THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



365 



CIMARRON, KANSAS 



In the Work of Earth Regeneration, "Save 

 the Water" is the Slogan. 



portance in advertising the road, as all the large publica- 

 tions lay particular stress on the apt association of the 

 old and the new, the historical and the practical, in this 



When the miners, freighters and cowmen followed 

 the old Santa Fe trail out across Kansas, and into the 

 foothills of the Rockies, in the middle of the last cen- 

 tury, they encountered what was known as the "Great 

 American Desert," There were immense stretches of 

 fiat or gently rolling land which looked bare and uninvit- 

 ing, for the fields had not yet given up their secrets or 

 betrayed their wonderful productiveness. Through these 

 fields wandered, sluggishly, the Arkansas river, sometimes 

 seeming to dry up entirely, and at rare intervals being 

 filled with a roaring flood of snow-water from the moun- 

 tains and rain-water running from the "trampled pavement 

 of the sod," unchecked by spongy plowed ground. 



In those days they used sometimes to take the "Cimar- 

 ron Crossing," and strike off across the upland toward 

 the Cimarron river, because it shortened the distance. 

 This was considered rather foolhardy, however, as the 

 supply of drinking water was almost a minus quantity in 

 the stretch between the two rivers. They did not know 

 that this stretch was underlaid by artesian water and shal- 

 low strata which is now making an emerald alfalfa field of 

 a large part of this section. 



Three miles east of the "Cimarron Crossing," the town 

 of Cimarron now stands. 



When the motor tourists travel out over the ."New 

 Santa Fe Trail" from Hutchinson, west of the state line, 

 they see a far different country than did the travelers on 

 the old trail. The story of the transformation of western 

 Kansas reads like a romance. Seemingly accomplishing 

 the impossible, those who have stayed with it and have 

 used careful scientific methods of soil culture, have demon- 

 strated that farming even on the highest upland, is highly 

 profitable as profitable as anywhere in the state. On 

 the lowlands, especially in the great Arkansas Valley, 

 the miracles of irrigation are being wrought. 



The New Santa Fe trail was the conception of those 

 who wanted western Kansas to have a working model, a 

 pattern of good road building. Example is better than 

 precept, and the best way to build good roads is first, 

 to build them and second, to keep on building them. 

 Preaching good roads won't help much. Building a dem- 

 onstration model will help a lot. And it was considered 

 especially apt that this great demonstration highway should 

 perpetuate the name of the Old Trail. The "Cimarron 

 Jacksonian" made a campaign for the highway, and pro- 



View of the 



Kansas. 



New Santa Fe Trail Along the Flowing Ditch of the Eureka System Ci 



Kansas. 



posed that a new Santa Fe Trail be adopted. It ham- 

 mered away on the proposition, and saw the name adopted, 

 which subsequent events have shown to be of great im- 



great enterprise. Plans are already being laid, under the 

 leadership of the Kanass City Star, to extend the trail 

 east from its present eastern terminus, Newton, to Kan- 

 sas City, and Colorado good roads enthusiasts are already 

 working the highway westward, so in time the entire route 

 of the Old Trail will be covered by a modern thorough- 

 fare, through the once so-called Great American Desert, 

 and on toward the Pacific coast. 



The regeneration of this great kingdom is being ac- 

 complishe'cl by irrigation and scientific dry farming. The 

 whole section is "greening up," and is assuming the aspect 

 of a garden spot, the gem of which is the Arkansas Val- 

 ley. It is lined with alfalfa fields, fine groves of trees, 

 beet and truck patches, and studded with thrifty 

 and prosperous little towns. 



The seeming dry bed of the Arkansas has 

 been forced to give up its secret, the inexhaustible 

 underflow. The Cimarron district is now being 

 put under the ditch of the first comprehensive 

 sump seepage system of irrigation. By gravity 

 the underflow is allowed to run into a large irri- 

 gation ditch, and on down the valley. It is the 

 simplest thing in the world and will make irriga- 

 tionists all over the world sit up and take notice. 

 This Eureka project, as it is known, is financed 

 by a million or more, and everything is being 

 done in a permanent and substantial manner. 



The accompanying cuts show views of the 

 New Santa Fe Trail along the already flowing 

 ditch of the Eureka system. This gives an idea 

 of the blooming of the desert and the pretty 

 scenery to be found along the modern Appian 

 Way, the New Santa Fe Trail, which follows the 

 famous fertile Arkansas river valley. 



The Cimmaron district will soon rival the 

 neighboring Garden City district, as it has the 

 added advantages of the modern and economical 

 sump ditch system. It needs only to be fully 

 developed to bring the rich returns. Garden City 

 is only thirty-four miles up the valley; Dodge 

 City is twenty miles down the vallev. The district is 

 strategically situated and is sure to be developed. 



