From the collection of the 0 7 n m Prelinger v JUibrary t San Francisco, California 2007 a a » • » , • * $ * * j »»» »> » » >» »» j »»*•»**»*» > • ••*••*• •* ' ' » > • » a s j> > * > • » » * ••> > » • ' ' ' ' '' * r * ««• • • *• •**<*( **•• s ••»«•••+•« • •• * • c « * • ) * • ft C f. •*•••••• •*•**•*** «l • ** c **^ ** ***»•/* ** •* > * . 1*. •"•*• •*.».•• •*•"• •*• e • • ••• *•• . « *.* .• • • , . . T W E IM T Yn F;|,|R?T i ' '&i' CJIVOL.XXL No.l. PUBLISHED IN THE INTEREST OF IRRIGATION ^ DRAINAGE '•A^l 1 NOVEMBER 1905. THED.H.ANDERSON .PUBLISHING- CO., Publishers. 113 DEARBORN ST.. CHICAGO. THE 'IRRIGATION AGEN ESTABLISHED 1885 "WITH WHICH IS MERGED .THEDRAINAfiEJOUKKAL, : ESTABLISHED 1879 SPECIAL FEATURES Twervty-One Years Old. After More Money. Wonderful Washington. Ingleton Steam. Plow. More About Montana. A Neglected Opportunity. The Escalante Desert. Application of Power to Farm Work. rtf Morris Machine Works BALDWINSVILLE.N.Y. Centrifugal Humping Machinery, designed for any irrigating prop- osition. Send details or specifica- tions of what is wanted and we will recommend a pumping outfit to supply the need. New York office, 39-41 Cortlandt Street Houston office, Cor. Wood & Willow Sts., Texas Henion & Hubbell, Agents, 61 N. Jefferson Street, Chicago. 111. Harron, Rickard & McCone, Agents, 21 Fremont Mreet, San Francisco, Cal. * * •»* 9 -•• ••• < • • I • ** !•• • • •• •>• • • *•>• »•• < : •*:*"••*:••:; Clay Working "BUILT RIGHT- RUN RIGHT" We build an entire line of Clay Working Machinery for the manufacture of Clay products by all processes, including Sand-Line Brick. Our yard supplies are the best. Kiln Irons, Cutting Wire and all supplies. Send for infor- mation or catalogue. The American Clay Mch. Co...Bucyrus, Ohio Soft Mud Machine*. Horse and Steam Power Horse Powar Plunger Machine Products of our Auger Machine* THE IRRIGATION AGE. STANDARD FOR SIXTY-FIVE YEARS MADE BY DEERE & CO., MOLINE, ILL. inn i mil SAMSON TURBINE! We build these turbines in all SIZES and STYLES, on UPRIGHT or HORIZONTAL shafts, BELTED or DIRECT CON- NECTED, SINGLE or in PAIRS. They are suitable for direct connecting to GENERATORS, AIR-COMPRESSORS, PUMPS or other machinery driven on horizontal shafting. JAMES LEFFEL & CO., Springfield, Ohio, U. S. A. Write Department K-2 for Catalog. O ' N G I N E S Less Repairs and Less Fuel It is what an engine costs to keep it running that cuts the big figure and not the first east. The St. Anthony & Dakota Elevator Co., Minneapolis, Minn., writes: "In April, '02, we had 92 'Otto* engines running, all of which gavebettersatisfic- tion, cost less for repairs and consumed much less fuel than any others we had tiled. During the season of 1902 we bought 85 more 'Ottos' and now have 127 of them." A splendid testimonial to the merits of the "Otto" from people who have tried many others. lOTTO GA5 ENGINE WORKS, Phi la. Pa. I STANDARD OF THE WORLD THE IRKIGATION AGE. MYERS POWER PUMPS WITHOUT AN EQUAL ON THE GLOBE OPERATING WITH GAS ENGINE ; FIG. 952 HORIZONTAL BULLDOZERS, 3" to 6' CYLINDERS MYER.S BULLDOZER POWER PUMP 5" Cylinder FIG 800 MYERS BACK GEARED WORKING HEAD TAPPED FOR 3 PIPE 5. 7% and 10' STROKE FOR BELT. WIND OR HAND POWER BULLDOZER WORKING HEAD BULLDOZER PUMP 6' BRASS LINED CYLINDER °'5'""r's FIG. 1079 U'BRASSBDO Write for Descriptive Circulars and Prices. We want you to acknowledge this Ad. so that we can acquaint you in detail with the superior features cf Myers Power Pumps. This la the proper sea.son. The right time to write is right now. F. E. MYERS A. & JH i* A. iv r> FH MYERS BULLDOZER WORKING HEADS No. 359 5", 7%", 10' STROKE DISCHARGE, 2K or 3 INCHES SUCTION 2 to 4 INCHES No. 364 12', 16", 20" STROKE REGULARLY FITTED 4" DIS- CHARGE SUCTION 8" OR LESS BRO., PKOPRJETOR S OF TOOJL, THE IKRIGATION AGE. UNION MACHINES WITH PUQ MILLS COMBINED FIVE SIZES ALL CAPACITIES Outfits for Drain Tile, Hollow Ware, Building and Paving Brick and other Clay Products If interested write us for particulars and estimates. E. M. FREESE & CO QALION, OHIO THE IRKIGATION AGE. We Ma.rv\ifa.ctvire TH E O N L Y Well and Prospecting Machinery Suited to Your Wants Write for Civta. logue of "LIGHTNING WELL MACHINERY." THE AMERICAN WELL, WORKS. Also Steam and Power P \i m p i n g Machinery Compressors Gasoline Engines =c=-J ~~ We want every Dealer who handles Can Show Core Through all Hard Materials w«» »r Pumping Machinery or AppH- Aurora, 111.. ances to correspond with vis. Chicago. 111.. Dallas. Tex. RUNS CONTINUOUSLY NO ATTENTION NO EXPENSE RIFE AUTOMATIC HYDRAULIC RAM PUMPS WATER BY WATER POWER Large Capacity Rams for Irrigation Operates under 18 In. to 50 ft. fall. .-. Elevates water 30 feet for every foot fall used. 80 per cent efficiency developed. .'. Over 4,500 plants in successful operation. •'. In- formation and estimates promptly and cheerfully furnished. *.* Catalog Frae. RIFE ENGINE COMPANY I I I BROADWAY, NEW YORK, U. S. A. Dempster Gasoline Engines Make Sure of Having Water When You Need It Pump it with a Centrifugal Pump and Dempster Engine Dempster Qasoline Engines 2 to 30 Horse Power Reliable Economical Durable Always Ready for Business DEMPSTER MILL MANUFACTURING CO, Branch Houses: KANSAS CITY, MO.; SIOUX FALLS, SO. DAK.; OMAHA, NEB. THE IRRIGATION AGE VOL. XXI CHICAGO, NOVEMBER, 1905. No. 1 THE IRRIGATION AGE With which is Merged MODERN IRRIGATION THE IRRIGATION ERA ARID AMERICA THE DRAINAGE JOURNAL MID-WEST THE FARM HERALD THE D. H. ANDERSON PUBLISHING CO., PUBLISHERS. 