TWENTY^SECOND YEAR 



THE IRRIGATION AGE 



VOL. XXII 



CHICAGO, JUNE, 1907. 



No. 8 



THE IRRIGATION AGE 



With which is Merged 



MODERN IRRIGATION THE DRAINAGE JOURNAL 



THE IRRIGATION ERA MID-WEST 



ARID AMERICA THE FARM HERALD 



IRRIGATION AGE COMPANY, 

 PUBLISHERS, 



112 Dearborn Street, 



CHICAGO 



Entered at the Postoffice at Chicago, 111., as Second-Class Matter. 



D. H. ANDERSON, Editor 



W. J. ANDERSON .. G. L. SHUMWAY 



Associate Editors 



ANNOUNCEMENT. 



"The Primer of Irrigation" is now ready for delivery. Price, 

 $2.00. If ordered in connection with subscription, the price is $1.50. 



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Official organ of the American Irrigation Federation. 

 Office of the Secretary, 309 Boyce Building, Chicago. 



Interesting to Advertisers. 



It may interest advertisers to know that The Irrigation Age a the 

 only publication in the world having an actual paid in advance 

 circulation among individual irrigators and large irrigation corpo- 

 rations. It a read regularly by all interested in this subject and has 

 readers in all parts of the world. The Irrigation Age is 22 yean 

 old and is the pioneer publication of its class in the world. 



An irrigation project of gigantic pro- 

 New Wyo- portions has been undertaken by a com- 

 ming Project, pany recently incorporated under the 

 state laws of Wyoming. The articles 

 were filed in the office of the secretary of state by Mr. 

 William L. Rohrer and the concern is capitalized for 

 $1,000,000. Mr. Eohrer represents influential Chicago 

 business men who have been induced to go into the pro- 

 ject only after several months of investigation as to the 

 resources of the country. The lands to be irrigated 

 comprise 60,000 acres in Big Horn county and run 

 from Hyattville, near the foot of the Big Horn moun- 

 tains, almost to the city of Basin. They slope gently 

 southward and will be watered by a main canal some 50 

 miles in length, which will receive its supply from a 

 series of lakes in the Big Horn mountains in the heart 

 of the Big Horn forest reserve. The fact that these 

 mountain lakes are in the forest reserve is one of the 

 strongest features of the project as it Insures the per- 

 petuity of the water supply. 



It is estimated that the cost of construction of the 

 necessary canals and dams will be close to $500,000. 

 The construction of the principal dams will be similar 

 to that of the great Cheyenne City dam. The alti- 

 tudes are favorable for the project, the lakes being 

 4,275 feet above sea level and the end of the 50-mile 

 canal about 3,900 feet above. 



The soil of the district is an alluvium of unusual 

 richness and is over twenty feet in depth. Tests made 

 of sugar beets grown in this soil show them to yield 

 over 24 per cent of saccharin matter. 



Few men even in the arid regions appre- 

 Irrigation ciate the absolute necessity for the exist- 

 Congress. ence of The National Irrigation Congress. 



While it is not of governmental origin, 

 and not under federal control, it is so national in its 

 function that every section of the country is benefitted 

 by its success. The progress of irrigation has not been 

 commensurate with the general prosperity of the coun- 

 try at large. The arid states have, in a measure, pros- 

 pered without an equitable system of irrigation. The 

 absence of laws governing water-rights has delayed 

 progress and instigated feuds in every community. The 

 laws are so varied in the different states that confusion 

 is inevitable. In the terms used and in the value given 

 these terms, even an expert is not certain of his ground. 

 There should be national laws embodying general prin- 

 ciples of irrigation and The National Irrigation Con- 

 gress should take the initiative in formulating these 

 laws. The interstate and international difficulties aris- 

 ing out of water ownership also need adjudication. 

 While the National Congress makes the laws, the Irri- 

 gation Congress, which is the direct voice of the people, 

 can by agitation and recommendation hasten the adop- 

 tion of needed measures. 



The United States department of agri- 

 Evaporation culture has recently issued bulletin No. 

 Losses. 177 of the office of experiment stations 



on "Evaporation Losses in Irrigation and 

 Water Eequirements of Crops," compiled by Mr. Samuel 

 Fortier, irrigation engineer in charge of Pacific dis- 



