28 BULLETIN 652, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



boom was too short to allow the material to be placed far enough back to be 

 stable. Later the canals were all reexcavated with an orange-peel bucket 

 dredge with vertical spuds, a 73-foot boom, and a hull only 24 feet wide. This 

 allowed the maximum width of berm along the sides of the canal. This dredge 

 went over portions of these canals as many as four times, for in spite of the 

 long boom and wide berm the sides of the canals caved. The final cleaning out 

 was done by a skid excavator mounted on the spoil bank of the canal. This 

 excavator swung a one-third yard orange-peel bucket on a boom 40 feet long 

 and was driven by a 15-horsepower internal-combustion engine. While this 

 machine was working the water could be held at the bottom of the canal, and 

 the soft mud which could not be picked up by the floating dredge was then 

 solid enough to be taken out. The banks were sloped off by hand where they 

 were not secure and the material allowed to fall into the canal to be picked 

 up by the excavator. The first cost of this excavator was not nearly so much 

 as that of a floating dredge suitable for doing the same work, and the exca- 

 vator could do the clean-out work much more effectively. The unit price for 

 this work was not greatly in excess of the cost of work done by the floating 

 dredge, considering that it was of much smaller capacity. With the exception 

 of the hydraulic dredge, the dry-land excavator is about the only practicable 

 machine for such work. 



The numerous reservoir canals on this tract give all parts of the land com- 

 plete drainage. Their unusual depth, coupled with the fact that the water is 

 held about 6 to 7 feet below the surface, gives the land a greater depth of 

 drainage than on any other project examined, Although much care was used 

 in lowering the water in these canals, slides and caving of the canal banks were 

 not avoided entirely. 



Ditches. 



The spacing of ditches, averaging about 1,320 feet, was made to fit the sub- 

 division of the land into 5-acre lots. The average depth of the ditches is 

 nearly 5 feet, the top width about 4 feet, and the bottom 1 foot. The ditches 

 are kept in very good condition, and it .has been found that vegetation does 

 not grow so readily in the bottom of a deep, narrow ditch as in a broader one 

 not so deep. The water level is nearly always low enough in the large canals 

 to keep the bottoms of the ditches free from water. The average length of the 

 ditches is \ mile, which is about the proper length. 



Prior to 1913 only a small portion of the district had been ditched. By the 

 end of 1913 about 2,000 acres toward the eastern end had been ditched, and by 

 the end of 1914 the ditched area had been increased to 5,400 acres. Ditching 

 operations were continued during 1915, and by the latter part of 1916 the area 

 was completely ditched. A large share of these ditches were cut by a wheel 

 excavator supported on apron tractors, which cut a ditch about 4 feet wide 

 at the top, 4 feet deep, and IS inches wide at the bottom. The remaining 

 ditches were cut by hand, and all were deepened by hand. The soft material 

 which collected in the bottoms of the ditches soon after they were cut was taken 

 out by hand also. After the soil became well-drained it solidified considerably, 

 so that at present the ditches appear to have firm sides. However, they require 

 cleaning at least once a year. 



Pumping Plants. 



There are two pumping plants on this district. The first was installed at the 

 eastern end in the latter part of 190S. It consists of a 48-inch, cast-iron, double- 

 suet ion. horizontal, centrifugal pump direct connected to a 16 by 36 inch 

 Corliss engine, to which steam is furnished by a water-tube boiler. Coal is 



