170 



THE IERIQATION AGE. 



A complete well pump consists of the power head 

 carrying the driving pulley, gearing and piston rods; the 

 cylinder and valves; the inside and outside pump rods 

 connecting the buckets with the power head at surface, 

 the guides on the outside rod, and the pump column con- 

 necting the cylinder with the pump head at surface. The 

 check valve, discharge elbow, discharge pipe, air chamber, 

 pipe line above surface and other fittings as needed. 



The power head is placed on the surface of the ground 

 and may be driven by steam or gasoline or electric motor, 

 belt driven or direct connected. The driving pulley is 

 furnished to suit the type and speed of the motive pow- 

 ers, using a friction clutch pulley when driven by engine 

 or jack shaft, or a plain tight pulley when driven by 

 electric motor. 



The cylinder is placed at a point in the well where it 

 is always submerged and requires no priming. In all 

 cases the work is done in one lift from water level to 

 point of discharge, no matter how deep the water level 

 below the surface or how high the point of discharge. No 

 expensive pit is required to bring the pump within suction 

 distance of the water, as in all centrifugal or plunger 

 pumps depending on suction. 



It is very hard to give the exact cost of irrigation by 

 pumping, because of the varying conditions, and I do not 

 know that I could do better than to explain what deep 

 well pumping has done for California. I merely mention 

 this state because I am more familiar with it than others, 

 and what has been accomplished in California by this 

 method can be repeated all over the western country. 



Up to eight or ten years ago irrigation was unknown 

 there, except by the gravity system and centrifugal pumps 

 which were expensive to operate. But as soon as the deep 

 well pumps were introduced and proved successful they 

 at once came into prominence and they are now used 

 almost exclusively in California. In the past six years 

 hundreds of deep well pumps have been installed in Cali- 

 fornia with capacities ranging from 100 to 600 gallons per 

 minute. 



There being an abundance of water, the use of deep 

 well pumps has made gardens out of sections of California 

 that for many years was looked upon as only good for 

 grazing and for raising grain on a wet year. Land in these 

 sections eight to ten years ago sold at $5 to $8 per acre; 

 it is now selling at $150 to $200 per acre unimproved, 

 brought about by the fact that they know by boring wells, 

 and installing deep well pumps their water supply is 

 assured and their land made valuable and productive. 



If this had not been demonstrated by the use of deep 

 well pumps, this land would still be worth only $5 to $8 

 per acre, as it would still be only grazing or wheat land. 

 Orange orchards in California, five or six years old, that 

 have been properly cared for, produce from $150 to as high 

 as $500 per acre per year, and the grower in some few in- 

 stances has received as high as $1,000 per acre, but this 

 of course is exceptional. It is not uncommon to net $300 

 per acre from a 6-year old orchard and it would not be 

 looked upon as anything to attract particular attention. 

 I merely mention these facts to show what irrigation, 

 through deep well pumping, has done for one state in our 

 great West. 



In most districts in California where deep well pumps 

 are employed, the water stands all the way from 50 feet 

 to 300 feet from the surface, and in many installations of 

 deep well pumps the cylinder is placed 300 feet below the 

 surface and water has been pumped very successfully from 

 these depths. Until recently water at this depth would not 

 be considered as available for irrigation purposes, but it is 

 thought nothing of at this time. There is a great deal of 

 land in California, not irrigated as yet, where the water 

 will have to be lifted not less than 200 feet and from thaf 

 up to 300 and 400 feet, and this will all have to be irri- 

 gated by deep well pumps. 



In many places pumps are kept in comnvssion all 

 winter ready to operate at a moment's notice, especially in 

 sections where there is apt to be frost, as it has been found 

 that the water pumped from below the surface, being much 

 warmer than the atmosphere, and run through the or- 

 chards on a cold night, forms a mist or fog which lies 

 like a blanket over the whole orchard and prevents frost 

 from affecting the trees or fruit. It is used instead of 



smudge pots, as it has been found much cheaper and 

 quicker and more efficient than the old method. Self reg- 

 istering thermometers are installed which ring a bell as 

 soon as the temperature in the orchard has fallen to the 

 danger point, and in 30 minutes from that time there is 

 water through every furrow in the orchard and the tem- 

 perature has risen about 5. This system has proven suc- 

 cessful wherever tried, no fruit being lost by frost. 



