irrigation in California. 287 



about a mile a day, that is to say, when water is used in irriga- 

 ting the upper portion of the delta, or of Kern island, as it is 

 called, the wells commence to rise a mile away in twenty-four 

 hours, and five miles away in perhaps five days. 



In the southern portion of the State, in San Bernardino county, 

 at Riverside, we find no such effect at all. There it was 70 to 90 

 feet to soil water before irrigation and it is, as a general rule, 

 70 to 90 feet still. Water applied on the surface in some places 

 has never even wet the soil all the way down, and wells dug there, 

 after irrigation had been practiced for years, have pierced dry 

 ground for 25 or 30 feet before getting down to where soil waters 

 have wetted it from below. The consequences of these phenom- 

 ena are twofold. In the first place, in the country that fills up 

 with water, the duty of water — the quantity of land which a 

 given amount of water will irrigate — has increased. Starting 

 with a duty of not more than 25 acres to a cubic foot of water 

 per second, we now find that, in some localities, this amount 

 irrigates from 100 to 160 acres ; and that some lands no longer 

 require irrigating. In the southern portion of the State, how- 

 ever, the cubic foot of water irrigates no more than at first, 

 and it is scarcely possible that it will ever irrigate much more. 

 The saving, as irrigation goes on in the far southern portion of 

 the State, will be effected chiefly through the better construc- 

 tion of canals and irrigation works of delivery and distribution. 

 In Tulare valley, the duty of water will increase as the ground 

 fills up. 



In Fresno, a county which was regarded as phenomenally 

 healthy, malarial fevers now are found, while in San Bernar- 

 dino, at Riverside, such a thing is rarely known. Coming to 

 Bakersfield, a region which before irrigation commenced was 

 famed for its malarial fevers — known as unhealthful throvighout 

 all the State — where soil water was originally within 15 feet of the 

 surface, irrigation has almost entirely rid it of the malarial effects. 

 Chills and fever are rare now, where before irrigation they were 

 prevalent. What is the reason that where chills and fever pre- 

 vailed, irrigation has made a healthful country, while where chills 

 and fevers were not known, irrigation has made it unhealthful ? 

 I account for it in this way : in the Kern river country before 

 irrigation was extensively inti'oduced, there were many old 

 abandoned river channels and sloughs, overgrown with swamp 

 vegetation and overhung by dense masses of rank-growing foliage. 



