58 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



tion of the reclamation project, those 

 values had increased $64,000,000. Go- 

 ing back to the beginning of irriga- 

 tion in that county, you will find that 

 we are taken back, as I understand it, 

 to a time when irrigation was carried 

 on by the Indians, about 1833. The 

 way this date was ascertained is his- 

 torically and psychologically interest- 

 ing. It was found out in the trial of 

 a water suit in the Salt River Valley. 

 A very old Indian was called to tes- 

 tify regarding the early appropriation 

 of water in that valley by the Indians. 

 Their water rights were at stake in 

 that suit. He was asked when they 

 made their first preparation for irri- 

 gation. He knew nothing about 

 "years," but he told the court it was 

 about "three summers before the stars 

 fell," and, as you will recall, along 

 about 1830 they had a great shower 

 of what are called falling stars or 

 some kind of meteoric display in 

 which nature, when on a vacation, 

 sometimes indulges. That appeared 

 to have been the beginning of irriga- 

 tion work in that country. 



Now, from that time up to 1902 the 

 taxable values of the property of that 

 county had only attained the sum of 

 $9,000,000, but since the Reclamation 

 Service has built the Roosevelt Dam 

 and enabled the farmers to raise crops 

 throughout the entire irrigation sea- 

 son, the taxable values of property up 

 to 1915 have increased to about $75,- 

 000,000. 



There is a sample of your govern- 

 ment reclamation work. How long, 

 yes, how long, would it have been be- 

 fore corporate or private capital 

 would have placed a dam in that 

 stream which would have increased 



the taxable values of property in that 

 county one-tenth that much? The 

 people tried it for years; they had 

 the first water right, or rather only 

 a portion of a water right, as was dis- 

 covered afterwards. The government 

 project increased the production of al- 

 falfa from two or three ' crops per 

 year, even in the comparatively small 

 localities, where producers had a prior 

 water right, to six crops, and I have 

 heard it claimed that they now 

 raise crops 13 months out of the 

 year there, but I doubt it. (Laugh- 

 ter.) But anyway they raise six 

 crops of alfalfa a year, and they raise 

 citrus fruit, and they have their 

 orange crops, none of which they 

 would have except on a very limited 

 scale, were it not for the government 

 reclamation work. 



Now, ladies and gentlemen, I be- 

 lieve I have about taken up the time 

 allotted to me for the opening argu- 

 ment. There are many things which 

 I would like to say and I feel that I 

 could take another hour on this, but 

 I am reminded in that regard of when 

 I was on the supreme bench in my 

 good and great State of Oregon. 

 Long-winded talkers would appear 

 before the court occasionally. One, 

 after talking four hours, apologized 

 for not having ample time in which 

 to present his case. As a result, we 

 finally limited the time to one hour 

 on each side. It is a habit among 

 lawyers while arguing a case, occa- 

 sionally to ask: "How much more 

 time have I?" I slipped a note over 

 to the chief justice on one or two 

 occasions when I was on the bench, 

 which read: "Why don't you tell him 



that he does not have to talk the full 

 time unless he wants to?" Well, the 

 chief justice finally did so, but gave 

 me credit for the suggestion, so as to 

 escape the vengeance of the lawyer 

 who was talking. About three weeks 

 later I was, by the good voters of 

 Oregon, forcibly retired from the 

 bench, and resumed the practice of 

 law. (Laughter.) I was called upon 

 at once to argue a case before the 

 supreme court. We had 1 hour to 

 the side, and after I had taken about 

 20 minutes, true to the habit of the 

 bar, I asked, "If your honors please, 

 how much time have I?" "Well," re- 

 sponded Chief Justice Moore, "you 

 have about 40 minutes more, but re- 

 member what you suggested as to 

 others when you sat beside me here, 

 and that is, you don't have to talk the 

 full time unless you want to." 

 (Laughter.) At all times since then I 

 have approached an audience with a 

 painful realization of the fact that it 

 is advisable to quit talking when I 

 am through. (Laughter.) 



I observe that I still have two min- 

 utes of the time allotted to me, but 

 realizing that I do not have to take it 

 all unless I want to do so, I will now 

 take pleasure in closing and will turn 

 this matter over to my distinguished 

 opponent, the able jurist and orator. 

 Judge Carroll B. Graves. (Applause.) 



President Burges: Ladies and gen- 

 tlemen, I am sure that we have been 

 entertained and instructed by the 

 opening argument of Judge King and 

 I now have the honor of presenting 

 to you Judge Carroll B. Graves, of 

 Seattle, Washington, the speaker who 

 will be heard on the other side of 

 this question. (Applause.) 



CONSERVE YOUR WATER BY 



CULTIVATION 

 Experiments in California Show 26 Per Cent of Loss 



by Evaporation May Be Saved 

 The following experiments may be of interest 

 to many Colorado farmers. They were carried on 

 in California and the object of the experiment was 

 to determine as nearly as possible the amount of 

 irrigation waters that could be saved by means of 

 cultivation. The experiments to determine this ef- 

 fect were made so as to approach ordinary field 

 conditions and practice as nearly as possible. An 

 irrigation amounting to six inches in depth of water 

 was applied to the surface of the soil and allowed 

 to soak into the same. It took from six to twenty- 

 four hours to accomplish this, depending upon the 

 character of the soil. From one to four days after 

 the water had been applied, the fields were culti- 

 vated and a second cultivation was given two weeks 

 after the application of the water. The total aver- 

 age evaporation loss in twenty-eight days from 

 uncultivated soil was 2.14 inches, or 35 per cent of 

 the water applied, and it was found that cultivation 

 saved about 26 per cent of this lot. During our 

 dry summers in Colorado, when our irrigation sup- 

 ply is short, this saving of 26 per cent of the evap- 

 oration loss may often turn failure into success for 



that season. It is, therefore, in my judgment, well 

 worth remembering by the average farmer of Colo- 

 rado. E. B. House, Colorado Agricultural College, 

 Fort Collins, Colorado. 



SOME OF THE WORLD'S BIG DAMS 



The largest masonry dam in Europe is in Spain. 

 It is built across the chasm through which the 

 Noguera Pallaresa river flows, and is situated near 

 the town of Tallarn. This dam is a magnificent 

 masonry structure, 330 feet high and 700 feet long, 

 and was designed and built under the direction of 

 American engineers. 



In South Africa we also find another large ma- 

 sonry dam. It is the dam which stores the water 

 for the Hartebeestpoort irrigation system. The 

 work on this dam has been suspended on account 

 of the European war. The dam is near Pretoria. 

 Its maximum height is 199 feet. 



Let us now compare these dams with those 

 found in America, and it is interesting to note that 

 we are continually building larger and larger dams 

 in this country for irrigation and storage purposes. 

 It was only a few years ago when we read of the 

 amazing height of the Shoshone dam, 328 feet high 

 and 200 feet long. A little later the Arrowrock dam 

 came to attract the attention of the public. This is 

 the highest of all American masonry dams, 349 

 feet high and 1,100 feet long. The Elephant Butte 

 dam has just been constructed, 318 feet high and 

 1.674 feet long. All of these dams are of concrete. 