112 Dearborn Street, CHICAGO Entered at the Postoffice at Chicago, 111., as Second-Class Matter. D. H. ANDERSON W. J. ANDERSON Editors Western Office: Chamber of Commerce Building, Denver, Colo. GEO. W. WAGNER, Mgr. M. C. JACKSON, Editor, Western Dept. SUBSCRIPTION PRICE. To United States Subscribers, Postage Paid 11.00 To Canada and Mexico 1.00 All Other Foreign Countries, 1.50 In forwarding remittances please do not send checks on local banks. ' Send either postomce or express money order or Chicago or New York draft. A monthly illustrated magazine recognised throughout the world an the exponent of Irrigation and its kindred industries. It is the pioneer journal of its kind in the world, and has no rival in half a continent. It advocates the mineral development and the industrial growth of the West. Interesting to Advertisers. It may interest advertisers to know that The Irrigation Age is the only publication in the world having an actual paid in advance circulation among individual irrigators and large irrigation corpo- rations. It is read regularly by all interested in this subject and has readers in all parts of the world. The Irrigation Age is 20 years old and is the pioneer publication of its class in the world. Here is a good one from the standpoint of George, taken from Maxwell's Talisman, September, 1905 : "Some faint echoes which have reached Humorous, the national capital of the recent National Irrigation Congress held at Portland, Ore., would seem to indicate that the usefulness of that body has to a considerable extent departed." It will be noted that the gentleman who poses as the head of the National Irrigation Association believes that the usefulness of the National Irrigation Congress ended when it passed unanimously a resolution repudiat- ing that association. The lines quoted from the Talisman are humorous in the extreme, when one considers the source and the condition that caused them to be penned. Poor George ! How have the mighty fallen? After innumerable delays caused by a de- Primer of sire to bring the work as nearly up to date Irrigation. as possible, the Primer of Irrigation is off the press and is now being shipped in large numbers to those whose orders have been on our books for the past year or more. We wish to apologize particularly to those who have placed their order with us for a copy of the Primer of Irrigation, for the long delay in its appearance. Judging from the number of orders received for this work it will have a large sale. We are now negoti- ating with one house to handle 5,000 copies of the work, which will give it wide distribution and extensive adver- tising. The price of the Primer of Irrigation, cloth bound, is $2.00. The price where ordered in connec- tion with a subscription to THE IRRIGATION AGE is $1.50; in other words, we quote a combination price of $2.50 for THE IRRIGATION AGE one year and the Primer of Irrigation, postpaid. Those who have not ordered a copy should write us at once and secure one of the first edition, which will soon be exhausted. This, the November issue of THE IRRIGA- Twenty-ohe TION AGE, starts in Number One, Volume Years Old. Twenty-one, of this publication, which means that it has been published for over twenty years. It may not be out of place to state here that THE IRRIGATION AGE is the pioneer publication of its class in the world and is older by over eighteen years than any other "publication issued today in the interest of irrigation or kindred lines. During the past five years the publishers of this journal have purchased the following named papers, all of which have been merged with THE IRRIGATION AGE, thereby very much increas- ing and extending its circulation : Modern Irrigation, Denver; The Irrigation Era, Denver; Arid America, Denver; The Drainage Journal, Indianapolis; Mid-West, Denver; The Farm Herald, Denver. It will be noted from the foregoing list that THE IRRIGATION AGE has purchased at different times all of the irrigation journals published in Denver or west of Chicago prior to .1902, hence any other publication claiming to have been in existence for a longer period than two years misrepresent facts and ought to be looked upon with suspicion by the advertising public. THE IRRIGATION AGE has always been considered authority 6 THE IRRIGATION AGE. in its line and will continue to lead as a newsgatherer and the exponent of all that is fair in irrigation develop- ment. It will, moreover, be ready at all times to expose frauds, and will freely criticize moves made on the part of government officials which are not in keeping with good business rules and integrity. It is the intention of the editor to fully exploit during the coming year many mistakes which have been made and are now form- ing which would throw discredit on the Geological Sur- vey and the Reclamation Service. Information which will assist us in improving this paper in a news or edi- torial way, also information concerning the interference of private rights by the Reclamation Service, will be thankfully received. The following notice, sent in by the St. After More Louis correspondent of a well-known im- Money. plement paper, illustrates how a body of intelligent men may regularly be misled and induced to contribute funds to an organization such as the National Irrigation Association, which has been repudiated by the National Irrigation Congress: The regular monthly meeting of the Implement and Vehicle Board of Trade for October was held this evening in the parlors of the Jefferson Hotel. An ex- cellent luncheon was served at 6:30, and the meeting was called to cyder by President Robbins at 7 :45, thirty- six members being present. Owing to the presence of the guest of the evening, C. B. Boothe, the regular order of business was sus- pended in order to listen to the remarks of Mr. Boothe on irrigation and the reclaiming of our arid lands. Mr. Boothe, who- is chairman of the board of directors of the National Irrigation Association, made an inter- esting address on the progress of irrigation as repre- sented by the work of the National Irrigation Associa- tion. In order to more clearly emphasize his remarks a large map of the West was used, showing progress in different parts of the country. If the members of the St. Louis Implement and Vehicle Club could be made aware of the facts and were to make an effort to learn where the jnoney contributed by that organization is expended and by whom, they would very suddenly decide to withdraw from connec- tion with it. For the benefit of the members of the St. Louis Implement and Vehicle Club we reprint a resolu- tion passed unanimously by the Thirteenth National Ir- rigation Congress : "This Congress calls attention to the fact that there