168 



THE' IRRIGATION AGE. 



The following are a few of the many points that 

 will have to be considered in making rules and regu- 

 lations regarding the delivery of water ; winter 

 water ; waste water ; regulation of turnouts by water 

 users ; fences, flumes, bridges, etc.. across canals ; 

 continuous flow versus rotation ; collection of opera- 

 tion and maintenance charges on the acre feet basis 

 versus acres irrigated. 



It must be kept in mind that the measurement 

 of water to farmers is just as necessary as the weigh- 

 ing of groceries to a customer of a grocery store ; 

 that the only practical way to measure water is by 

 use of wiers and spill boxes, or by gaging stations 

 and the use of current meters. The last method is 

 the only practical one for use on canal and river 

 stations. It is necessary for the operation organiza- 

 tion to know just how much water is available at 

 any time and how much is being used or is required 

 by the various canals. This information is of par- 

 ticular value in making the proper distribution of 

 water during periods when all available water is 

 being used. 



You will find that the demand of the actual 

 water user will be tor better service, which will re- 

 quire careful measurement and accurate records 

 of the amount delivered at all turnouts. 



The principal difficulties which will be en- 

 countered in operating the project are alkali ac- 

 tion on concrete ; sliding banks and sidehills ; gravel 

 and drift in canal ; headgates on river ; flood water 

 in river ; and floods on cross drainage channels ; 

 weeds and brush on canal banks and the general 

 tendency for the capacity to decrease in all canals 

 unless kept thoroughly cleaned. 



The principal benefits derived from taking over 

 the management of the project in accordance with 



the Secretary's letter are deferment of five years of 

 payments on about $7,000,000 which represents to 

 the project farmers a saving at 6% of about $2,367,- 

 400. The present value of a $60 water right on the 

 f>% basis, assuming charges to commence December 

 1, 1917, under the terms of the Reclamation Exten- 

 sion act, for land subscribed before August 3, 1914. 

 is $33.11, that is $33.11 placed at 6% on December 

 1. 1917, would meet all payments. The present 

 value of the same water right, if advantage is taken 

 of the Secretary's letter, is $24.69, or $24.69 placed 

 at 6% interest on December 1, 1917, would meet 

 all construction payments. 



Another advantage is that the Water Users' 

 Association will have more authority over the de- 

 livery of water and will be able to adjust many ques- 

 tions on the project instead of referring them to 

 Denver or Washington for adjustment. 



I would recommend that all who are interested 

 in the operation and maintenance of the project, 

 either as water users or as officials, secure a copy of 

 Xewell's Irrigation Management. Mr. McCrimmon 

 at Montrose will be able to supply a limited number 

 of these books. 



I would also recommend that the association 

 employ an engineer to give them advice as to de- 

 tails of the above suggestions and other matters 

 which may need consideration. 



I wish the Directors to understand that the 

 above has not been written for the purpose of dis- 

 couraging the water users from taking over the 

 project, but to suggest some of the many things 

 they will have to contend with and if they are able 

 to profit in the least with this advice. I will feel 

 amply repaid for the time and effort required to 

 prepare it. 



WESTERN CANADA IRRIGATORS MEET 



Eleventh Annual Convention Held at Maple Creek, Saskatchewan 

 By HERBERT VANDERHOOF 



Maple Creek. Saskatchewan, once famous as a 

 ranching centre, and still retaining much of the at- 

 mosphere of the good old days before the barbed 

 wire era, has just been entertaining the Western 

 Canada Irrigation Association at its Eleventh An- 

 nual Convention. This, by the way, is the first time 

 the Convention has been held in Saskatchewan, and 

 it was particularly appropriate that Maple Creek 

 should have been selected as the point of meeting 

 and that the Honorable W. R. Motherwell, Minister 

 of Agriculture for the Province of Saskatchewan, 

 should have presided over the deliberations. Maple 

 Creek is the centre of Saskatchewan's irrigation en- 

 terprises, which are on a much larger scale than 

 most people, even residents of that Province, ap- 

 preciate. A large number of streams flow down 

 from the Cypress Hills, and back in the '90's the 

 ranchers began diverting the water from those 

 streams for hay and pasture purpose. It is recorded 

 that the first ditches at Maple Creek were dug 

 in 1896, although the first irrigation license was not 

 issued until 1900. About the same time irrigation 

 began to be employed at Bear Creek and Piapot 



Creek. From these beginnings an irrigation district 

 with 190 schemes has been developed. The irriga- 

 tion is employed mainly for pasture and for growing 

 crops of hay and other fodder. Irrigation and dry 

 farming are practised side by side and the crop 

 marketed at Maple Creek in 1916 had a valuation of 

 $2,500,000. 



President Appeals for Production. 

 Honorable W. R. Motherwell, Minister of Agri- 

 culture of Saskatchewan, and President of the As- 

 sociation, although in ill health, attended and pre- 

 sided over the first two days of the convention. 

 While not an irrigator himself, Mr. Motherwell has 

 had many years' experience as a dry farmer, and he 

 remarked that he had discovered that the profession 

 of the irrigator and dry farmer were the same, 

 namely, providing moisture for the crops. Instead 

 of being two distinct professions they were but two 

 branches of the same profession. Mr. Motherwell 

 expressed the opinion that the ideal farm was a farm 

 partly irrigated and partly non-irrigated. On the 

 irrigated section he would raise his pasture crops, 

 hay, clover, alfalfa, root crops, small fruits, trees 





