60 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



Ex-Governor W. J. Fitzgerald, of Kansas, is having 

 a survey made on his ranch near Dodge City, for the pur- 

 pose of establishing an irrigation plant, or plants, if the 

 surveyor considers two plants a better investment. The 

 Fitzgerald ranches already yield fine alfalfa, but increased 

 tonnage is the thing sought by the owner and for that 

 reason, the plants are to be installed. 



at cost of $150,000; will make available for cultivation 

 6,000 additional acres. 



Sam A. Johnson, of New York City, who has a lot 

 of land in Ford county, Kansas, north of Bucklin, in the 

 river valley, was in Hutchinson recently getting some 

 pointers regarding irrigating from the underflow. 



"We have a lot of alfalfa, and believe that by irri- 

 gating it will increase the yield," said Mr. Johnson. "I 

 have been interested in what is being done in this part of 

 the valley. We will install some such plant." 



Pumping waters from wells 52 feet deep, Dennis 

 Doty, of Finney county, Kansas, irrigated his seventy- 

 acre alfalfa tract from the underflow this year, and sold 

 $4,000 worth of alfalfa, with another crop about ready 

 to cut. 



Mr. Doty cut four crops of alfalfa from his tract, 

 each making more than a ton to the acre. 



He has twelve wells 52 feet deep and the water stands 

 within twelve feet of the surface. They are large wells 

 and cost about $2 a foot. The pump is driven by a 60 

 horse power tractor engine. With this plant he is able 

 to cover an acre of land with four inches of water every 

 hour. 



H. E. Murdock, Government Engineer at Garden City, 

 Kansas, who is conducting investigations into irrigation 

 by pumping from the underflow of the Arkansas valley, 

 says great progress is being made from Hutchinson to 

 Coolidge. 



"There is a great development of irrigation in the 

 Arkansas valley in Finney and Kearny counties," said Mr. 

 Murdock. "The sugar company is irrigating about 3,000 

 acres. Besides this there are 55 individual pumping plants 

 operating supplying water to 6,000 acres more. 



"In the bottom land the depth to water is from 10 

 to 20 feet, but wells in the upland go down 300 to 400 feet. 

 Cheap fuel makes it possible to pump from these deep 

 wells profitably. 



"Take an average lift of 125 feet," said Mr. Murdock, 

 "and the cost of the plant per acre served is $39. The 

 average cost of the plants in the shallow wells is $20 per 

 acre. 



"The cost of irrigation itself, including the pumping 

 cost ranges from $6.25 on the bottom lands to $11.50 per 

 acre on the uplands in the Garden City country." 



The Bowling Green, Kentucky, Times-Journal tells- 

 about irrigation in Warren county during the drouth 

 season. Dr. E. D. Rose, of that county, began experi- 

 menting two years ago with irrigation of the crops on his 

 farm. It was purely an experimental venture with him 

 and he was also placed at a disadvantage by reason of 

 the fact that he was practically ignorant as to what was 

 really required in his new undertaking. He uses a six 

 horse power gasoline engine for pumping water from a 

 creek which runs alongside his land, and wooden sluices 

 are used for distributing the water. He now has twelve 

 acres well irrigated, and on these twelve acres he is cer- 

 tain of a fine crop of anything adapted to the soil. 

 Drouths do not cause crop failure. The greatest expense 

 was in preparing the land for the distribution of water, 

 after which the cost of irrigation and maintenance is but 

 little more than the cost of gasoline to operate the en- 

 gine. 



At a mass meeting of the farmers held at Harlington, 

 Texas, recently, sufficient money was subscribed to defray 

 all the expenses of forming an irrigation district under the 

 new Texas law. It is the intention of the farmers to 

 take over the holdings and plant of the Harlingen Land 

 and Water Company. Considerable work has already 

 been done in its formation. 



Owing to the water level being so near the surface, 

 in San Joaquin county, California, it has been found very 

 cheap to raise the water and use it for irrigation by means 

 of electrically operated pumps. 



As a result of this more than 300 pumping plants 

 driven by electric motors have been installed in the adja- 

 cent territory. 



The Reclamation Service is asking for proposals for 

 earthwork and structures, Vandalia, South Canal, Milk 

 River irrigation project, Montana. The work involves the 

 excavation of about 480,000 cubic yards of material, 2,600 

 cubic yards of reinforced concrete, the placing of 250,000 

 pounds of steel reinforcement, the placing in wooden 

 structures of about 130,000 feet board measure of lumber. 

 The work is situated on the south side of Milk River adja- 

 cent to the main line of the Great Northern Railway in the 

 vicinity of Vandalia, Tampico, and Glascow. The bids 

 will be opened on November 12th, in Malta, Montana. 



The Secretary of the Interior has authorized the 

 Reclamation Service to construct Tunnel No. 3 on the 

 highline canal of the Grand Valley Irrigation Project, 

 Colorado. Tunnel No. 1 is practically completed and the 

 force and equipment will be transferred to Tunnel No. 3. 

 This tunnel will be 7,280 feet in length, 11 feet, 6 inches 

 wide, and 11 feet high. An allotment of $445,000 has been 

 made for the work. 



From recent investigations in connection with the 

 Minidoka irrigation project in Idaho it has been ascer- 

 tained that certain lands that were temporarily with- 

 drawn from all forms of disposition no longer appear 

 necessary to the interests of the project. The Secretary 

 of the Interior, therefore, has restored about 29,300 acres 

 to the public domain to be subject to settlement and 

 entry at such time as may be fixed by the Commissoner 

 of the General Land Office. The lands lie between 43 and 

 47 N., ranges 113 and 117 W., sixth principal meridian, 

 Wyoming. The lands were withdrawn in connection 

 with storage works on the headwaters of the Snake river 

 in Wyoming, and involve no power possibilities. 



The Klamath Basin in Oregon is rapidly coming into 

 its own. No better criterion of growth and progress is 

 needed than the monthly statement of the railroad ship- 

 ments for October. During that month, with the harvest 

 only partly gathered, the outgoing freight was as follows: 



Cattle, 97; sheep, 46; and horses, 3 carloads; wheat, 

 33; barley, 23; oats, 4; potatoes, 18, and mixed products, 

 2 cars, a total of 226 cars. Prevailing prices were as fol- 

 lows: Wheat, $1.25 per cwt.; oats, $1.10 per cwt; barley, 

 $1 per cwt.; hay in stack, $8 to $10 per ton; potatoes, 80 

 cents per cwt.; cattle, 5 l /2 and 6 cents, and hogs 7 cents 

 per pound live weight. 



The Klamath Falls creamery produced 14,000 pounds 

 of butter during the month, which was marketed at 38 

 cents per pound. Klamath Falls is preparing to take care 

 of all pork products through its local packing house, and 

 this industry promises to prove very profitable, owing to 

 the extremely favorable climate and freedom from disease. 



The stock raiser will find conditions to his liking in 

 this region with its abundance of water and forage crops. 



Jackson lake dam, built on the headwaters of Snake 

 river in Wyoming, will store 400,000 acre feet of water 

 primarily for use on the Minidoka irrigation project in 

 southern Idaho, assuring an ample supply at all times. 

 By an arrangement with the Carey Act project at Twin 

 Falls, water stored in this reservoir is now also used to 

 supplement the original supply of that project. 



Mission Canal Company, Mission, Tex., is having 

 plans prepared to extend and improve irrigation system 



Send $1.00 for 1 year's subscription to the IRRIGA- 

 TION AGE and bound copy of THE PRIMER OF IRRIGA- 

 TION. If you desire a copy of The Primer of Hy- 

 draulics add $2.50 to above price. 



