THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



61 



Should I have attended the Irrigation Congress in 

 December it was my intention to have brought the subject 

 as outlined before the conference for consideration. 



Regarding the "Dry Farming Convention," a promise 

 was made by the Canadian delegates at the recent meeting 

 to the effect that an attempt would be made to reorganize 

 its constitution at the Lethbridge, Alberta, gathering next 

 year. 



Again thanking you for your kindness, with best 

 wishes, Very faithfully yours, 



(Signed) S. Mclntosh. 



IRRIGATION BY PUMPING FROM WELLS 



Editor IRRIGATION AGE : 



The experience in the Garden City, Kan., district 

 now is not unlike that in an oil or gas district in regard 

 to "bringing in" a well. 



Development of the pumping for irrigation industry 

 in the Garden City district has progressed amazingly in 

 the last six months and work will continue during the 

 period of the fall and winter and to a great extent when 

 spring shall come. 



It is likely that no such activity is seen anywhere in 

 the West today. Two large contracting outfits and manu- 

 facturers of special well casings and well equipment are 

 now at work within a radius of 50 miles from Garden City 

 in the Arkansas Valley, close to the Colorado line, and 

 a new well is brought in every few days. These wells 

 vary from 1,000 to 2,500 gallons per minute, depending on 

 the motive power used. The water appears to be inex- 

 haustible. To show what a volume of water this ; .s, a well 

 producing 1.000 gallons per minute will run 60,000 gallons 

 per hour, or practically l l / 2 million gallons per 24-hour 

 period. The average town of 5,000 population will not 

 consume so much water a* that for all of its municipal 

 purposes. 



This apparently inexhaustible supply of water lies 

 from 10 to 100 feet below the surface throughout the 

 Arkansas Valley in Kansas and wells are sunk from 40 to 

 200 feet without the depth or the lift being prohibitive. 

 The water lies in sand or water-bearing gravel and its 

 quality for irrigation purposes of course exceeds very 

 greatly the muddy water with various deposits coming 

 from the river through the ditches. 



A well may cost from $250 to $500 complete, depend- 

 ing on the depth and on the flow or the expensiveness of 

 the motive power finally used. Oil, distillate, gasoline and 

 electricity are used. A well flowing 1,000 gallons 1 per 

 minute will come pretty close to taking care of a quarter 

 section of land. This makes it the cheapest water-right 

 on earth. 



This wholesale bringing in of wells for irrigation is 

 rapidly transferring the Garden City district into an ex- 

 tensive farming area where the principal products are 

 beets, alfalfa, fruit, melons and garden truck. The Garden 

 City district abounds in all these and special attention has 

 been given recently to celery and sweet potatoes. 



R. H. Faxon. 



WANTS INFORMATION ON ALFALFA SEED. 



THE IRRIGATION AGE, 

 Chicago, 111. 



Weiser, Idaho, November 13, 1911. 

 Dear Sir: Can you advise me as to where I can get 

 some literature on "Raising Alfalfa for Seed?" .Or on 

 irrigation in the Northwest? 



Yours very truly, 



R. E. Betzer, 

 Box 634. Weiser, Idaho. 



[There appears in this issue a lengthy article under the 

 headline: Alfalfa Culture in America, which contains 

 much useful and instructive matter in regard to the above 

 subject. There will be another illustrated article on alfalfa 

 in the January issue of our journal. It is a very important 

 subject to our readers and any practical points will be 

 appreciated. EDITOR.] 



THIS SAVES YOU FIFTY CENTS. 

 Remit $3.00 for one year's subscription to THE IRRI- 

 GATION AGE and one copy of the "Primer of Hydraulics," 

 cloth bound. 



NORTH DAKOTA'S IRRIGATION STATISTICS. 



