252 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



ing device, from the crude horse pump to the efficient 

 steam and gasoline engines has been pressed into service. 

 Some measure of success has attended the operation of 

 many different mechanisms, in a number of small locali- 

 ties, yet multifold failures have resulted from the effort 

 to secure an appliance for general utility on a large scale. 

 The whole problem is to attain the greatest efficiency 

 with a minimum expenditure. Most of the failures have 

 come from gross miscalculations, and not from any in- 

 herent fault of the propositions. In spite of the pit-falls, 

 success is going hand in hand with the genius of intelli- 

 gent industry producing fair financial returns which fore- 

 shadows a still better day when methods of securing ade- 

 quate water supply are more nearly perfected. 



The Canal System. As valuable as are the artesian 

 wells and pumps, the one system that stands pre-eminent 

 as a permanent and lasting means of reclamation is that 

 of canals and reservoirs, for fewer of the uncertainties 

 of hidden nature enter into their control. The great ini- 

 tial expense of their construction has been the chief ob- 

 stacle in the progress of irrigation, but it is vastly superi- 

 or to any other system because when once completed for 

 a given area of land, it is permanently reclaimed. 



Water supply from the mountain creeks is constant, 

 as the snows of the mountains are much more regular 

 than rain-fall in any part of the country. The cost of the 

 maintenance of canal systems is nominal, if the ditches 

 are carefully supervised and kept in repair. 



A' Canal 'system consists of a main canal, adjusted in 

 dimensions to the area to be cultivated and the distance 

 the water is to be conveyed by the lateral ditches running 

 to the different parts of the irrigated area; and, of reser- 

 voirs in which the water is stored during the seasons of 

 high water and from which it is distributed to the grow- 

 ing crops. 



The engineering problem involved in building canals 

 and reservoirs cannot be taken up in detail in this article. 

 The cost is usually enormous and the investment of capi- 

 tal has been extremely hazardous. Losses have not been 

 uncommon, and those incurred in this branch of irriga- 

 tion have been more disastrous than in other branches, 

 because of the large amount of capital necessarily in- 

 volved. It is a significant fact, however, that wherever 

 a loss has occurred it has been the builder of the canal 

 and not the operator who has suffered. Lack of funds 

 to complete the projects, or, if they have been completed, 

 the pressing demands of creditors, have forced many a 

 canal company into liquidation. However, once a system 

 is completed, the rest is "velvet"; for records of failure 

 where there is a good canal system under competent man- 

 agement do not appear in the arid region of the United 

 States. 



Applying Water to the Soil. After the water has 

 been brought to the land in some practical way, the chief 

 methods of distribution are: (1) the check method, (2) 

 furrow irrigation, (3) the basin method, and (4) flooding 

 the field ditches. 



The Check Method. In the check system the land is 

 divided into small subdivisions; (often five to ten to the 

 acre), separated by ridges, and the water is let into dif- 

 ferent compartments, or checks at different times. This 

 system gives best results on gentle flat slopes of sandy 

 soil. Forage crops are best suited to it. 



Furrow Irrigation. Nearly all farms use this method 

 to some extent, but its use is largely confined to the irri- 

 gation of fruit orchards and, in colder climates, to root 

 crops. The plan is variously worked out in detail, but 

 in general it consists of rows of furrows, three to twelve 

 inches deep and three to six feet apart, running across the 

 land at right angles to the feeding ditch. Water is dis- 

 tributed through these furrows from the main ditch. 

 The chief objection to this method is that the furrows 

 interfere with free farming operations. 



The Basin Method. This method is also used exten- 

 sively in fruit culture. The trees are planted in rows, and 

 earthen dykes, or ridges, are thrown up in cross rows 

 between the rows of trees, enclosing each tree in a square 

 basin. This arrangement enables the cultivator to water 

 at one time as many trees as he likes. 



