THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



183 



vanishing at the breath of modern civilization. The 

 great irrigation works recently carried out in Egypt 

 have radically changed the exceedingly dry climate 

 which made the astonishing longevity of Egyptian 

 stone monuments possible. Under old conditions these 

 might be expected to last practically forever, so far 

 as weather is concerned. Now there are from fifteen to 

 eighteen days of heavy rainfall in the year, whereas 

 there was formerly only an hour's rain a day for a 

 week. The increased humidity, combined with mild 

 frost at night in winter, is rapidly disintegrating the 

 stone of the Sphynx.' 



"In conclusion, to strengthen my belief that the 

 underflow is increasing with increased irrigation, I 

 made tests eighty-six and 105 miles distant from the 

 foothills, and was gratified to find that water could be 

 had in abundance along the draws and dry waterways 

 at from four to eight feet below the surface. I am 

 thus convinced that each year will increase this under- 

 ground flow. My early experiments were made with a 

 view of securing water for stock on the open range and 

 bringing it to the surface by means of windmills. The 

 increased supply of water above mentioned led me to 

 investigate the possibility of successfully and cheaply 

 raising water in sufficient quantities to irrigate land 

 for farm purposes. I made many tests with endless 

 chain devices, spiral pumps, horse, steam and wind 

 powers. I then installed a gasoline pumping plant, 

 which proved very satisfactory. This was in 1883. 

 Since then I have seen many such plants installed 

 throughout the West with such marked success that 

 I am now of the opinion that if care is used in selecting 

 an up-to-date engine and pump that this is the most 

 satisfactory and economical manner of irrigating from 

 wells now known. 



"'And the Lord said: Make this valley full of 

 ditches.' II Kings, iv: 16.'" 



REVIVAL OF MOUNTAIN IRRIGATION. 



Large Canal From the Yellowstone River Backed by Western 

 Capitalists Wilt Cost $300,000. 



North Yakima, Wash., March 25. Editor IRRIGA- 

 TION AGE: Montana is having a revival in irrigation 

 canal building. The new field of operations is the 

 Yellowstone Valley. A company composed of success- 

 ful business men of Billings and practical canal makers 

 of Seattle, Wash., has begun the construction of a 

 large enterprise. It includes the taking of a canal from 

 the Yellowstone River, for a distance of fifty miles, to 

 irrigate 25,000 acres. The tract is said to be one of the 

 finest for irrigation in the State. 



The proposed canal taps the Yellowstone at Laurel, 

 about fourteen miles west of Billings. It will be forty 

 feet wide at the top and carry water to the depth of 

 five feet. An' appropriation of 500 cubic feet per second 

 of time has been made by the company. This will be 

 conveyed to the land and sold to purchasers of acreage 

 property. The duty, as defined by the canal promoters, 

 will be one cubic foot for 100 acres. For such water 

 right, and the land to irrigate, the company will charge 

 $35 per acre. 



The new organization is known as the Billings 

 Land and Irrigation Company. Articles of incorpora- 

 tion have been.fijed in Washington. The principal of- 

 ficers are residents of Seattle. John Schram, a retired 



business man, is the president and W. T. Clark, a well 

 known promoter and canal builder, is secretary and gen- 

 eral manager. Several prominent men of Billings are 

 also interested in the company. The project is esti- 

 mated to cost about $300,000 and the managers state 

 that they have the money to complete the work. 



Lands are to be sold to actual settlers on the de- 

 ferred instalment plan. This is a scheme evolved by the 

 incorporators and has some most unique features. One 

 new idea is that of selling land and water on seven years' 

 time and giving the farmers an opportunity to develop 

 the fields on less than ordinary annual rental charges. 

 They require the purchaser to pay $10 down and leave 

 the remainder for five to seven years. The purchase of 

 land and water includes actual ownership of the canal 

 when all acreage is sold. 



The plan of the farmers owning and operating the 

 canal has been worked in the Yakima Valley of Wash- 

 ington. Two years ago W. T. Clark, manager of the 

 Billings scheme, constructed a twenty-seven-mile canal 

 to carry water from the Yakima River to the Moxee 

 Vallev. The project cost over $75,000. It was com- 

 pleted and men were at work on the lands within three 



PRINTERS' INK 



EDWIN F. ABELL, head of the 

 company that publishes the Balti- 

 more Sun, died in that city Febru- 

 ary 28, aged sixty-three years. His 

 father, A. S. Abel I was the found- 

 er of the Sun, which dales from 

 1837, and the deceased was the last 

 surviving son, having had the man- 

 agement of the paper for ten years 

 past. His death was, in a measure, 

 brought on by grief and shock fol- 

 lowing the Baltimore fire 



THE Irrigation Age, published 

 monthly in Chicago by the D. H. 

 Anderson Publishing Co.. has ab- 

 sorbed Modern Irrigation, Denver. 

 There are five publications in the 

 United States devoted to the sub- 

 ject of irrigation, and the Irriga- 

 tion Age leads them in point of 

 circulation, being credited with a 

 monthly average of 22,100 copies 

 for 1903 in the Roll of Honor. The 

 consolidation gives a further in- 

 crease. The Denver publication 

 made no statement of circulation, 

 and was credited with H exceed- 

 ing 2,250 copies. The Irrigation 

 Age is nineteen years old. and is 

 said to have readers, in all parts of 

 the world among individual irriga- 

 tors and irrigation corporations. 



THE cir 

 edition of I 

 increased ti 

 past year, i 

 no change 

 advertisinc 



A nn.i, 

 legislatur 

 compel p 

 facturers' 

 on all bQ 1 

 for sale 

 ure orj 

 medical : 

 This is 

 MansfieJ 

 sen ted i 

 a law i 

 do not 

 druggis; 

 the fact 

 their bt 

 medicines 

 popularity 

 who are s 

 patent medi 

 to use them 

 to asi<the ; 

 ties of othf 

 proprietar 

 in thf 



THE Hackstaff A ' 

 Teronlp f- 



We are reproducing herewith notice which 

 appeared in the columns of PRINTER'S INK, the 

 leading authority in the advertising field, for 

 which we wish to thank the publishers of that 

 journal and at the same time call attention to 

 the fact that the combined circulation of the 

 two journals is considerably more than the 

 figure named. 



