THE IRKIGATION AGE. 



235 



the water cannot pass into the bay without flooding the 

 bottom lands. In addition to the natural conditions 

 that cause the low lands to flood, the early settlers con- 

 sidered mining paramount to everything else, and thus 

 neglected the agricultural interests by permitting hy- 

 draulic plants to empty their debris into the river 

 channels. To counteract this filling in process, owners 

 of lands built dikes along the river banks. The system 

 failed to control the water properly. To relieve the 

 land owners the United States Geological Survey in 

 conjunction with the National Eeclamation Service have 

 undertaken to form a system of reservoirs in which the 

 flood waters may be impounded and when needed may 

 be delivered through canals to the lands for irrigation 

 purposes. The undertaking is one of the most stu- 

 pendous in the world's history costing more than a hun- 

 dred million dollars. The plan contemplates carrying 

 the surplus water, of which there is a great quantity in 

 the Sacramento, to supplement the flow of the San 

 Joaquin whose supply is inadequate to its complete 

 irrigation. 



As the project is too large to be completed by any 

 agency in whole, units of the general system have been 

 under construction for some time. Upon application 

 of The Water Users' Association, at Orland in Glenn 

 county, the secretary of the interior has set aside 

 $650,000 for irrigating a small unit. Without doubt 

 this is the beginning of a project that will make the 

 Sacramento valley a veritable garden spot of the world 

 with many millions of happy and enlightened people 

 living in their own homes with environments that should 

 satisfy the most fastidious. 



Smaller private systems are now in operation with 

 great results. These in time will in all probability be 

 combined with the great system with mutual advantage. . 



What can and will be accomplished in the Sacra- 

 mento awaits the San Joaquin. Much of the land in 

 this valley is now under intensive cultivation, especially 

 in Fresno county, owing to the fact that this is decidedly 

 in the arid belt. 



In San Joaquin county, of which the splendid city 

 of Stockton is the capital, one of the richest and most 

 prosperous communities of the state is found. The 

 fertility of the soil cannot be surpassed nor can it be 

 exhausted. Irrigation increases the products, but it is 

 not essential. The average size of the farm is 225 

 acres, and the aim is to reduce the average to ten acres, 

 increasing the population of the county from 50,000 

 to 1,000~000. The problem of caring" for the flood 

 waters here is being solved by a district assessed at 

 $25,000,000 which will make improvements to the 

 amount of $1,500,000 by bonding on long time, making 

 the cost per year very light. Fruits, vegetables, grain 

 and stock are found here in perfection and in great 

 abundance. This is the banner county of the United 

 States in producing potatoes. Land can be bought for 

 $100 an acre that rents for $10 to $20. A Los Angeles 

 firm rents out 25,000 acres. A Jap rented a tract for 

 $7,500 and produced $250,000 worth of potatoes. 

 Grapes are the best crop. Added to a very rich soil 

 and ideal climate Stockton has the advantages of river 

 transportation. 



Merced, Madera and Mendota are centers of rich, 

 largely undeveloped counties, but the people are alive 

 to their possibilities and will soon rival the older com- 

 munities. Farther south Bakersfield and Porterville are 

 noted citrus fruit regions. Fresno, the most intensely 



cultivated section of "The Great Valley," is treated of 

 in a separate article. 



In Stanislaus county, of which Modesto is the 

 capital, is the Turlock-Modesto irrigation system em- 

 braciug an area of 260,000 acres, operated under a state 

 law known as the Wright Act, by which all the land 

 composing the district is taxed to build the system. 

 The dam across the Tuolumme river costing $550,000 is 

 a diverting, not a storage dam. The water, which costs 

 $9 an acre, is to be paid for within forty years, and 

 belongs to the land, the owner being assessed annually 

 a tax of 50 to 55 cents an acre. These lands, which 

 are first class for fruit, vines, alfalfa, melons, and sweet 

 potatoes, sell for $40 to $100 an acre. The Wright law 

 has been attacked in the courts, but has usually stood 

 the test successfully, especially in the southern part of 

 the state where more land is irrigated under its pro- 

 visions. The people have not yet learned that the prop- 

 erty rights in water are under state control in the same 

 degree as the property rights in land. 



A gravity system of irrigation is usually cheap, 

 but some valuable land cannot be watered by gravity, 

 therefore some means of lifting the water must be 

 devised. Around Lodi, Stockton and other places wind- 

 mill pumping is successful, for small acreage. Gasoline 

 pumps are used also, but hydro-electric power is the 

 most satisfactory, even including the greater expense. 

 At Dixon, California, twenty-two miles toward San 

 Francisco from Sacramento, on the main line of the 

 Southern Pacific railway, the writer was shown a system 

 of thirty-four plants operated by Mr. E. D. N. Lehe 

 who rents power from the California Gas and Electric 

 Corporation, and supplies the individual farmer. Mr. 

 Lehe also furnishes several towns with lights. 



Mr. Leland Hyde owns twenty-eight acres of land 

 watered by means of one of these electric pumps at a 

 cost of from two to three dollars an acre for an alfalfa 

 crop. His well is sixty feet deep, but the pump has 

 never lowered the water below eight feet from the sur- 

 face of the ground. In addition to running his pump, 

 he operates a milking machine, runs his separator and 

 grindstone, lights his house and barn, and his wife 

 runs her sewing-machine and heats her irons by electric 

 power. The cost of the plant including the milker is 

 $1,300. He keeps thirty-three cows and averaged $84 

 income a year on each, including profits on calves and 

 separated milk. With a milking machine one man can 

 care for sixty cows which can be kept on fifty acres of 

 land in alfalfa, yielding as high as twelve tons to the 

 acre. When asked how the cows liked the milking- 

 machine he said, "They laughed at it." It is such a 

 success that several neighbors have installed similar 

 plants. The machine will be in full operation at Sacra- 

 mento during the session of the National Irrigation 

 Congress in September. 



Commensurate and co-ordinate with the benefits 

 derived from irrigation are the advantages from hydro- 

 electric power. Waterfalls are near every part of the 

 state, and power can be generated for every purpose for 

 which it is needed. Ultimately cooking, heating, and 

 all means of transportation will be included as resultants 

 of hydro-electric power. The possibilities of the re- 

 sources in this state have not been estimated, but enough 

 power can be generated to run all the machines that 

 will ever be used on the Pacific coast, and the uses to 

 which it may be put will multiply as the years go. 



Many sections of California can be irrigated by 