is not nor has there been any connection whatever between the National Irrigation Congress and the incorporated company known as the National Irrigation Association, and it is hereby announced that no person, corporation or company has been, or is authorized to solicit or collect money for or in behalf of the National Irrigation Con- gress." experimental farm by the publisher with the view to demonstrating what can be done in the way of raising crops successfully by the Campbell method. In this line of work it is expected that much assistance will be- given us by Professor Campbell, who has done so much to develop his ideas and improve the possibilities of ag- riculture in Nebraska, Kansas and Colorado. It is the intention of the publisher to erect farm buildings on this land, place it in charge of a competent farmer and publish regularly reports of the progress of the work under the Campbell system. In view of the fact that such phenomenal development occurred under the Camp- bell system by farming, it is our impression that this subject is equally as important in the territory named as irrigation, and our aim will be to demonstrate by this series of illustrated articles, covering the experi- ments on the farm, just what may be done by people of the West who contemplate moving into that territory. We will also try and tell them what amount of money is necessary to secure a start on a tract of this land and will give them an idea of the cost per acre in different lo- calities and permit them to invest in a Western farm home in a more intelligent manner than would otherwise be possible. We intend to publish all of the moves made on this farm, beginning with the time that the sod is broken, and will explain also where failures occur,' so that those who contemplate investing may avoid similar mistakes and thereby more easily succeed. Our readers are requested to correspond with this office regularly concerning this experimental work and all inquiries will be gladly and fully answered in the columns of THE IRRIGATION AGE. It is our impression that an expenditure of from $800 to $1,000 will be suffi- cient to start work on a tract of 160 acres. This will include a modest sum for the home for our farmer and barn for his stock, a team of horses, cow and other do- mestic animals. This sum will not, of course, allow ex- travagant expenditure, but our aim will be to illustrate to our readers what may be done on a small sum of money, so that they may be assured before leaving for the West what the funds they have on hand will accom- plish. These series of articles will, moreover, prove of benefit to all of the Western railways along whose lines lands of a similar character are located. More" detailed information concerning this work will be published in a future issue. A Lie Nailed. THE IRRIGATION AGE has made arrange- Dry Farm ments with the officials of the Union Pa- Experiment, cific Railway whereby it is to secure title to 160 acres of land on the line of that road near Denver, said 160 acres to be developed as an In view of the fact that THE IRRIGATION AGE has seen fit to criticise the methods of the Reclamation Service and expose con- ditions which it is satisfied are wrong in connection with the National Irrigation Association, which was turned down by the National Irrigation Con- gress at Portland, a journal which was started a year or possibly a year and a half ago, purporting to represent the irrigation interests, has something to say concerning THE IRRIGATION AGE. the National Irrigation Congress and some of the reso- lutions passed by that body. In view of the fact that the editor of that publication was only evident at the Congress in the capacity of a distributer of his journals at the entrance of the meeting place of the Congress, and in view also of the fact that the irrigation journal mentioned had considerable difficulty in being admitted as second-class matter in the United States mail, this editor takes, in our estimation, a rather haughty stand. The fact of the matter is that when the above mentioned sheet was started it attempted to appropriate the volume number of a journal which had been purchased and merged with THE IRRIGATION AGE, a flagrant violation of all newspaper courtesy and in direct violation of the laws governing the admittance of newspapers to the mail. In other words, this journal started in its first number under the old Volume number of "Modern Irri- gation," a journal purchased by THE IRRIGATION AGE and taken over by it. The high-handed plan of placard- ing their journal as being seventeen years old was imme- diately "called" by the Post Office Department at Wash- ington, and it was many months before they were ad- mitted in regular form as second-class matter. In view of the fact then that the publishers of this journal de- liberately attempted to deceive their readers by giving them the impression that their paper was seventeen years old instead of one month, we insist, that its editors are very venturesome, to say the least, when they take a high moral ground and criticise the publisher of a journal which has been conducted on clean grounds for over twenty years. The fact of the matter is that the editor of THE IRRIGATION AGE was publishing a clean irrigation journal long before the gentlemen of that institution were ever heard of, and it is safe to make the statement that these men are taking" a position di- rectly against that occupied by THE IRRIGATION AGE for the sole purpose of winning the favor of gentlemen connected with the Reclamation Service and other bu- reaus in Washington who have been criticised by THE IRRIGATION AGE. From a rather broad view, one would think that such a move would be good for a journal; perhaps it is, but it is the impression of THE IRRIGA- TION AGE that neither the publishers alluded to or the members of the Reclamation Service or the repudiated National Irrigation Association will, in any way, be benefited. Right will win in the end, and the head of the Reclamation Service, as well as all others, realize that the time is not far distant when the