56 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



Mexico. Mr. Newell said: "In general the work is pro- 

 gressing favorably, and construction has reached a point 

 where results can be seen. The chief drawback at the 

 present time is the difficulty of securing competent laborers. 

 Men who can be had for this western work are, as a rule, 

 restless and rarely stay more than a few days or weeks at 

 any one point. They travel from job to job, staying just long 

 enough to get well fed and accumulate a few dollars, then 

 leave for the next place. The large amount of railroad con- 

 struction, as well as the number of contracts under way with 

 tlu Reclamation Service, make it possible for laborers to 

 stiike a new job wherever they stop. A contractor having 

 on an average a thousand men at work will have on his 

 pay roll for the month from 2,000 to 3,000 names. There is 

 a small army of laborers tramping backwards and forwards 

 along each railroad line, the greater part at present being 

 headed, of course, for California and the Southwest in gen- 

 eral. The difficulty in obtaining and holding good labor and 

 the increase in the cost of materials have resulted in putting 

 out of business a number of smaller contractors and sub- 

 contractors, especially those who took their contracts six 

 months or a year ago. The outlook for the future is also 

 so uncertain that it is extremely difficult for contractors to 

 bid with any degree of confidence, and hence there are very 

 few proffers for future work. This condition holds not only 

 for the Reclamation Service, but also for the railroads. On 

 one extension four different contractors in succession have 

 thrown up the work during a period of six months. The 

 largest work of the Reclamation Service now in hand is the 

 Roosevelt Dam in Arizona, the foundation of which is now 

 in and is approaching the river level. If the floods in the 

 Salt River do not occur for a month or two, the founda- 

 tions which cover about an acre in extent, will be above 

 water level. The Laguna dam on the Colorado River,- 12 

 miles above Yuma, is being successfully pushed by J. G. 

 White & Co., of New York City, and its success is now 

 assured through the closing of the break in Colorado River 

 some 30 miles below on Mexican territory. The gap was 

 closed by the Southern Pacific Company, after weeks of 

 great exertion and the expenditure of many hundreds of 

 thousands of dollars." 



According to a recent land office report the present 

 status of the reclamation fund, composed of all moneys re- 

 ceived from sales of public lands in the arid states and terri- 

 tories, is as follows : 



Total $4,882,084.10 



$32,958,192.12 $16,808,677.98 



The figures representing moneys received during the 

 past fiscal year may be slightly revised when the reports 

 have been finally audited by the Treasury Department. 



N. E. Webster, Jr., Accountant for the United States 

 Reclamation Service, has returned from Columbus, Ohio, 

 where he was in attendance upon the annual convention of 

 the American Association of Public Accountants, October 

 23d to 25th. Mr. Webster is a certified public accountant of 

 the State of Michigan, and a Fellow of the Michigan Associ- 

 ation of Certified Public Accountants, and at the recent 

 convention he was elected a member of the American Asso- 

 ciation. Much interest was manifested at the convention in 

 the subject of co-operation with the general government in 

 its efforts to improve accounting methods. A committee was 

 appointed to prepare an advisory report to the Keep Com- 

 mission on the subject, and Mr. Webster, who is chairman 

 of the assistant committee on cost keeping and a member of 

 the committee on accounting, was consulted as to the interest 

 of the Government service in modern ideas of bookkeeping 

 and auditing. In its desire to adopt such progressive ideas 

 the Reclamation Service has been among the foremost of the 

 various bureaus of the Government service. The idea has 



been that as this was not only a work of great magnitude, 

 but one wherein the Government was virtually acting as 

 trustee for the people of the Western states, its accounting 

 system should be of a character comparable with that of its 

 engineering, and no pains have been spared to accomplish 

 this result. For this purpose a committee consisting of the 

 Chief Accountant, a disbursing officer, and a representative 

 of the Price Waterhouse & Company, public accountants of 

 New York, recently visited the Uncompahgre, Truckee-Car- 

 son, Salt River, and Yuma irrigation projects, and have made 

 a report looking to a uniform system for the bookkeeping at 

 all field offices. 



CORRESPONDENCE. 



The following letter was received from Mr. W. J. Nagel of Santa 

 Fe, New Mexico, and was referred to Prof. Samuel Fortier, irriga- 

 tion engineer in charge of the Pacific district, and Professor Fortier's 

 reply is herewith published in full for the benefit of those who may 

 desire similar information: 



Santa Fe, N. M., Oct. 24th, 1906. 

 Editor Irrigation Age, Chicago, 111.: 



I find in your last on pages 377 and 385 that the duty 

 of water under the Gage canal is 25 inches, combined with 

 the rainfall, 33 inches. In my opinion this is more than 

 needed. I have a nice orchard and use not more than 

 8 to 10 inches, the rainfall is on the average 14 inches, 

 and I raise a fine crop of apricots, peaches, pears, prunes 

 and limes and apples you have ever seen, and I think 10 

 to 12 inches, besides 14 inches rainfall, will raise a fine 

 alfalfa crop and all kinds of vegetables. In my opinion 

 it is more water wasted than judiciously used. For or- 

 chard I prefer the deep furrows, as it costs less labor and 

 less evaporation. Yours, W. J. NAGEL. 



Berkeley, Cal., Nov. 28, 1906. 

 Editor of Irrigation Age, 



112 Dearborn Street, Chicago, 111. 



My Dear Sir: Your letter of November 21, enclosing 

 a communication from Mr. W. J. Nagel of Santa Fe, New 

 Mexico, on the subject of duty of water in irrigation, has been 

 received. In my address before the last Irrigation Con- 

 gress on this subject, which you published in your last 

 issue, I stated that the average duty of water on the or- 

 chards under the Gage canal in the vicinity of Riverside, 

 Cal., for the past seven years was 25 inches, and when 

 increased by the natural rainfall it was 33J/i inches in 

 depth over the surface. Your correspondent thinks this 

 is too much water. He claims that he raises fine apri- 

 cots, peaches, pears and prunes on from 8 to 10 inches of 

 irrigation water and about 14 inches of rainfall. 



As is well known, the duty of water varies in different 

 localities and under different conditions. I might name 

 more than a score of conditions which influence it. In the 

 two cases under consideration there is quite a difference 

 in the length of the irrigation season. The citrus orchards 

 under the Gage canal are irrigated from ten to twelve 

 months every year. The irrigation season for the decid- 

 uous fruit trees in New Mexico is much shorter. This is 

 only one out of many differences which may exist. 



To show that water is economically used in Southern 

 California, the following comparison will suffice: Over 

 20,000 acres of orange and lemon orchards are irrigated 

 by the three companies named below. The average duty 

 of water under each is as follows: 



Rainfall and 



Rainfall in irrigation in 

 acre-feet. acre-feet. 



Gage Canal System 2.08 2.79 



Riverside Water Co 2.43 3.09 



Temescal Water Co 1.83 2.41 



According to the data collected by irrigation and 

 drainage investigations of the office of experiment stations 

 the average duty of water in Western America from 1899 

 to 1904, inclusive, was more than five acre-feet. 



The last general average not only indicates the extent 

 of the waste of water, corroborating Mr. Nagle's views, 

 but it also indicates the truth of the statement made by 

 me that, compared with other irrigated districts of the 

 West, water is both skilfully and economically applied in 

 Southern California. Very truly yours, 



SAMUEL FORTIER, 

 Irrigation Engineer in Charge Pacific District. 



