140 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



THE CALIFORNIA RECLAMATION PROBLEM. 



The article that appeared in the January edition of THE 

 IRRIGATION AGE on the above subject and the brief editorial 

 comment in answer to queries from a correspondent published 

 in the February number, with reference to the pneumatic 

 pipe dredge as a practical means of economically remedying 

 existing evils, have aroused great interest among our readers 

 and we have received many kind words of commendation of 

 our course in opening our columns to the good work of 

 stirring up public sentiment in favor of taking such steps as 

 may be necessary to bring to a successful climax the strenu- 

 ous labors of the various commissions that have investigated 

 and reported on this same interesting problem. 



Probably no other man alive today is so well qualified to 

 pass an opinion on every phase of this subject as Mr. M. A. 

 Nurse of Sacramento. For almost twenty years Mr. Nurse 

 was chief engineer of the state of California, and during that 

 that time the thousand and one problems that affect the curb- 

 ing of the flood waters of the Sacramento river and the re- 

 clamation and protection of the valley lands were continually 

 before him.' As a recognized authority on the subject he was 

 appointed by the state of California as a member of a com- 



"The report 1904-1906 is my own, and bears the indorse- 

 ment of Commissioner F. D. Ryan and members of the audit- 

 ing board, all prominent business men of our state. 



"The pneumatic pipe dredge is designed to play an im- 

 portant part in executing the work of channel rectification 

 and levee building herein recommended because of its superior 

 merit and economy coupled with its ability to place the 

 material for levee building at a proper and safe distance from 

 the banks, and thus obviate the danger from caving banks 

 and crevasses. 



"Very truly, 

 "M. A. NURSE." 



We have read carefully the reports that accompanied Mr. 

 Nurse's letter and find them most interesting reading, era- 

 bodying as they do the conclusions arrived at by highly 

 trained technical engineers, after an exhaustive study of the 

 various problems that enter into the subject of reclaiming 

 the Sacramento valley lands. There is nothing in them to 

 make us change our views that the basic principle underlying 

 successful reclamation is to restore the rivers to their original 

 beds as they were before they were raised by the injection 

 of several hundred million cubic yards of hydraulic mining 

 tailings. 



ONE OF THE MANY FLOURISHING ORANGE GROVES AT MAYWOOD COLONY. 



This particular orchard of 40 acres is 5 years old, and is now carrying a crop of from one to two boxes a tree. In Maywood Colony the or- 

 ange, as well as the lemon, is entirely free from scale, and consequently spraying or fumigating is not practiced. 



This is an ideal orange section, the fruit being bright and sweet, and ripening fully six weeks sooner than in the Los Angeles region. 



mission of engineers "to investigate river and flood condi- 

 tions in the Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys and to sub- 

 mit a plan for their improvement and control." Besides Mr. 

 Nurse this commission was composed of Major T. G. Dabney, 

 chief engineer of the Yazoo Mississippi Delta Levee District ; 

 Major Henry B. Richardson, member of the United States 

 Mississippi River Commission, and Major H. M. Chittenden, 

 U. S. A., in charge of the Yellowstone Park and the Mis- 

 souri river. 



We are much gratified to have such an eminent authority 

 as Mr. Nurse endorse, as he does, the plan of reclamation 

 outlined in the previous article on this subject, and back us 

 up in our contention that the pneumatic pipe dredge is the 

 sine qua non that makes successful permanent reclamation 

 possible, as it brings the cost down to a figure that the poorest 

 land owner in the Sacramento Valley can stand without fear 

 of forfeiture. 



Mr. Nurse writes as follows : 



"Under separate cover I send you copies of reports and 

 recommendation made by a commission of engineers who 

 were selected by the state of California (because of their 

 special eminence in river hydraulics and reclamation) to devise 

 and submit plan for needed river improvement on the Sacra- 

 mento and San Joaquin rivers and their principal tributaries. 



The essentials to successful reclamation as seen by the 

 commission of engineers in 1904 (Mr. Nurse being a mem- 

 ber) were as follows : 



(a) To confine the flood waters to the channels of the 

 various streams by means of levees, so as to prevent de- 

 structive inundations of the fertile valley lands. 



(b) To correct the alignment of the river by cut-offs 

 where necessary, and to increase its channel capacity by me- 

 chanical means wherever current action fails to accomplish 

 this purpose. . 



(c) To collect the hill drainage, which now loses itself 

 in the basins, in intercepting canals and convey it into the 

 river at selected points. 



(d) To provide escapeways over the levees for surplus 

 flood waters during the period of channel development, and 

 to provide for the disposal of this water in connection with 

 the hill drainage. 



(e) To provide for the relief of the basins from accumu- 

 lation of rain and seepage water by means of pumps wher- 

 ever gravity drainage is not practicable. 



We mus_t not forget that when this report was issued the 

 pneumatic pipe dredge had not appeared in the field and the 

 engineers naturally based their conclusions on the cost of 

 operations with the more costly and expensive operation of 

 clam shell and suction dredges. 



