igi I 



BETTER FRUIT 



Page 45 



involve, initially, a natural lake, at an 

 altitude considerably above that of the 

 lands to be irrigated or a river whose 

 flow is dependable, and whose fall and 

 that of t-he land is sufficient to permit of 

 the conveyance of the diverted water 

 through canals, by gravity, over the 

 entire contemplated area, together with 

 natural reservoir sites, for the storage of 

 water to supplement the river's flow in 

 times of unusual drouth, and as a safe- 

 guard against any contingency which 

 might arise. The diversion from the 

 river may be accomplished by means of 

 dams, those of more recent construction 

 being of rock and concrete, raising the 

 river to a proper height, and provided 

 with numerous gates for the proper regu- 

 lation of the flow. The main canals, to 

 be of permanency, are constructed of 

 rock, earth and concrete, leading off from 

 the main canals to the ditches, which 

 carry the supply to the individual farms, 

 upon which the flow is regulated by 

 means of frequent headgates, permitting 

 thereby the water to course through the 

 furrows made by the farmer according to 

 his needs, or enabling him to irrigate his 

 land by flooding it. The process of irri- 

 gation by no means contemplates a con- 

 tinuous flow of water, but involves a 

 thorough moistening of the soil, perhaps 

 but three or four times during the grow- 

 ing season, according to the character of 

 the crops, and then requiring the water 

 to be 'turned on,' but for twelve or 

 twenty-four hours at a time.' 



"The proper application of the irriga- 

 tion thus lucidly described can turn 

 desert soil into fertile fields or orchards 

 worth several hundred dollars, occasion- 

 ally more than a thousand dollars per 

 acre. The following table, compiled from 

 the detailed records of the United States 

 Reclamation Service, shows where the 

 principal projects are located and a con- 

 servatively estimated value of the land 

 per acre when brought under irrigation; 

 it should be explained that in almost 

 every instance this land would be worth- 

 less if left devoid of an artificial water 

 supply: 



State and Project Value per Acre 



Arizona — Salt River $100 to $750 



Arizona-California — Yuma 100 to 500 



California — Orland 100 to 250 



Colorado — Grand Valley 100 to 250 



Colorado — Uncompahgre Valley 75 to 500 



Idaho — Minidoka 40 to 100 



Idaho — Payette-Boise 100 to 500 



Kansas — Garden City 100 



Montana — Huntley 100 to 250 



Montana — Milk River 75 



Montana — Sun River 75 



Montana-N. Dak. — Lower Yellowstone. 75 



Nebraska-Wyoming — North Platte .... 150 to 250 



Nevada — Truckee-Carson 100 



New Mexico — Carlsbad 100 to 500 



New Mexico — Hondo 75 to 500 



New Mexico-Texas — Rio Grande 75 to 300 



North Dakota — Pumping 50 to 150 



Oregon — Umatilla 100 to 200 



Oregon-California — Klamath 100 to 200 



South Dakota — Belle Fourche 75 to 150 



Utah — Strawberry Valley 50 to 250 



Washington — Okanogan 700 to 1500 



Washington — Yakima 500 to 2500 



Wyoming — Shoshone 150 



"The present administration is scarcely 

 less enthusiastic than its predecessor in 

 carrying on the great work of reclaiming 

 parched, useless territory and fitting it to 

 draw thousands of city dwellers from 

 their overcrowed, unhealthy haunts to 

 the bracing virile mountains and plains, 

 thus helping to solve one of the gravest 



social problems of the day. The govern- 

 ment's projects now on hand are com- 

 puted to cost a total of $119,550,000, of 

 which .$47,948,046 had been spent to 

 November 1 last; 3,037,961 acres are to 

 be irrigated, 732,275 having already been 

 completed, while the estimated value of 

 the land when irrigated is put at ,$239,- 

 435,600, as is shown in the statistical 

 summary (obtained from the Department 

 of the Interior) accompanying this article. 

 In connection with this work there had 

 been built up to June 30 last — and the 

 figures have been subsequently increased 

 since — 417 miles of roads, 4,215 miles of 

 canals, 90,388 feet of tunnels, 353,404 

 linear feet of dykes and levees, 975 

 bridges of a total length of 35,668 feet 

 and 1,127 miles of telephone lines, while 



59,431,463 cubic yards had been exca- 

 vated, 915,751 barrels of cement utilized 

 and 765,487 yards of concrete used. 



"President Taft, in speaking of this 

 work and the financial aspect of it, said; 

 'No one can visit the Western country 

 without being overwhelmingly convinced 

 of the urgent necessity for the proper 

 treatment of arid and semi-arid lands by 

 the extension system of irrigation. The 

 results in the productivity of the soil 

 when irrigated are marvelous. The 

 mere fact that the reclamation service 

 has gone ahead too fast ought not to pre- 

 vent Congress from lending its aid to 

 overcome the difficulty. We shall know 

 better in the future use of the $50,000,000 

 how to avoid putting ourselves in a sim- 

 ilar position again." 



SUMMARY OF NET COST, IRRIGABLE AREA, AND VALUE OF LAND WliEN IRRIGATED 

 OF THE VARIOUS GOVERNMENT RECLAMATION PROJECTS 



Irrigable area of land 



Net cost to 



State and Project Oct. 31, iQog 



Arizona—Salt River $7,613,219 



Arizona-California — Yuma 



California — Orland 



Colorado — Grand Valley . 

