18 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



after backsetting. The surface of the land is gently 

 rolling, draining well, and the soil lends itself readily to 

 irrigation. 



Dairying and stock raising are carried on extensively 

 by the farmers on the project, at a profit. The local con- 

 sumption of Conrad and Valier, both thriving towns on 

 the project, can hardly be met for butter, eggs, meats, etc., 

 and considerable produce is also shipped to Great Falls. 

 Valier has grown very rapidly since the establishment of 

 the project, as has Conrad, on the eastern boundary of the 

 tract, and connected by the Montana Western railroad 

 with Valier. The Great Northern traverses the eastern 

 and northern sections of the project, and Williams and 

 Manson are new towns recently established and on the 

 Montana Western railway. 



The Sun River Irrigation Project 



The irrigation plan for the Sun river project provides 

 for the storage of water in the Warm Springs reservoir, 

 of the north fork of the Sun river in the Willow Creek 

 reservoir on Willow creek in Pishkun reservoir north of 

 Sun river and in Benton Lake reservoir, near Great Falls. 

 There are 13 reservoirs in all and it is estimated that 

 276,000 acres will be reclaimed in all. 



The first portion of the project, viz.: The Fort Shaw 

 unit, is completed and nearly all the irrigable land has 

 been appropriated under this unit, although there are a 

 few 40 and 80 tracts left. The charge per acre is $30.00. 

 including water-rights, payable in ten annual installments, 

 without interest. The annual operation and maintenance 

 charge is fifty cents per irrigable acre. 



The new line of the Great Northern to Augusta fur- 

 nishes transportation for this fertile and productive region 

 and practically all crops, as well as small fruits, do well. 

 Three cuttings of alfalfa per season is reported and yields 

 about five tons to the acre. 



The Fort Shaw unit consists of about 16,000 acres, and 

 the Reclamation Service are working another unit at the 

 present time, to be completed soon. As only about 9.5 

 per cent of the entire project is completed there will be 

 available homes for thousands of farmers to secure fertile 

 land when water is furnished the balance of the proposed 

 project. 



The Flathead Irrigation Project 



The Flathead project has for its plan the irrigation of 

 about 150,000 acres, in various parts of the former Flathead 

 Indian Reservation, which was opened to white settlement 

 in 1909. 



The water is to be taken by simple diversion works 

 from several rivers and creeks, having their source in the 

 Mission Mountains near by. The stream flow is to be con- 

 served by storage in twelve reservoirs, and is supple- 

 mented by pumping from the Flathead river by water 

 power. 



Irrigable tracts in Jocko and Mission valleys and near 

 Poison have been selected for the first development, and 

 the system is sufficiently advanced and is supplying water 

 at present for several thousand acres. 



All the cereals usually yield a big crop without irriga- 

 tion, as the land is very fertile without being artificially 

 watered, when properly farmed, but with irrigation, the 

 crop will not only be a sure one but the yields increased. 

 Alfalfa is becoming one of the principal crops; also vege- 

 tables, small fruits, etc., do exceptionally well. 



The irrigated area in the Flathead project is lands which 

 have been allotted to the Indians, and land filed on by 

 those successful in receiving a lucky number when the 

 reservation was opened. These farmers are not able to 

 care for a large tract when irrigated, therefore they are 

 disposing of a potion of their holdings at reasonable 

 prices, and there are numerous opportunities for secur- 

 ing fertile irrigated farms in an ideal section for general 

 farming. 



The Fort Peck Irrigation Project 



The Fort Peck project has for its purpose the irriga- 

 tion of about 132,000 acres in the Fort Peck Reservation, 

 as follows: 8,000 acres in the vicinity of Milk River sta- 

 tion, with water supply from Big Porcupine creek con- 

 served by storage; 2,000 acres in the vicinity of Frazier, 

 with water supply from Little Porcupine creek by storage: 

 20,000 acres in the vicinity of Poplar and extending along 

 the Poplar river 35 miles, with water supply from that 

 river conserved by storage; 15,000 acres lying along the 

 west side of Big Muddy creek, with water supply from that 



creek conserved by storage at the mouth of Wolf creek; 

 50,000 acres of clear bench lands and approximately 25,000 

 a.cres of brush and timber land extending along the Mis- 

 souri river with water supply from that river by a gravity 

 canal. Two tracts of 6,000 acres each, adjacent to and 

 above the gravity canal that can be irrigated by pumping 

 from the Fort Peck canal with lifts of from 12 to 20 feet. 



In July, 1908, investigations and surveys were begun 

 by the government and in September, 1909, construction 

 on the Little Porcupine unit was commenced, which is 

 about 90 per cent completed at present. 



The Poplar river unit is about 8.5 per cent completed 

 and the entire project 5.1 per cent completed. 



THE VIKING ROTARY PUMP 



The accompanying illustration shows the principles of 

 an interesting rotary pump manufactured by the Viking 

 Pump Company of Cedar Falls, Iowa, which has recently 

 been tested at the Engineering Experiment Station of the 

 Iowa State College and is described in the Iowa Engineer. 

 As will be seen in the illustration, the pump has but two 

 moving parts, an outside annular gear, and an inside spur 

 gear. The large gear has a shaft at the back which extends 



Viking Rotary Pump 



through the pump casing and carries the driving pulley. 

 The spur gear is mounted on a stud extending from the 

 opposite side of casing, which also has a crescent shaped 

 projection on one side, dividing the space between the two 

 gears as shown. Either pipe may be used for the intake, 

 depending upon the direction of rotation. The action of 

 the pump is evident. After the water enters the punn>, 

 it is carried around in the pockets formed by the teeth 

 in the large gear and the teeth of the spur gear and the 

 crescent shaped projection. When the gears come into 

 mesh on the opposite side, all water is forced into the 

 outlet port. 



Tests have been made with heads varying from 30 to 150 

 feet of water and at speeds from 200 to 450 R. P. M. 

 At 215 R. P. M. the efficiency was 48.6 per cent. At 400 

 R. P. M. the efficiency was 76.3 per cent. The average 

 efficiency of all tests was 64.8 per cent, the average speed 

 being 360 R. P. M. At the higher velocities, the average 

 efficiency was practically 70 per cent. The comparatively 

 positive action of the pump is shown by the discharge per 

 revolution. At the lowest efficiency this discharge was 

 0.209 gallon, and at the highest 0.235 gallon, which shows 

 that even at the lowest efficiency the leakage was slight. 

 The volume of water discharged per revolution, if there 

 was no leakage, would be 0.259 gallon. 



The advantage of the pump is that it requires no 

 packing, it is said to have a positive force that can put 

 water to a greater height than any other rotary or cen- 

 trifugal single pump with less power. The speed being 

 slow, there is less wear and each gear carries its own 

 weight. Advt. 