public will awaken to the fact that THE IRRIGATION AGE is right in the matter and a radical change will, no doubt, take place in the personnel of the Reclamation Service. The fact of the matter is that the resolution referred to by these men was prepared and introduced by Mr. Shum- way, of Nebraska, one of the brightest delegates of the Congress, and Mr. Newell and his band of followers with halos, will hear more of the resolution at some future time. We reproduce herewith the notice mentioned : "A disturber from Chicago, named Anderson, who for years has been unwarranted^ abusing the depart- ments referred to in the resolution, apparently for no other reason than that these departments are not con- ducted like Chicago political bureaus which yield more revenue to the grafters in control than to the people for whose benefit they are created, instigated the introduc- tion of a resolution which called for a politically-con- structed commission to handle the vast fund in the pres- ent excellently-constituted reclamation bureau, met with a worse fate at the hands of the Committee on Resolu- tions, for it was given no consideration. It was unfor- tunate that the Chicago politician succeeded in poison- ing the minds of many of the readers of his publication in the belief that the National Irrigation Association was securing money for its support on the plea that such funds were for the benefit of the National Irrigation Con- gress. It only required the appearance of C. B. Boothe, of Los Angeles, Cal., of the association and chairman of the Executive Committee of the Congress, to face these misled members (the accuser not having the courage to be present) and to give the lie to the base accusations; so the original blackguarding resolution was defeated. The Chicagoan's champion in this matter was one Mc- Alpine, from Minnesota, whose connection with a num- ber of government timber transactions would make sen- sational reading. It was a surprise to many (not well acquainted with the facts) that Senator Carter, of Mon- tana, should also be an advocate of a resolution of cen- sure directed at the association." It will be noted that the writer of the above ex- presses some surprise at the stand taken by United States Senator Carter. If said writer had any insight into irrigation conditions he would not expose his igno- rance at wondering why any one of ordinary intelligence should take a stand similar to that of Senator Carter, who is one of the few men who has made a study of con- ditions surrounding irrigation development and who can tell the difference between a ripe apple and a bad egg. It will be our pleasure, in some future issue of THE IR- RIGATION AGE, to illustrate to our readers something of the experiences and history of the gentlemen who are conducting the journal that has seen fit to criticize the editor of THE IRRIGATION AGE. We will be glad to give facts concerning their history and state clearly and hon- estly their virtues, if any may be discovered, as well as their failings. Regarding the statement in the forego- ing quotation, that the man who presented the resolu- tion failed to attend the meeting of the committee, Mr. Shumway, its author, as well as the editor of IRRIGA- TION AGE, attended every meeting of the committee and were looking to Mr. Boothe, of the "Incorporated Com- pany," the National Irrigation Association, to make a statement of its financial affairs. Mr. Boothe failed to make good in any particular, and is looked upon as a "dead one" by all members of the Committee on Reso- lutions. Send $2.50 for The Irrigation Age I year, and The Primer of Irrigation THE IRRIGATION AGE. Nature has lavished her richest gifts upon Wonderful wonderful Washington. There is no land Washington, and water area of its size in the world more perfectly adapted to the highest de- velopment of the human race. Geographical location, climate, topography, navigable waters abounding in fish, mountains stored with base and precious metals, rich deposits of coal, limitless supplies of water for power, irrigation and drinking purposes, forests of giant tim- ber, productive soil suitable to the luxuriant growth of almost everything that man requires ; these are' some of the conditions, advantages and resources that make Washington an empire in itself, and destine it to become populous and among the foremost sections of the world in commerce, trade and industry. The diversity of Washington's resources causes, men to marvel at the prodigality of nature. Vermont has her marble, Pennsyl- vania her coal, Niagara her cataract, Michigan her tim- ber and ores, the great Mississippi valley its productive soil, Colorado her precious metals, Montana her copper, California her orchards and vineyards, Newfoundland her fisheries, New York her command of an ocean's commerce, but Washington has in profusion each and all of the resources and opportunities, one or more of which have made these sections famous, but which are nowhere else found in combination. Among the states of the Union are some which thrive upon agriculture; others are industrial commonwealths devoted to manu- facturing; others are distinguished by their commercial and maritime activities; in some fisheries are a source of wealth; forests have y elded their timber to the wealth- producing activities of others; mines of coal, iron, cop- per, lead, gold and silver have been developed in many almost uninhabitable regions; sheep and cattle graze on many a plain or hillside where water is none too abun- dant, and where the winter's snow and cold are hard to endure. Washington yields more bushels of wheat to the acre than any other State in the Union. The fleeces of Washington sheep are the heaviest grown in this coun- try. The apples, peaches, prunes, berries, grapes and other fruits and vegetables are the most luscious that are produced anywhere. The forests of Washington yield the largest timber found in the world, excepting only the vanishing redwood of California. Washington has the richest coal deposits this side of Pennsylvania. Cop- per, iron, gold, silver, marble, granite, sandstone