THE IRKIGAT10N AGE. 



645 



cubic foot per second for 105 days serves about 112 acres 

 of all kinds of crops. This amount of water, if none were 

 lost, would cover each acre to a depth of 1.9 feet. In other 

 words, the duty of water is a trifle less than 2 acre-feet per 

 acre. 



In 1908, the depth of water used on a 21}4-acre apple 

 orchard at Wenatchee, Wash., was measured and found to 

 be 23 inches. The trees were 7 years old and produced heavily. 

 This orchard was watered five times, the first on May 13 and 

 the last on September 23. In San Diego County, Cal., one 

 miner's inch (one-fiftieth of a cubic foot per second) irri- 

 gates from 6 to 7 acres near the coast where the air is cool 

 and evaporation low, but 20 miles or so inland the same 

 amount of water is needed for about 4 acres. 



On the sandy loam orchards of Orange County, Cal., it 

 has been demonstrated that 2 acre-inches every sixty days is 

 insufficient to keep bearing trees in good condition. The 

 rainfall of this locality averages somewhat less than 12 

 inches per annum, but about 95 per cent of the total falls 

 between November and May, inclusive. 



The most reliable and in many ways the most valuable 

 records pertaining to duty of water on orchards have been 

 obtained by the water companies of Riverside county, Cal. 

 Here more or less irrigation water is used every month 

 of the year. Figure 25 is a graphic representation of the 

 average amount of water used per month in a period of 

 seven years by the Riverside Water Company, in irrigat- 

 ing about 9,000 acres, of which nearly 6,000 acres are 

 planted to oranges and the balance to alfalfa. The figures 

 given in the diagram represent depth in feet over the 

 surface watered. In the following table is given the 

 average duty of water per month in acre-feet per acre 

 under the same system from December 1, 1901, to No- 

 vember 30, 1908, a period of seven years. The table a_lso 

 includes the average monthly rainfall at Riverside. 

 Cal., for the same period, and adding the quantity of water 

 applied in irrigation in any one month to the rainfall of that 

 month gives the total moisture received by the soil. 



Water used under Riverside Water Company's system 

 (1901-1908.) 



Average 

 depth 



per acre. 

 Month. Feet. 



December 0.159 



January 183 



February 046 



March " 078 



April 177 



May 291 



June 274 



Average 

 depth 

 per acre. 

 Month. Feet. 



July 0.272 



August 269 



September 243 



October 189 



November . . .169 



Total 



Average water 

 rainfall, applied. 

 Feet. Feet. 



0.109 

 .170 



.190 

 .316 

 .068 

 .023 

 .003 



0.268 

 .293 

 .236 

 .394 

 .245 

 .314 

 .277 



Total 



Average water 



rainfall, applied. 



Feet. Feet. 

 0.002 0.274 

 .269 



.015 



.043 



Total . . .2.20 



.073 



1.01 



.258 

 .232 

 .242 



3.30 



MONDELL'S OPINION. 



"I would see the boundaries of our forest reserve? 

 elastic. They should bend to the convenience of every man 

 who would plow an acre, drop a seed, plant a tree or build 

 a home. Whenever our reservations are fitted for settle- 

 ment, they should be thrown open. Land laws should be 

 made so that citizens may be encouraged and aided to be- 

 come owners. The family altar raised upon debt-free land 

 is liberty's hope and defense. The new nationalism shows 

 a tendency to become the folly of the period. Every man 

 who stands for the home is against the new nationalism." 



A GREAT IRRIGATION PROJECT COMPLETED. 



Land Commissioner Hornbeck of the Orient Railroad an- 

 nounces the great Imperial Irrigation project, begun under his 

 management eighteen months ago, has been finished, and water 

 from the Pecos River turned onto 25,000 acres of rich land. 

