10 



THE IREIGATION AGE. 



the Fair. They told how this planet could be dressed 

 up, swamps drained, rough places made smooth, roads 

 built and canals dug, with rivers diverted to arid areas. 

 The next week was devoted to the World's Congress of 

 Electrical Engineers. A number of the civil engineers 

 were in the audience one day, and an electrician said, 

 with enthusiasm : "You gentlemen fix up this planet, 

 turn it over to us and we will wire it." Now there is a 

 vast amount of wisdom in this. The habitable earth 

 can be turned into an electrical machine. Everybody 

 may then have all the electricity needed at very low 

 cost. This, of course, under government control, after 

 every corporation has been annihilated. 



To have this earth an electrical paradise of light, 

 life, health and happiness, two things must be done: 

 Plant trees on every waste acre on earth and store 

 the mountain waters. This is what mountains are for 

 to accumulate ice, snow and rain. Canyons were 

 made by good dame Nature for one purpose only to 

 be filled with water; Build great dams across every 

 canyon and "store the floods." As I look into the 

 depths of great canyons, now as I write, one 1,600 feet 

 deep and the other 670, on each side of the observa- 

 tory, I see Nature's plan. For if gigantic dams of 

 granite were erected at their mouths, billions of gal- 

 lons of water could be stored in the rainy season for use 

 in the dry. There ! I looked out of my south window. 

 Behold ! 900 square miles of an area cut out of paradise 

 lies below in ever living green. Thirty years ago the 

 same expanse was one of dreary sand and the cactus, 

 plant. Now Pasadena rises in beauty amid groves of 

 countless orange, lemon, peach, pear, plum, prune, al- 

 mond, walnut, eucalyptus, pepper, magnolia and cam- 

 phor trees all bathed in the light of the sun of Cali- 

 fornia. And heliotropes, carnations, roses, sweet violets, 

 the great flaming poinsettias and blooming hydrangeas 

 by literal millions. And beyond, the great Los Angeles. 

 Not one of these could exist without irrigation. For- 

 ests, stored water and irrigation are the watchwords of 

 humanity, now. But water flowing from mountains to 

 thirsty plains below can be used over and over again to 

 turn the armatures of giant dynamos. These pour out 

 floods of electricity for more than 4,000 different meth- 

 ods of use at present. You can do anything human 

 with electricity. It is now under better control than 

 steam. Touch a key here and light bursts into view; 

 and there, heat appears giving blessed warmth, health 

 and life. The very water that calls fruit, flowers and 

 grains into being develops electricity in its descent. 

 Look at this : Water in the mountains contains human 

 needs in every minute detail. Light; heat, work of 

 every kind whatever, and Life itself. Kunning water 

 works all night while the sun forsakes half of the earth 

 continually. Loud and long will be the wailing and 

 awful the gnashing of teeth when men suddenly awake 

 from their present inconceivable lethargy and discover 

 that carbon has disappeared. With feverish haste they 

 will plant forests all over the globe. Why not plant 

 trees now? Why not store every drop of water and set 

 it to work generating electricity and also food plants? 

 Again: Do this or die. Let every wheel on earth be 

 turned by means of electricity and all work, heating 

 and cooking likewise. It is doubtful if the earth's land 

 surface can supply wood and food enough. If the race 

 doubles or quadruples, then every inch of land and 

 every stream must be utilized. Here is an appalling 

 question: Will men, when polar winds and frigid 



weather set in, and when the pinching and gnawing of 

 hunger begins, fight ? Will humanity die on the battle- 

 field? Will reason entirely vanish in the throes of 

 starvation and cold ? Will they clutch each other's 

 throats with the ferocity of tigers over the fragments 

 of food? The overwhelming carbon question must be 

 faced. Listen, and that within one hundred years. 



Lowe Observatory, Echo Mountain, Gal., Septem- 

 ber 27, 1907. 



DIVIDING WATER. PAST AND PRESENT 

 METHODS. 



BY JOHN G. HALL, 



GREELEY, ' COLORADO. 



In 1882, when the writer first landed in this irri- 

 gated co\mtry, the method of dividing water on the 

 main canal was done wholly by guess work. No con- 

 sideration was given to the velocity obtained by a 

 stream running in the lateral, and after a few years 

 this careless method was found very unsatisfactory, and 

 a new one was introduced. The new way, known as 

 the Clark system, where each water right in the lateral 

 was given a foxir-inch space on the measuring wier; 

 to illustrate, if a lateral was drawing only one right, 

 all space on the wier would be closed up by perpendicu- 

 lar boards except a space four inches wide; two rights 

 eight inches wide ; three rights twelve inches wide ; and 

 so on. 



The variation of amount per right was regulated 

 by the depth of the stream. For a 40-inch right the 

 issue woiild be ten inches deep. The right of forty- 

 eight inches, twelve inches deep, and so on ; always 

 multiplying the depth by the number of inches in 

 width. This system existed for many years. Finally, 

 like the first, it became old and out of date, and the 

 meter system was introduced, and is in use at the 

 present time. This system is a rating of each par- 

 ticular lateral, this rating being taken by an engineer, 

 who secures the velocity of the water at different 

 heights on the wier, the wier remaining the same in 

 width at all times. The table of the rating of each 

 particular lateral is carried by the ditch rider and a 

 given height in inches on the wier will deliver to the 

 users the given amount in inches. This appears to be 

 wholly satisfactory to the risers and does away with 

 many disputes, quarrels and lawsuits, and this .particu- 

 lar invention has come into almost general use during 

 the past twenty-five years in the territory around 

 Greeley, Colorado. 



In case I have not made this matter clear to the 

 readers of the IRRIGATION AGE. I will be glad to cor- 

 respond with them and to explain the different methods 

 and the improvements in detail. I will attempt to 

 take up some other features of practical irrigation in 

 the December issue of the AGE. 



NOTE. Our readers who are desirous of securing 

 information from Mr. Hall will kindly enclose stamped 

 envelope for reply. We have made an arrangement so 

 that he will answer all questions pertaining to different 

 systems of irrigation free of charge for readers of the 

 IRRIGATION AGE. 



Send $2.50 for The Irrigation Age 

 ' year, and the Primer of Irrigation 



