THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



151 



PRELIMINARY REPORT ON 



KEARNEY VINEYARD EXPERIMENTAL DRAIN 



FRESNO COUNTY, CALIFORNIA 



By WALTER W. WEIR, Senior Drainage Engineer, U. S. Department of Agriculture 



(Based on work done under a co-operative agreement between the Office of Public Roads and Rural Engineering, U. S. Department of Agriculture, and 



the University of California Agricultural Experiment Station.) 



Introduction 



The need for drainage in many of the irrigated 

 sections of the San Joaquin Valley was noted and 



Fig. 1 View showing character of vegetation in 1913. 



reported upon by the* late Dr. E. W. Hilgard 

 early as 1886. In 1902 C. G. Elliott 2 surveyed 

 reported upon the drainage of about twenty- 

 square miles of territory in Fresno 

 County and in a subsequent re- 

 port 3 recommended drainage for 

 the city of Fresno. In 1907 W. W. 

 Mackie 4 reported on experiments 

 in drainage that were carried on 

 by the Bureau of Soils, U. S. De- 

 partment of Agriculture. In 1909 

 Dr. Samuel Fortier and V. M. 

 Cone 5 reported on experimental 

 drainage in the Fresno section 

 and made preliminary recommen- 

 dations for the drainage of about 

 200,000 acres. 



With the idea of making fur- 

 ther experiments on a larger area 

 than had been previously used 

 and of carrying these experiments 

 to a more definite conclusion than 

 those of former cases, the Kear- 

 ney Vineyard experimental drain 

 was installed under the co-opera- 

 tive direction of the University of 

 California Agricultural Experi- 

 ment Station and the Office of Ex- 



1 as 

 and 

 five 



periment Stations, U. S. Department of Agriculture. 

 Although this tract has not yet been brought 

 to an entirely satisfactory state of productiveness, 

 the results have been such as to give 

 indication of the entire success of the 

 project. This preliminary report is in- 

 tended to show only what progress has 

 been made during the first three years. 



Location 



The drained tract, which consists of 

 a quarter section (S.E. J4 sec - 6, T. 14 

 S., R. 19 E. M.D.M.) of the Kearney 

 Vineyard property, lies one mile north- 

 west of Kearney Park and about eight 

 miles west of Fresno, along White's 

 Bridge Road between Fillmore and Mon- 

 roe Avenues. 



History of the Tract 

 About 1890 this tract, which is a 

 part of what was then known : as the 

 Fruit Vale Estate, was brought into 

 productiveness as a vineyard' by Mr. 

 Theodore Kearney. It is said to have 

 been as valuable as any part of the estate 

 during the first years. Later seepage and alkali 

 began to appear and the vineyard deteriorated rap- 

 idly until all but a small portion was removed. The 



1. Reports of California Experiment Station, 

 1886 to 1896. 



2. Circular 50, Office of Experiment Sta- 

 tions, U. S. Department of Agriculture. 



3. Circular 57, Office of E_xperiment Sta- 

 tions, U. S. Department of Agriculture. 



4. Bulletin 42. Bureau of Soils, U. S. De- 

 partment of Agriculture. 



6. Bulletin 217, Office of Experiment Sta- 

 tions, U. S. Department of Agriculture. 



Fig. 2 Sketch showing location of drains and test wells on Kearney 

 Vineyard Experiment Drain. 