Census Director Durand has issued the first official 

 statement from the Census Bureau relative to the statistics 

 of irrigation in the state of North Dakota. 



it is based on a preliminary comparative summary 

 submitted by Dr. Le Grand Powers, chief statistician of 

 the division of agriculture in the Bureau of the Census, 

 under whose supervision it was prepared by R. P. Teele, 

 special agent in charge of irrigation. This summary shows 

 for both 1909 and 1899 the number of farms irrigated, the 

 acreage irrigated, the number of independent enterprises, 

 the length of main ditches, the total cost of irrigation 

 systems, the average cost per acre irrigated, and the aver- 

 age annual cost of maintenance and operation. It shows 

 also, for the year 1909, the acreage which existing enter- 

 prises are capable of supplying, the acreage included in 

 existing projects, length of lateral ditches, number of 

 pumping plants, engine capacity of pumping plants, and 

 acreage irrigated with pumped water. The acreage irri- 

 gated is classified by the type of enterprise supplying 

 water and by the source of water supply. 



The act of Congress of February 25, 1910, under 

 which the census of irrigation is being taken, provides 

 for collecting full information concerning the location, 

 character, and cost of irrigation enterprises; whether such 

 enterprises are conducted under national, state, or private 

 control; the acreage of land irrigated; the prices at which 

 land with water rights can be obtained; and the quantity 

 of water used for irrigation. 



It should be noted that the figures are subject to re- 

 vision after more complete tabulation, but it is not ex- 

 pected that there will be any material modification of the 

 totals or percentages reported. 



The total number of farms irrigated in 1909 was 69, 

 against 54 in 1889, an increase of 15, or 27.8 per cent. 



The total acreage irrigated in 1909 was 10,248 acres, 

 against 4,872 acres in 1899, an increase of 110.3 per cent. 

 During the same period the improved land in farms in- 

 creased 112.1 per cent, showing that irrigation develop- 

 ment was at about the same rate as agricultural develop- 

 ment generally. The per cent of the improved area irri- 

 gated was 0.05 in both 1899 and 1909, indicating the unim- 

 portant place which irrigation occupies in the agriculture 

 of the state. 



The total area which all enterprises were capable of 

 supplying with water in 1910 was 20,687 acres, an excess 

 of 10,439 acres over the area irrigated in 1909. The total 

 area reported as included in projects in 1910 was 36,943 

 acres, an excess of 26,695 acres over the area irrigated in 

 1909. This indicates in a genera! way the area of irrigated 

 land which will be available for settlement within the next 

 few years. 



In 1910 the number of independent enterprises was 

 49; the total length of ditches was 123 miles; and there 

 were 22 reservoirs, having a capacity of 132,187 acre-feet. 

 Most of this reservoir capacity, however, is in a natural 

 lake from which only a small volume of water is taken for 

 irrigation. 



The total cost of irrigation systems to July 1, 1910, 

 is reported as $789,533, as against $16,980 in 3899, an in- 

 crease of $772,553 or 4,549.8 per cent. The average cost of 

 irrigation systems per acre to which these systems were 

 ready to supply water in 1910, was $38.17, against a cost 

 of $3.49 in 1899, an increase of $34.68 per acre, or 993.7 

 per cent. 



The average annual cost per acre for maintenance and 

 operation in 1909 was $3.78 per acre. 



Of the acreage irrigated in 1909, 1,610 acres, or 15.7 

 per cent, was supplied by works built by the United States 

 Reclamation Service. The remaining 8,638 acres, or 84.3 

 per cent, was supplied by individual and partnership works. 

 Under the law the works built by the United States Recla- 

 mation Service are to be turned over to the water users 

 for operation and maintenance, and when this takes place 

 all the land irrigated in North Dakota will be served by 

 works controlled by the water users. 



Streams supplied 8.787 acres, or 85.7 per cent of the 

 total acreage irrigated in 1909; springs supplied 300 acres, 

 or 2 per cent; reservoirs supplied 1,260 acres, or 12.3 per 

 cent. 



