512 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



CIMARRON, KAN., NEW FIELD FOR IRRIGATION. 



WITHIN the past year the eyes of those interested in 

 irrigation have been turned toward Cimarron, Kan- 

 sas, "On the New Santa Fe Trail." This thriving little 

 city is the county seat of Gray county and is situated 

 between Garden City and Dodge City, on the main line 

 of the A. T. & S. F. Railway and on the great and fertile 

 Arkansas valley. 



The cause for the revival of irrigation here is the 

 rehabilitation of the old Soule ditch under the supervision 

 of the Arkansas Valley Irrigation & Construction Co. 



The plan of this new ditch is tremendous in its scope 

 and is based on a rather new plan. There are no pumps, 

 although the water is taken direct from the Arkansas 

 river underflow. There is no dam, or to be more accurate, 

 the project is independent of any dam. The principle is 

 simplicity itself. It is the sump canal or seepage system, 

 by which the water is made to flow directly from the 

 underflow by gravity out into the ditch. A long canal 

 is dug parallel to the river. The underflow does the rest. 

 The water percolates through the sands of the river bot- 

 tom in vast quantities and flows in crystal stream into the 

 canal which is merely a continuation of the ditch proper. 

 The water is as clear and cold as that from a mountain 

 spring. 



Already a sufficient flow has been secured to irrigate 

 15,000 acres, although the sump canal is not more than 



yards, telephone exchange, drug store, two or three 

 restaurants and hotels, a couple of refreshment parlors, 

 millinery stores, etc. Cimarron has on paper, the Jack- 

 sonian, which has been printed here for 26 years, and 

 which has become known as one of the powers of western 

 Kansas in boosting the fertile domain of the Arkansas 

 valley. There are several enterprising real estate firms, 

 lawyers, doctors and other lines usually found. 



A visitor who once came to Cimarron, a newspaper 

 man, wrote up his impressions upon returning to his home 

 and he said, ''Cimarron has class." That expresses it 

 in a nutshell. Cimarron is unlike the ordinary country 

 town. There are few false board fronts. There is a garage 

 made of concrete which is modeled on the style of a 

 public library. The tasty fitting of one of the department 

 stores has already been mentioned. There is a large three- 

 story hotel building which is modeled after the picturesque 

 buildings of Italy and France, being of red brick with red 

 hip roof. Cimarron has class. It is an individuality of its 

 own. All the buildings are kept freshly painted and in good 

 repair. From the freshly painted terra cotta colored 

 schoolhouse with its green roof, on the hill, to the smiling 

 valley of alfalfa patches below, Cimarron has class. 



The opening of the new sump irrigation project is sure 

 to attract the eyes of the world to Cimarron as nothing 

 has before. 



Already five or six farmers have signed up for water 

 rights and are using the crystal underflow water on their 



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Panoramic View 



half finished. There is now no doubt whatever that the 

 project is a grand success. 



Cimarron lies on the gentle slope on the n^rth bank 

 of the Arkansas, and is one of the prettiest towns in 

 western Kansas. It is heavily wooded and is one of the 

 best kept towns in the state, having a complete curb sys- 

 tem on the streets, many fine lawns and elegant residences, 

 an electric lighting system and everything neat and well 

 tended. The streets are dressed .with a peculiar gypsum 

 found in the neighborhood which makes a pavement equal 

 to asphalt or macadam, being smooth and free from 'lust. 



Two substantial banks take care of the financial wel- 

 fare of the community, the Gray County State Bank and 

 the Citizens' State Bank. The deposits are over $200.000. 

 The assessed valuation of the city is about a million 

 dollars. The mercantile interests are so well taken care 

 of here that Cimarron draws trade from a radius of from 

 forty to fifty miles, or from five or six outlying counties. 

 There are three large department stores, which are equal 

 to most stores in cities of 5,000. One of them is finished 

 entirely in mission style, with weathered oak stain, plate 

 glass counters, cash carrier system, goods elevator, and 

 metropolitan display windows. Another has a floor space 

 of 80 by 100 feet. 



There is one exclusive hardware store, two lumber 



alfalfa, making it yield profusely. The community in the 

 valley has a great future before it when the section is 

 planted to truck gardens, cantaloupes, alfalfa, sugar beets, 

 corn, grain, etc. 



The wheat crop on the uplands of Gray county was 

 very large this year, 1910, so it should not be inferred 

 that this is too dry to farm without irrigation. In a strip 

 two miles wide from the river to the south line of Gray 

 county a man counted over 500 stacks of wheat, even 

 though only about one-fifth of the land is under the plow. 

 When it is all broken up great will be the returns. At this 

 writing, August, corn is giving fine prospect, also broom- 

 corn and feed crops. 



Loss BY EVAPORATION. 



Where a right to the use of water is acquired through and 

 by the construction of a ditch tapping any source of water sup- 

 ply, and the users thereafter elect to take the water thus di- 

 verted from other points on_the stream, .due allowance must 

 be made for loss by evaporation, including such loss as may 

 occur under different methods of use and distribution, which 

 loss must, so far as practicable Sf ascertainment, be deducted 

 from the quantity awarded under the original diversion and 

 method of use. Hough v. Porter. Supreme Court of Oregon. 

 98 Pacific 1083. 



