THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



327 



even more bread and other preparations of grain. There 

 is no reason to fear stagnation in trade, but whatever 

 happens, a large part of the grain crop will be consumed 

 at home and the foreign demand will take all that is left. 

 Already it is predicted that there will not be freight 

 cars enough to move the crops, but when the need comes 

 the railroads probably will have solved the difficulty. 

 If not, men can treat a portion of the crop in the way 

 in which the mountaineers have been doing, with some 

 modifications. Difficulty of transportation of grain 

 across the mountains was the prime reason why the 

 dwellers on the western slopes and spurs of the Appa- 

 lachian ranges fell into the habit of converting their 

 grain into spirit which could be easily transported and 

 which, if kept on hand for some time, only improved 

 with age. The last session of Congress resulted in the 

 passage of a law removing the tax from denatured al- 

 cohol, and opened up a way for the farmer to utilize his 

 surplus grain in case he can not ship it, or in case the 

 market price does not make it worth his while to ship 

 it. Every little community will soon have its distillery 

 where grains, fruits, potatoes, beets, and other vegetables 

 capable of producing alcohol can be transformed. A 

 great bulk will be reduced to a small one, and the farmer 

 will be able to carry home from the nearest town a 

 liquid which is the cheapest and handiest source of 

 heat, light, and power. The biggest crop of grain yet 

 produced in the United States is coincident with a vast 

 new field for the use of grain. 



At the recent primaries held in Nebraska, 

 G. L. Mr. G. L. Shumway was nominated for 



Shumway. Congress to represent the sixth district of 



that State, which is known as the Big Six, 

 and embraces about one-half the area of the common- 

 wealth. Mr. Shumway was born near New Windsor, 111., 

 March 7, 1865. He removed to Nebraska in 1885, 

 locating the following year in Cheyenne county, which 

 was afterward divided into five counties, of which 

 Banner and Scotts Bluff were two, where he has spent 

 raost of his recent years. While always public spirited 

 to a liberal degree and well known in the councils of 

 his party in Nebraska, special notice was attracted to 

 his abilities a year ago when he suddenly came to the 

 fore at the National Irrigation Congress. Subsequent 

 events have emphasized the clearness of his vision, and 

 stamped him as one who is worthy of every confidence. 

 During the campaign Mr. Shumway will not contribute 

 his usual quota of articles to THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



$2.50 will secure for you one year's subscription to THE 

 IRRIGATION AGE and a finely bound volume of the Primer 

 of Irrigation which will be sent postpaid in a few months, 

 when volume is completed. The Primer of Irrigation will be 

 fhely Illustrated and will contain about 300 pages. Send post 

 oifice or express money order for $2.50 and secure copy of first 

 edition. 



"Buffalo Bill" was once exhibiting in Bos- 

 Good ton, and while giving a little reception 

 Security. at his tent at the close of the afternoon 

 performance he was approached by a 

 young man and his mother. After a moment of embar- 

 rassment on the lady's part she said: 



"Do you consider that you give a true picture of 

 western life?" 



"We try to, madam," answered Mr. Cody. 



"The people really ride about and shoot in that 

 terrific manner, do they ?" she continued. 



"Well, yes; on occasion," the showman replied, 

 rather more guardedly. 



"I never suspected it," went on the lady in some 

 agitation. "Most of the money left me by my husband 

 is invested in the West, but I now feel doubtful about 

 allowing any more of it to go there." 



"Is it secured by first-class real estate mortgage?" 



"I believe so." 



"Madam," said Cody with confidence, "do not give 

 yourself the least uneasiness. In all my experience with 

 the West I have never yet seen a first mortgage on 

 real estate riding a bucking broncho, shooting up the 

 town, or doing anything except grimly drawing its 12 

 per cent per annum. I wish I owned a million of 'em." 



The waste from the mill runs the electric 

 Utilizing lighting plant for Albuqurque, whose 



Waste Water, owners are talking of selling electric power 



to run pumps for irrigation throughout 

 the valley in which Albuquerque lies. Down in the 

 Mesilla Valley, where the farmers have raised huge crops 

 of alfalfa, grain and fruits in good years, the Govern- 

 ment is pushing forward the Elephant Butte Dam proj- 

 ect to impound the water that runs to waste in the 

 spring; and, when that is completed, agriculture will 

 be as certain an enterprise there as an ideal climate 

 for crops can make it. Already settlers from Texas 

 are flocking into the valley to take up the small allot- 

 ments permitted under the provisions of the irrigation 

 project; for one acre of irrigated land in that climate 

 is as productive as four in a land of rainfall. Similar 

 irrigation projects are under way in other parts of the 

 territory the Hondo, the La Plata, and the Las Vega* 

 projects and many acres are irrigated by private enter- 

 prise. The Estancia Valley already has a reputation 

 for its fruits, and the orchards of Colfax are a delight 

 to the eye. When the irrigation works now being 

 pushed are completed, New Mexico's agricultural out- 

 put will be considerable. Water is the prime necessity, 

 and there is plenty of water if it can only be controlled, 

 or pumped up. In places it is but a little way under 

 the ground. Deming, near the Mexican line, is a little 

 paradise of green fields and whirling windmills. For 

 years one of its leading products was water, which was 

 sent by railroad to El Paso, Tex., auu sold there. 