are found in abundance. Salmon, cod, halibut, cod, sole, herring and a great variety of ocean fish mountain trout, crabs, oysters, clams, shrimp, abound in the waters of the State. The great inland sea, the land-locked harbor of Puget Sound with its sufficient depth for the greatest vessels afloat, and with many spacious harbors, commands the shortest ocean route between the United States and the Orient, and insures to Washington the maritime supremacy of • the Pacific. Cheap and abundant power for manufac- turing, and a great diversity of raw materials, have al- ready made Washington a great industrial common- wealth. The climate of Washington is the most equable and salubrious in the United States. Neither extreme heat nor cold is ever experienced west of the Cascade mountains, and Eastern Washington has mild winters and comfortable summers. The scenery of Washing- ton is sublime. The loftiest mountain peak in the United States, exclusive of Alaska, towers to a height of nearly three miles within sixty miles of tidewater. The Olympic peninsula is rugged and mountainous. Nature's beauties are nowhere displayed more effectively. Washington has everything to make life comfortable and people happy in legitimate pursuits. There is no limit to the possibilities of its development. Its ocean commerce reaches to the ends of the earth. The great transcontinental railways of the country have either extended to Puget Sound or are determined to do so. Puget Sound is the gateway to Alaska and the Orient. The population of Washington in 1860, the first census that was taken after the creation of Washington Territory, was 11,594. In 1870 the population had in- creased to 23,955. In 1880 there were 75,116 people in the State. In 1890 the population was 349,390; in 1900, 518,103. The population of the State has in- creased with great rapidity since 1900, and is now esti- mated by the State Statistician at 825,000. Large and rapidly growing cities have sprung up. Seattle, Taco- ma, Spokane, Bellingham, Everett, Walla Walla, North Yakima, and the capital, Olympia, are the leading cities of the State. Aberdeen, Vancouver, Ballard, Puyallup, Ellensburg, Colfax and many other towns are growing rapidly and will develop into important and populous communities. The area of Washington is 69,180 square miles, of which 66,880 square miles is land surface and 2,300 square miles water surface. As yet, however, not- withstanding its growth in population from 11,594 to 825,000 in forty-five years, with 750,000 increase in the last twenty-five years, the development of Washington has only just begun. The surface has only been scratched here and there. The next twenty-five years will witness a marvelous increase. The great factors in the growth of Washington will be irrigation, manufacturing from the native products of the soil, the forests, the mines and the waters, and railway and ocean commerce, by which Washington is in direct touch with all parts of the world. Washington is the State of Opportunity. It invites the farmer, the miner, the fisherman, the stock raiser, the manufacturer, the trader, the capitalist, the transportation companies, to enter its field of limit- less activity. It has rewards in store for every kind of honest and intelligent effort. ^»t a»t >*««*« t*t «*» >*« «*• «*« **»»*• •*••*> •*« «% «*» A A •*• »*• •*• •** «*• **« **• •** t*t **• »*• »*« >%**« »*• »*« **• **• »*« >*«•*••% •:• Send $2.50 for The Irrigation Age **' 1 year, and The Primer of Irrigation **~*^ THE IRRIGATION AGE. 9 PUMPING WATER BY COMPRESSED AIR. BY EMMET BARBER, C. Ev TDLARE, CAL. The great demand of the arid region of the world is how to obtain water for irrigation. Very few sec- tions have sufficient water from the rainfall and snows in higher altitudes, and are compelled to use methods of obtaining water below the surface of the earth. The method of lifting water by machinery has been a great study for the irrigaiionist, and only the most Natural How of Artesian Well at Waukena, Cal. [600 gallon! per minute.] profitable crops would pay for lifting at a greater depth than thirty to fifty feet. All kinds of devices have been invented and used, sometimes at a great expense. The advancement of all kinds of improved lifting machinery has been rapid during the past twenty years in the United Startes, but the invention and perfection of lifting water by compressed air has been of recent date. On May 6, 1904, I went to inspect a compressed air plant of which I present four views herewith, the demonstration being quite satisfactory, from which I made the following notes and estimates. The power furnished being a 75-horsepower boiler with a 35-horsepower compressor; fuel used, Kern River California crude oil, about 14 gravity; each compres- sor is expected to furnish air sufficient for four wells, and the power of the boiler is sufficient for from two to three compressors. At the time of examination the compressor was connected with two wells, one artesian and one surface well. The artesian well was 865 feet deep and had an estimated flow of 600 gallons per minute before the compressed air was turned on, which increased to about 2,400 gallons per minute after the air was applied, which ran into a ditch with a four-foot bed, slope two to one. on a fall of 1 in 800, which increased from four inches deep before the air was applied to ten inches Seep after. The following is the report of the construction engineer of the above described plant: Situate at Waukena, which is about twelve miles from Tulare, Cal., and twenty miles from Hanford, is the Waukena Colony Company's tract of land com- prising some 13,000 acres. The soil on this land runs from six inches to four feet deep and when irrigated will produce wonderful crops. Many schemes have been advanced to produce artificial irrigation at reasonable cost. Nothing, how- ever, was done until the Compressed Air Machinery Company of 24 to 28 First street, San Francisco, offered to install an air-lift pumping plant that would raise 240,000 gallons of water per acre, at a cost not exceed- ing $1.10 per