 Two years ago this land was a portion of a 300,000 acre pas- 

 ture. Commissioner Hornbeck persuaded capitalists allied 

 with the Orient Railroad to buy 25,000 acres of the choicest 

 land, and install a gravity flow irrigation system from the 

 Pecos River. A natural reservoir site was enlarged into a 

 basin two miles square and seventeen feet deep, a great dam 

 thrown up, and sixty miles of canals for distribution of water 

 built. This work cost $300,000, but the land coming under the 

 irrigation system, formerly worth about $5.00 an acre as 

 grazing land, now sells readily at $85.00 an acre, and will be 

 worth $150 an acre this time next year, when under irrigation 

 and cultivation. Irrigated land in this vicinity produces seven 

 tons of alfalfa per season, and peaches and pears yield $500 

 an acre, upward, per annum. The land wealth of northern 

 Pecos County, where the Imperial Irrigation project is located, 

 has increased over five million dollars since the Orient Land 

 Department began its activity and development there. 



The Imperial Irrigation project being completed, you can 

 go to Pecos Palisades land and farm it now. The reservoir is 

 completed and the canal system is constructed to the imme- 

 diate vicinity of this land. Two years ago the Imperial project 

 was commenced and water-right contracts called for the com- 

 pletion of the system on August 1st, 1910. Fifteen days prior 

 to that time contractors building the system completed their 

 work. August 20th Pecos River flood waters were turned into 

 the reservoir and farmers along Imperial canals began irri- 

 gating. These promises made by the Imperial Irrigation Com- 

 pany to its water-right holders were kept. Those who buy 

 land now can see that water is ready, and if you wish to put 

 your land into crops you can do so: 



As the present selling price of Pecos Palisades lands with 

 attached perpetual water-right, is $85 per acre, your attention 

 is directed to a comparative tabulation of the leading irrigation 

 projects of the United States, showing you the low cost of 

 Pecos Palisades lands as compared with other irrigable lands, 

 where projects are nearly completed, keeping in mind all the 

 time that the Imperial Irrigation project is now completed as 

 stated. Under the Yuma Irrigation project (California), now 

 60 per cent completed, land and water-rights cost $80 to $150 

 per acre ; Strawberry Valley (Utah) project, 75 per cent com- 

 pleted, $100 to $250 per acre ; Sunny Side project (Washing- 

 ton), being 72 per cent completed, $80 to $100 per acre; Uma- 

 tilla project (Oregon), now 35 per cent completed, $110 to 

 $260 per acre. In those uncompleted projects you are taking 

 a risk as to when water will be ready for delivery. Under the 

 Imperial project, Pecos Palisades, the irrigation system is 100 

 per cent complete, farmers are irrigating, land is being sold at 

 $85 per acre, or cheaper than any of these projects, where hun- 

 dreds of thousands of acres of land have been sold. 



Why can you buy Pecos Palisades land at $85 an acre 

 when land under other less completed projects is selling at 

 $80 to $260? Because the railroad has not reached Pecos 

 Palisades. But the Orient Railroad is building daily, closing 

 its gap at both ends, and will soon cross the Pecos Valley. 

 The road has 916 miles built and in operation, of a total of 

 1,600 miles to be built. The Orient shortens the distance 500 

 miles from the great central and southwestern states to the 

 Pacific Ocean. Grading crews are working at numerous places 

 along the Orient Survey between Fort Stockton and Mertzon, 

 and Chief Engineer Colpitts says the Orient will be pushed 

 into Fort Stockton without delay. This means quick railroad 

 facilities in Pecos Palisades. Then you will see values rise. 

 Land now selling at $85 should easily sell at $125 or more an 

 acre. 



You may doubt if irrigable land under canals at $85 per 

 acre is low priced land. Land in irrigated districts doubles and 

 trebles in value quickly, and $85 land ought really to be worth 

 $150 an acre now. The following reports alone should be con- 

 vincing: 



The Twin Falls (Idaho) Commercial Club Secretary, Mr. 

 Stoltz, writes : "Five years ago land was sold at $25 an acre, 

 now worth $200 to $1,000 an acre." Roswell (N. M.) Com- 

 mercial Club Secretary advises : "Orchard land here sells at 

 $800 to $1,000 per acre." Only ten years ago Roswell (N. M.) 

 land sold at $5 to $10 an acre. Yuma (Arizona) Abstract 

 Company advises land under the Salt River project advanced 

 from $40 four years ago to $200 an acre now. Sam Davis, of 



