814 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



The demand for better farming in America 

 Irrigation is natural. From every part of the coun- 



Meets Demand try comes the cry for improved agriculture. 

 for Improved How to increase your exports, how to keel- 

 Agriculture. young men and women in the country and 



how to give greater profits to the farmer 

 are questions which leading citizens everywhere are trying 

 to solve. 



It is only within the past few years that we have given 

 much heed to the future. We have taken it for granted that 

 our resources were unlimited and inexhaustible. We have 

 opened wide our doors to the people of the Old World, and 

 have invited them to take of our plenty. We have been 

 rudely awakened to the fact that the day of free homes is 

 about gone. The millions of acres of public domain stretch- 

 ing from the Mississippi Valley to the Pacific Coast are 

 gone, except the treeless pla : ns, the sage-brush deserts and 

 the rugged mountains. 



Land values in the humid states have increased so enorm- 

 ously that the man of small means finds it yearly more and 

 more difficult to secure a foothold. The question of finding 

 homes for our people is not one of the future it is a para- 

 mount question to-day. 



The true solution and in fact the only solution of this 

 important problem, which has become both political and 

 social in its aspects, is contained in the theory of small farms 

 and intensive agriculture by means of irrigation. By turn- 

 ing the large places into little tracts, homes are made for 

 many more tillers of the soil. By increasing production 

 through better farming we meet the demand for larger 

 exports. By placing agriculture on a more attractive and 

 profitable basis we arouse the interest . of young people 

 and hold them in the country. Surely such results art 

 worthy the best efforts of the farming class and the en- 

 couragement of all other classes. 



A man of the name of James H. Dona- 

 A System hoo has been telling the people that the 



of Underflow gre;it valley of the Arkansas may be irri- 

 Irrigation gated by water from the underflow of 



Without Pumps, the river by means of artesian water 

 without the use of pumps. 



Mr. Donahoo is a former resident of Sidney, Neb., 

 and is said to be the originator and pantentee of a sys- 

 tem of underflow irrigation which will revolutionize 

 things. 



His idea is apparently a simple one, although we have 

 never learned of it being nut to practical use. He states 

 the well known fact that under the sands of the Arkansas 

 Valley is a great flow of water. First a strata of seepage 

 water is found, then below that is found the real under- 

 flow which extends down to the hard-pan. This under- 

 flow seeks its own level not far from the surface and, as 

 all well drillers know, if a well is sunk a few feet in the 

 sand, the water penetrates the perforated casing and will 

 rise to the level of the surface of the underflow. 



Mr. Donahoo's plan is to put down a row of pipes, 

 about 40 feet deep and only a few inches apart. These 

 pipes are to be cut off and connect with lateral tilings 

 The underflow entering- the pipes through perforations 

 will seek its level and run up into the tile which will 

 carry it into a ditch without pumping being necessary. 

 "I can lift every foot of water in the underflow to the sur- 

 face by artesian force of its own," declared Mr. Donahoo. 

 "And the only cost is the first cost of installation. I am 

 now putting down two test holes near Garden City for 

 demonstrating purposes and the water will be furnished to 



an irrigation canal south of that city within a short time." 

 If Mr. Donahoo is correct in his conclusion, and we 

 have no reason to doubt him, he will revolutionize the 

 work of irrigation through the underflow and we await 

 the result with interest. It is doubtful, however, if any 

 system such as suggested by him will change or materially 

 affect the present method of lifting by pumps so that man- 

 ufacturers of that class of goods may have no fear of im- 

 mediate competition by natural forces. 



For the benefit of our readers who are 

 List of desirous of obtaining information con- 



Reclamation cerning the various reclamation projects 



Officers and throughout the West, it has been de- 



Organizations cided to publish regularly hereafter in 

 these columns a list of the officials of 

 Reclamation Organizations, including the general officers 

 at Washington, those of the southern division, which 

 takes in Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Utah and Cali- 

 fornia; the Pacific division, which embraces Colorado, 

 Oregon and Nevada; the northern division, embracing 

 Montana, North Dakota and Wyoming; the central di- 

 vision, which includes Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, South 

 Dakota and Nebraska; also the Idaho and Washington 

 divisions. 



The publication of this list will enable readers 

 throughout the country to locate the individual with whom 

 they should communicate in seeking information concern- 

 ing any specific project. It may be well to state to those 

 who are desirous of obtaining general information that 

 it will be better to communicate with the statistician of 

 the general office in Washington, D. C, whose name is 

 given in the list, or direct inquiries to Arthur P. Davis, 

 chief engineer, Washington, D. C. 



The AGE is in receipt of numerous inquiries from var- 

 ious sections of the country concerning the information 

 given in this list and we trust that our readers may find 

 its regular publication of value. This list will appear in 

 our April issue. 



Many articles have been written relative 

 Caution to selecting a location in the west, and 



Necessary concerning this subject nothing more force- 



In Selecting fully put than the suggestion by Mr. G. 



A Property. M. Allen, Deputy Commissioner of ;he 



Bureau of Statistics and Immigrat'on of 

 the State of Washington, who says : "It is not safe under 

 any circumstances, to buy land without first having seen it, 

 or, in any event, without having a report from some person 

 of good judgment and established reliability. Inferior tracts 

 may be found in the best districts, and the only way to make 

 sure of avoiding such locations is to secure first-hand in- 

 formation before purchasing. 



The AGE agrees with the above statement, in fact is 

 familiar with many cases where lands were purchased from 

 agents in the East when after a few years the purchaser 

 would make a personal investigation and find that base 

 misrepresentation was practised. Mr. Allen further states : 

 "There are a number of companies developing fruit lands 

 in the state that undertake to plant the tracts they sell and 

 care for same until the bearing period is reached. Where 

 the responsibility of the company is fully established and 

 the land is known to be adapted to the purpose, this plan 

 of securing land may be profitably followed, the chief 

 advantage lies in the fact that the purchaser may continue 

 at his customary vocation during the period his land is non- 

 productive. 