acre. This offer was accepted by the owners of Waukena Colony Company's ranch. The plant has just been completed and tested often enough to prove that it can raise, out of the wells on the Waukena ranch, 27,154 gallons of water per minufe, which is one inch deep on an acre of hard surface, for the sum of eight cents, or seventy-two cents for nine inches. The next part of the plant to be installed will reduce the above cost to sixty-three cents to cover an acre of land with 240,000 gallons of water. After six years of experience with air-lift pumping plants at various points in New Mexico, Arizona and California, we can cheerfully and truthfully say that there is an abundance of water in the San Joaquin and Southern California, where the above results can be duplicated. You will notice we do not mention size of plants, horsepowers, and general construction. This informa- tion will be given to parties interested in the purchase of plants. The most important item to the general public is : What will it cost to raise a number of gallons per Same Well alter Compressed Air is Applied. minute, based on the cost of fuel where the work is to be done. The above estimates of cost were based upon Bak- .ersfield crude oil at seventy cents per barrel f. o. b. Waukena. This plant when completed is guaranteed to cost $16.000 and irrigate 13,000 acres of land at an annual cost not exceding $1.00 per acre, and will consist of eight compressors with capacity of four wells for each compressor. 10 THE IRRIGATION AGE. Should this plant prove a success it will revolu- tionize the system of raising water by artificial means THE INGLETON STEAM PLOW. BY GEOEGE CALVERT. Water Lifted 10 Feet High by Compressed Air. profitably from a depth of 150 feet by large plants, and will enable those having artesian wells to increase their flow from two to four times the natural flow. I am watching with much interest the success or Boiler and Compressor. failure and will report to THE IRRIGATION AGE the re- sults. Send $2.50 for The Irrigation Age 1 yea.r, a.nd the Primer of Irrigation The labor involved in raising a crop is the prin- cipal cost and if the expense of the labor necessary for the planting, cultivation and harvesting is reduced one- half through the employment of new methods then the market valuation of the crop is proportionately reduced so soon as other general competitors adopt the same methods. This is not only true in agricultural pursuits, but in every other branch of labor the same revolution of previous conditions takes place with the introduction of labor saving machinery. If, for example, the actual cost of producing a- bushel of wheat by the ordinary manner of cultivation is fifty cents and the market price is seventy-five cents, it can not be expected to main- tain the selling price at the same figure, if by new methods the actual cost of growing is reduced to twenty- five cents per bushel. Competition is bound to ulti- mately force down valuations on such products to a defined legitimate basis. No other industry in this country involves such large monetary interests as that of farming, yet farm- ing machinery is still in sc crude state of development. The fact is, that while the United States sells farming implements in large quantities to every country on the globe, the field of invention offers varied oppor- tunities in the perfection of this class of machinery. The accompanying illustrations show the possibil- ities that have been recently attained in a machine for plowing land. This steam plow, named after its in- ventor, Ingleton, will be placed upon the market at an early future date. The successful operation of this ingenious apparatus was fully demonstrated several years ago in actual plowing tests, and its practicability was not found wanting in any particular. At the St. Louis Fair the Ingleton plowing outfit was on exhibi- tion and received a special diploma for- excellence and perfect operation. It has a capacity of plowing a series of furrows in one cut across a field fifty feet wide ; thus the econ- omy from its use can be fully appreciated. The ma- chine possesses radically novel construction over other steam plowing outfits heretofore designed and tested. The principal departure from the general type is the operations of the plows themselves, which work in a direction at right angles to the course of the engine. The plow apparatus consists of a steel frame of the desired length (30 to 50 feet) mounted upon a series of rollers and attached to the rear of a heavy traction engine by suitable steel arms. Upon the steel frame are mounted a series of carriages running on wheels which traverse the circuit of the frame. Each carriage carries a shank mounted in a vertical slideway; to the lower end of the shanks are attached the plows. The slide- way construction permits the plows to rise and fall in order that they may accommodate themselves to the undulating surfaces of the land. This arrangement is essential to the proper working of the apparatus, as in plowing a strip fifty feet in width in one operation the 'plows would not conform to the unevenness of the land if rigidly affixed to the frame. The power for driving the plowing mechanism is obtained from one of the rear axles of the traction engine and transmitted to a crank shaft on the frame by means of a link-belt* chain. Connected to this shaft is a second chain which THE IEKIGATION AGE. 11 transmits the power to a shaft mounted upon one end of the frame, which in turn contains a third chain encircling the frame and connecting all of the plow carriages. This system of gearing is an important con- sideration in the operation of a heavy apparatus of this character, as the severe strains, naturally devolving upon the engine in its ordinary operations, are dimin- ished to a minimum. The forward speed of the outfit under normal con- ditions is about one-half mile per hour, while the speed of the plows around the frame is between three and four miles per hour; thus the maximum speed of the plows is secured at a minimum tax on the engine. The outfit is capable of