THE IKKIGATION AGE. 



117 



CHEAP OIL MAKES DEEP PUMPING PROFITABLE 



BY JULIUS BEEMAN 



THIS is not intended as a technical treatise upon 

 the oil engine, nor upon irrigation in Cali- 

 fornia, but a plain matter-of-fact citation of present 

 conditions and future prospects for the benefit of 

 anyone contemplating coming to California in the 

 future or al- 

 ready located in 

 the Southwest 

 and not as yet 

 operating a de- 

 veloped p r o p- 

 erty. 



Probably no 

 state in the 

 Union has been 

 so favored by 

 Nature in cli- 

 mate and natural 

 resources as 

 California, and 

 at this writing 

 there has been 

 com paratively 

 little develop- 

 ment of these 

 resources in pro- 

 portion to the 

 total, but the 

 immediate future 



forecasts a great influx from the East as well as 

 from foreign countries. 



While it is true that everything favors the set- 

 tler in this state, it is not a fact that one without 



A California Reservoir That Never Gets Empty and the Prosperous Looking Family of 

 Farmers, Who Own the Pumping Plant and Reservoir. 



ture. As a consequence it is only within the three 

 or four years last past that there has developed 

 inquiry as to how water could be delivered against 

 a greater head for little enough cost to permit of 

 competing with those more fortunately situated. 



At the pres- 

 ent time, and in 

 the future, the 

 real success will 

 come to those 

 able to work out 

 their problems 

 upon a strictly 

 business basis. 

 The man able' to 

 grasp the situa- 

 tion and work 

 out the econo- 

 mies that may 

 now be utilized 

 through the im- 

 proved efficien- 

 cies of equip- 

 ment, the use of 

 extremely cheap 

 fuel oil, and the 

 raising of crops 

 that yield im- 



mediate return 

 while a portion of the land is given over to orchards 

 and vineyards requiring a term of years to mature. 

 Probably the crop that will appeal to the ma- 

 jority will be alfalfa, because this is one California 



funds may make headway much better in California crop that offers not only quick but continuous re- 



than elsewhere, it being just as essential that 

 enough money be available here to start opera- 

 tions, check up and pre- 

 pare land and install 

 pumping equipment, as 

 in any other state where 

 government or cheap 

 acreage may be had, 

 there being, however, 

 the advantage of an al- 

 most perpetual season, 

 a ready market for all 

 products of the soil, and 

 climatic and soil condi- 

 tions that are not 

 equalled elsewhere, 

 cheaper fuel and less 

 necessity for expensive 

 buildings, the winter 

 temperature being mild 

 enough to permit of 



using tents if necessary to house the settler until 

 more comfortable quarters may be provided. 



turns, and the roots of matured alfalfa make about 

 the best fertilizing medium known, and will add 



from twenty to forty 

 dollars to the value of 

 every acre of soil, when 

 other crops are planted, 

 basing this estimate 

 upon the prevailing cost 

 of fertilizer. There seems 

 to be quite a general 

 idea that this crop re- 

 quires so much water 

 that it may only be suc- 

 cessfully grown where 

 an abundant supply is 

 close to the surface, and 

 one object of this article 

 is to disprove this idea 



Used With Mr. Beeman's an( j ghow the possib ili_ 



ties under present con- 

 ditions. 



It must be considered, in the first place, that 

 most of the land now under cultivation was chosen 



A Xew Mexico Gusher. .. 



Article Are From Photographs Made for the Bessemer Gas Engine Co., 

 Grove City, Pa. 



Up tp the very recent past there has been land on account of the closeness of the water to the sur- 



available where the water was close to the surface face of the ground, that soil conditions, slope, 



and plentiful, the first newcomers in any field drainage and other vital factors were not consid- 



choosing the location involving the least expendi- ered of moment when this land was chosen;, also 