From the foregoing it will be seen that deep well 

 pumping has proven successful wherever tried. While 

 still in its infancy deep well pumping for irrigation has 

 accomplished a great deal in reclaiming arid and semi-arid, 

 lands, and as there is a spirit in this congress of "Let all 

 profit by our experience," I wish to leave with you this 

 account, showing what this system can be made to do to 

 "Reclaim the Deserts and Make Homes on the Land," that 

 our great and beautiful western country of the land we 

 know and love may come into its own, and let us work 

 together to accomplish this through irrigation by the sys- 

 tem best suited to the existing conditions. 



ALKALIED LANDS. 



In the November circular issued by the Colorado 

 Agricultural College is an article of considerable interest 

 relating to the reclamation of lands whereon alkalies have 

 interfered or wholly prohibited the raising of crops. In 

 connection with this problem, Prof. E. B. House offers 

 the following suggestion: 



"Considerable areas in the State of Colorado have 

 become in late years strongly alkalied. Good crops used 

 to be grown on this land, but as time has passed irriga- 

 tion waters have been poured upon the land year after 

 year, the water table has risen, and gradually the alkali 

 has worked to the surface as the water from below has 

 risen by capillary attraction and evaporation. The ground 

 has gradually whitened, yields have decreased year after 

 year, the growth of "Alakli Weed" has increased, and 

 finally the land has been abandoned because it would not 

 pay. 



"This question is then asked by the farmer: What 

 can I do to redeem this land? The answer for most cases 

 is as follows: Drain it, flood it, and give it deep cultiva- 

 tion. Draining it lowers the water table. Flooding it dis- 

 solves the alkali crust at the surface and carries 

 it away in solution, or carries it downward 

 to the drains and it passes away through them. 

 Deep plowing and cultivation mixes what remains through 

 the upper foot of soil instead of leaving it at the surface. 

 Good crops can now be grown. Some of the very worst 

 alkalied lands in the world have been redeemed in this 

 way. 'But,' says the farmer, 'I'm a busy man, money 

 is scarce, and it takes time, work, and money to drain a 

 field.' 



"True, farmer, all very true, and now that winter is 

 coming on and the ground will soon be frozen, let me 

 suggest this as a temporary remedy: Next spring, when 

 the water is turned into your ditch, put on your gum boots, 

 get out with your shovel, and give this land a thorough 

 flooding. As soon as it then becomes dry enough to plow, 

 plow it good and deep, plant your oats, or wheat, or po- 

 tatoes, and although by this flooding you raise the water 

 table and the alkali begins to collect at the surface again, 

 yet before it collects in sufficient quantities to do any real 

 damage, your crop will have matured and a good crop 

 harvested. 



IRON HEAD&ATES. 



The twenty-acre model Irrigated farm at the Seventeenth 

 National Irrigation Congress, at Spokane last year, proved a 

 most instructive and interesting exhibit. One of the strong 

 points brought to the attention of irrigation companies and 

 irrigators was that to have a water supply absolutely safe 

 and under perfect control, iron headgates must be used in the 

 reservoirs and irrigating ditches. 



Old-fashioned wooden gates, besides being unreliable and 

 unhandy, are responsible for the wasting of much valuable 

 water by the individual irrlgrator. The company's water sup- 

 ply and the farmer's crops are never safe where wooden 

 gates are used, because wooden gates invariably fail and 

 wash out just when the water is needed to save a burning 

 crop. 



The gates used on the demonstration farm were "North- 

 western Iron Headgates." They demonstrated their advan- 

 tages over wooden gates so completely that it is a question 

 of only a few years when every up-to-date farm will be 

 equipped with Iron headgates. 