plowing approximately three acres of land per hour under the above mentioned speed, which is about three times the capacity of a train of four gang plows operated by a 20-horsepower engine. A special feature worthy of mention in the con- struction of this ingenious apparatus is the rollers which serve advantageously in mashing down all stubble and trash that may be present on the land, thereby pre- venting the plows from becoming choked. The plows are adjustable to any desired depth and by changing the mould-boards either "breaking" or stubble plowing may be done with equal ease and facility. C. A. Hall, North American building, Philadelphia, Pa., who is now undertaking the manufacture and export of these im- plements, states that the outfit is an assured mechan- _. ical success and it will eventually supplant all other I plowing apparatus now employed upon the large farms 0 of the West. 1 A WISE DISCLAIMER. The National Irrigation Congress is to be con- gratulated on the forthright declaration that separates it from all connection with the so-called National Irri- gation Association. The recent session at Portland in- cluded among its resolutions the following statement: "This Congress calls attention to the fact that there is not nor has there been any connection whatever between the National Irrigation Congress and the in- corporated company known as the National Irrigation Association, and it is hereby announced that no cor- poration or company has been, or is, authorized to solicit or collect money for or in behalf of the National Irrigation Congress. So far as past time is concerned, the resolution does not cover the facts, unless in a technical sense. The officers of the National Irrigation Association were for several years in practical control of the National Irriga- tion Congress, and the connection was one of substance if not of form. The connection proved anything but fortunate for the Irrigation Congress. The National Irrigation Association has been made up of men who had personal rather than public interests to serve. It was developed during Congressional hearings that this association was receiving a subsidy of $30,000 a year from certain corporations, and it was plain that the usefulness of the National Irrigation Congress must come to an end if such influences were allowed to con- trol it. They are not now in control, and we trust that they never will be. The Congress could not be too emphatic in repu- diating any claim to a connection between the two bodies, and we are glad to see that it recognized the fact. — Water and Forest, San Francisco, Cal. 12 THE IKRIGATION AGE. MORE ABOUT MONTANA. Billings and the Country Surrounding. The lust for land that since Adam was driven from the Garden of Eden has dominated the human race has turned the tide of emigration ever toward the setting sun. "Westward Ho" has been the shibboleth of the pio- neer for a thousand years and today opportunity still beckons from the West and the men of the East are nocking to the coast and the great intervening so-called arid belt in greater numbers than ever before. Not until the enterprising citizens of Portland suc- ceeded in floating their great enterprise for an exposition that should eclipse anything ever before attempted in the West has the Eastern man had an opportunity to see gathered together the wonders of the Trans-Mississippi country. It was in the line of education for the man dens that it is possible to conceive and to know that it is the magic touch of water that for ages has gone its uninterrupted course to the sea that has caused the change made the visitor a convert to irrigation. There is still a little of the old West left. When this is gone, when the restless hordes from the East have swept over this region and filled every nook and cranny that can support human life, what then? Will the tide of travel turn backward and sweep back over the East? It is a problem for future generations to grapple with — what is of more vital interest to the present generation is the fact that there is still room for thousands of homes in this wilderness, there is still room for the manufacturer in search of new markets, for the merchant with a stock of goods, the practitioner who is seeking a location and for the young man who wants to grow up with the coun- try. In searching for a new home, it is the wisest plan to follow the course of least resistance. The land that A Montana View. from the eastern or middle states to take advantage of the cheap railroad rates offered by the trans-continental roads and visit that fair. He passed through a sparsely settled country where the homeseeker still has a chance to take up land under the homestead act and carve a home for himself out of the wilderness; he traveled over mountain ranges of untold riches in mineral only await- ing the blow of the prospector's pick; he passed over plains that are gradually being transformed from sage- brush deserts into vistas of emerald beauty ; he saw great inland waterways that are being navigated by giant steamers, and rode in trains that rival the finest the East can produce, he observed cities and towns springing into being where he imagined were merely Indian villages or at best the crude trading posts of the early West. There was much to be seen at the fair, but the observant trav- eler who took plenty of time to make his journey and note the conditions of the country just east of the Rockies learned much that is overlooked in the chronicles of the day — the splendid growth and development that haa followed the "irrigation boom" in the arid belt of Montana, Wyoming and Colorado. To have seen these beautiful valleys transformed into the most fertile gar- offers the greatest opportunity for the least money and has the readiest markets will always get the settler. The tourist who traveled west via the Northern Pa- cific was in a fairly well settled country until he reached the western part of Dakota. There the landscape was forbidding, the "bad lands" making an artistic back- ground for a Western picture but hardly arousing en- thusiasm in the breast