72 Hicks on Irrigation of the Niobrara Valley. 
Niobrara, as well as the broad green meadows above and the 
pretty islands below. A waterfall just below Fort Niobrara is 
worth taking a long journey to see. 
But the practical value of the Niobrara for irrigation is of 
greater consequence than its picturesque scenery. In determin- 
ing this value the first question is whether the volume of water 
is sufficient to irrigate much land. On the 4th clay of Septem- 
ber, 1SS7, I measured it in the southern part of Dawes county 
"with the following result: breadth, 21 ft., depth, 2 ft., velocity 
per second, 2j/^ ft. The Niobrara at this point was therefore 
•discharging 98 cubic feet of water in each second of time. 
This measurement was taken on its upper course and in one of 
the driest months of a dry year. Lower down, after it has 
received its large tributaries, the volume of water is far greater, 
"but its use for irrigation is impracticable by reason of the high 
and steep banks. Just in proportion as the scenery becomes 
more picturesque, the utility of the stream becomes less. But 
in the counties Sioux, Box Butte, Dawes, Sheridan, and the 
western part of Cherry county, the valley is from one to five 
miles broad, and within it there is an abundance of good irriga- 
ble land. The rapid descent of this stream makes it possible 
to raise its waters to a considerable hight (relatively to its bed) 
by means of a ditch of no great length. Counting two feet per 
mile for the slope of the ditch, which is rather more than ex- 
perience has show^n to be necessary, we gain loyj, feet per 
mile. Most of those beautiful stretches of land which the geol- 
Qo-ist calls terraces, while the farmer calls them second bottoms, 
and which offer the greatest facilities for irrigation, lie from 
fifteen to twenty-five feet above the stream. Along the Nio- 
brara these could be watered from a ditch no more than two 
miles long on the average, since that would give an elevation 
of 202.3 feet. 
How much land can be irrigated from a stream of the size of 
the upper Niobrara? If we knew just how many acres can be 
watered by a flow of one foot per second the answer would be 
^easy. But different soils, different sub-soils, and different crops 
make such vast differences in the conditions of the problem that 
its solution is by no means easy. Even when we take into con- 
sideration tho differences of soils and crops we are hardly pre- 
