in these valleys and for the 

 municipal supplies of the smaller" 

 towns that are scattered over them. 

 An essential and convincing portion 

 of this evidence was supplied as a 

 result of studies carried out by the 

 Geological Survey during the last few 

 years upon the ground waters of the 

 south end of the State, where, in 

 strong contrast to San Joaquin and 