Flooding From Field Ditches. Of the 9,000,000 acres 

 of land cultivated west of the Mississippi River, upwards 

 of one-half are tilled by this method, which consists of 



distributing the water over the fields through small field 

 ditches, sixty to ninety feet apart, and spreading it over 

 the land from openings made in the main ditch banks. 

 In this way the farmer can take care of a large area. 



This method is the best and cheapest for large farms, 

 such as those in the Gallatin Valley, Montana, and 

 throughout the Arkansas Valley of Colorado fifty per 

 cent of the water used in the arid region each season is 

 distributed by flooding from field ditches. 



Development of Irrigation. We are accustomed to 

 thinking of irrigation in the United States as of recent 

 development, yet nothing could be further from the truth. 

 In Arizona and New Mexico there are well-defined re- 

 mains of irrigation works that have outlived their type of 

 civilization by many a century. Near Las Cruces, New 

 Mexico, is a ditch that has been in constant use for over 

 300 years. 



It is true, however, that irrigation, by English speak- 

 ing people in this country, dates back only about fifty 

 years. For its initiative, we must go to Utah where the 

 little band of Mormon immigrants were compelled to 

 adopt it to save themselves from starvation. And even 

 at that time Brigham Young looked upon it not as a handi- 

 cap but as a blessing. 



Twenty-four years after the Utah work began, irriga- 

 tion came into prominence in Colorado and California. 

 The discovery of gold opened the valleys to settlers and 

 the possibilities of irrigation were revealed to the un- 

 thinking miners, .who turned water onto the parched soil 

 around their camps. In nearly every instance the work 

 was begun without apparent consideration of future neces- 

 sities. 



As the miners and ranchers saw what water thus ap- 

 plied to the soil would do, they drifted into irrigation 

 farming on a small scale. Irrigation wprks became en- 

 larged and improved. Easterners saw the possibilities 

 and began to take up the government land of the arid 

 region; and so more and more of the arid land became 

 cultivated in the more or less patchwork and haphazard 

 ways of the settlers, until now we can see our present 

 civilization standing on the threshold of the reclamation 

 of a vast territorry which ten years ago comprised what 

 was known as the "Great American Desert." 



Progress of the Canal System. Small ditch of the 

 pioneer. We have seen how the pioneer farmer con- 

 structed crude ditches leading to his land from near-by 

 streams. That is the crudest example of irrigation in 

 this country, and it required for its exploitation little 

 or no engineering experience. A great deal of water was 

 wasted, and while it sufficed for his small farm, it would 

 not meet the requirements of a community in which there 

 were several farms, for the water would not serve them all. 

 The Community Ditch. With the advent of more 

 settlers came the evolution of the community ditch, 

 whereby several neighboring farmers united forces to 

 build a common water course, with a mutual understand-, 

 ing that the expense of building and maintaining should 

 be shared equally by all. Generally the only expense 

 contributed to its construction was the farmer's labor. 

 This system worked well under the then existing circum- 

 stances, but more than a mutual understanding became 

 necessary when the proposition became so attractive that 

 speculators and investors were brought into or sought 

 the field. 



Corporation Canals. Again the eastern capitalist saw 

 the possibilities in irrigation of the arid lands and mil- 

 lions of dollars have been invested in irrigation projects. 

 For various reasons (all due to mismanagement and to 

 no fault of the country or the proposition) several of the 

 projects failed utterly and reduced many a wealthy man 

 to bankruptcy. But on the other hand, many a man, for- 

 merly in mediocre circumstances, was made wealthy by 

 these enterprises. Under the plan adopted, corporations 

 were formed to build canal systems; waste lands were 

 purchased; the works were constructed so that large 

 tracts of government land, besides their own holdings, 

 could be made fertile by the turn of a spade; settlers were 

 induced to come and "take up" the public lands under the 

 Desert Land Act, whereby any citizen may secure title to 

 320 acres by a specific amount of improvement and payment of 

 $1.25 per acre. The canal companies secured their profits in 

 (Continued on page 276.) 