 Colorado — Uncompahgre 



in project 

 Total acre- Acreage Acreage 

 now under charge for 



3,497,686 

 227,728 

 59,794 

 3,783,917 



Idaho — Minidoka 2,574,493 



Idaho — Payette-Boise 2.576,199 



Kansas — Garden City 375,059 



Montana — Huntley 905,558 



Montana — Sun River 538,223 



Montana — Milk River 329,903 



Montana-N'th Dakota — Lower Yellowstone 2,753,753 



Nebraska-Wyoming — North Platte 4,236,092 



Nebraska-Wyoming — Goshen Hole 



Nevada — Truckee-Carson 4,004,210 



New Mexico — Carlsbad 



New Mexico — Hondo 



New Mexico — Leasburg 



New Mexico-Texas — Rio Grande 



North Dakota — N. D. Pumping 



Oregon — Umatilla 1,138,425 



Oregon-California — Klamath 1,781,987 



South Dakota — Belle Fourche 2,165,950 



Utah — Strawberry Valley 



Washington — Okanogan 



Washington — Yakima (Sunnyside unit) 

 Washington — Yakima (Tieton unit).... 

 Washington — Yakima (Wapato unit)... 

 Wyoming — Shoshone 3,144,424 



678,368 

 343,117 

 188,326 

 226,115 

 791.115 



794,598 

 518,839 



701,957 



age to be 

 irrigated 

 240,000 

 90,100 

 14,000 

 53,000 

 140,000 

 133,031 

 348,000 

 10,677 

 38,931 

 276,000 

 215,000 

 64,621 

 124,000 

 100,000 



200,000 



20,073 

 10,000 

 20,000 

 180,000 

 23,171 

 20,440 

 173,000 

 101,967 

 60,000 

 10,000 

 f 100,000 ] 

 ■i 36,000 1- 

 L 116,000 J 

 131,900 



irrigation 

 131,000 

 7,000 



20,000 

 83,018 

 60,000 

 10,661 

 28,921 

 14,811 



43,348 

 68,960 



81,361 



20.073 

 2,000 

 30,000 



'12,697 

 11,215 

 30.829 

 13,033 



' 3',i33 



17,701 



voter right 

 (*) 

 (*) 

 (*) 

 (*) 

 (*) 

 $22.00 

 30.00 

 37.50 

 30.00 

 30.00 

 (*) 

 42.50 

 35.45 

 (*) 

 r 32.00] 

 ■i 30.00 } 

 [35.00 J 

 31.00 

 (*) 

 (*) 

 (*) 

 38.00 

 60.00 

 30.00 

 30.00 

 (*) 

 65.00 



53.00 



45.46 



Totals. December 8. 1909 $47,948,046 3.037,961 



(*) Charges not yet fixed by the Secretary of the Interior. 



Estimated 

 value of 

 land when 

 irrigated 

 $16,400,000 

 9,000,000 

 1,400,000 

 5,300,000 

 14,000,000 

 7,000,000 

 15,800,000 

 1,000,000 

 2,169,075 

 16,115,000 

 21,000,000 

 4,846,650 

 12,400,000 

 10,000,000 



20,000,000 



1,505,475 

 750,000 



15,500,000 

 1,158,550 

 3,000,000 

 8,600,000 

 5,098,350 

 6,000,000 

 1,000,000 



31,500,000 



9,893,500 



$239,435,600 



HOW TO IRRIGATE BY THE PUMPING SYSTEM 



BY R.A.JONES, SPOKANE, WASHINGTON 



IT SEEMS strange that a fruit grower 

 should undertake to write a paper 

 on an engineering subject. In expla- 

 nation of this I will say that previous to 

 my engagement in fruit growing I fol- 

 lowed the profession of a civil engineer 

 and was mostly engaged in hydraulic and 

 steam work, therefore I venture to write 

 on this subject. 



It is difficult to write an article on the 

 subject that can be read and discussed 

 within the short space of time allotted 

 to each paper and do justice to it. 



There is no one particular kind of 

 pump or power that can be considered 

 as best for all cases. For low and 

 medium high lifts the centrifugal st3'le 

 of pump is probably the best. A com- 

 paratively new style called the turbine 

 pump is better adapted to high lifts than 

 the centrifugal and for extremely high 

 lifts the piston or plunger pattern gives 

 the highest efficiency. In general I 

 would not advise the use of the centrifu- 

 gal pumps for heads greater than 150 

 feet, and 100 feet would probably be a 

 better limit. The centrifugal pumps 

 have in their favor low first cost, very 

 little or no repair expenses, very simple 



and not liable to get out of order. In 

 fact they are so simple that it scarcely 

 requires any brains to keep them in 

 order. The greatest objection to them 

 is the low efficiency which can be 

 obtained. This will vary according to 

 the height to which water is raised, and 

 range from forty to seventy per cent. 

 The greater the height the less the 

 efficiency. 



Of the piston or plunger type of 

 pumps the outside center packed plunger 

 pattern is the best, but they are also the 

 most expensive, but can be depended 

 upon to give the highest efficiency, gen- 

 erally about ninety per cent. Direct 

 acting or duplex steam pumps are simple 

 and low in first cost, but very wasteful 

 in the use of steam. 



First, and the best motive power for 

 pumps, water power 

 wheels. 



Second, electricity 

 obtained. But in general it will 

 essary to use some other power. 



Third, an automatic engine 

 compound condensing or triple expan- 

 sion type. But the great objection to 

 this kind of power is the first cost of 



by turbine water 



where it 



can be 

 be nec- 



of the 