of the born farmer. It was not until the Montana line is crossed that the country took on an interesting appearance. At Glendive the traveler strikes the lower Yellowstone and from there to For- syth one sees an occasional farm that is doing well un- der a ditch, but the greater portion of the broad valley is given over to the pasturing of immense flocks of sheep. Near Billings a change for the better is noted, and if the traveler made his trip in early summer he saw a valley that was once covered with bunch grass dotted with beautiful homes, surrounded with blossoming fruit trees, corrals full of fat stock and fields of waving alfalfa and grain stretching away to the bluffs that shut in the valley on either side. It is one endless panorama of prosperity and plenty and most marvelous of all the transforma- tion has been made in less than a decade. Even today- THE IRRIGATION AGE. 13 there is still plenty of "elbow room" for the newcomer. And yet it was only twenty-nine years ago that Sitting Bull and his savage Sioux devastated this very valley and met Ouster a few miles south on the banks of the Little Big Horn and annihilated his brave band of fol- lowers. The Ouster battlefield is one of the show spots of the West and the government has turned it into a great national cemetery, with a marble shaft marking the spot where each dead hero was found. Surround- ing the battlefield are the farms of the peaceful Orows, many of whom took part in that memorable massacre. They have buried the hatchet forever and are today earning their living by honest 'toil. The Ouster battlefield marks the center of the great Crow reservation, a portion of which is to be thrown open to settlement soon. Uncle Sam has opened an of- fice at Billings, where the work of reclamation of the valley lands within the boundaries of the ceded strip is being directed. A corps of engineers is now in the field running the lines for the three great irrigating projects that are to be completed before another year passes. When the great canals and the laterals are completed Photo showing 41 Stacks of Hay on Hesper Farm, owned by I. D. O'Donnell, near Billings, Mont. over 200,000 acres of the choicest land in the whole Northwest will be ready for the plow. Uncle Sam is the greatest real estate dealer on earth. He has been a long time in the business and he clings to old methods with a hopeless tenacity, but he has .learned a good deal from his experience in Okla- homa. There will be no mad rush such as was experi- enced when that stampede took place, no confusion, no hardship. The homeseeker who wants a farm in the Crow reservation will register at Billings when the gov- ernment land office is opened, and await the result of the lottery. If he is lucky enough to win a prize, he can take his time at going in and making a home for himself. The land will not be free, for he will, in addi- tion to exercising his homestead right, have to pay the government $4 an acre for his claim. He will pay $1 down and have three years in which to make final pay- ment, and will then get his patent to the land. If he is lucky enough to get a claim under the ditch he will have to pay his share for the maintenance of the ditch, as Uncle Sam is spending about a million dollars in build- ing ditches and practically makes the settler a present of land easily worth $50 an acre. But it has not been left to the government to take the initiative in the reclamation of the Northwest. •Private enterprise has accomplished much more and that in the face of untold obstacles. Within a radius of twenty-five miles of Billings there are seven great canals aggregating over 200 miles in length that water over 100,000 acres of land. One of these has only recently been completed and covers what is known as the Hunt- ley flats. This great valley lies partially in Yellow- Cutting Oats in Yellowstone Valley, west of Billings, Mont., on Ranch of Mr. Westbrook. stone County and extends into the Crow reservation. The government is reclaiming that portion of the flats that lies within the ceded strip and it will be open for settlement soon. In this valley alfalfa grows to a height of six feet and three crops can be cut each year. Potatoes that rival the finest product of Colo- rado, both for size and delicacy of flavor, run as high as 500 bushels to the acre. Grains of every sort can be successfully grown and fruits that are finer and Band of Sheep on Range near Billings, Mont. [Property of Jos. Elliott.] larger than are shipped from the West flourish in this valley. There are 75,000 acres in the valley, 30,000 acres of which are owned by privarte com- panies and individuals ; all of this land, however, is not under cultivation at the present time. The van- guard of the homeseekers is already on the ground to learn the country thoroughly before the great influx of 14 THE IRRIGATION AGE. immigrants begins. As the natural center for all of this great undeveloped section, Billings is emerging, from its frontier clothes and putting on the airs and habiliments of a city. New industries are being ex- ploited. A million-dollar beet sugar factory has been successfully financed. It means that nearly a million dollars a year will be distributed among the farmers of the reservation and the valley. A "thousand-cow" what is known as the old ditch company. This ditch was subsequently sold to the farmers under it and at the present time supplies water for 120,000 acres of land. Mr. King first broke four acres, which were plant- ed to potatoes, corn and other garden truck. The first crop was entirely destroyed by grasshoppers. The fol- lowing year he was more successful and saved his crop Another Montana Scene. creamery is also in successful operation. An indus- trial era is under way that will make this the center of one of the great agricultural and manufacturing sec- tions of the West. We are presenting in this issue an illustration showing the home of Mr. Charles King, a prosperous rancher in the Yellowstone Valley near Billings; Mr. as well as breaking twenty acres additional, which were sowed to barley and oats. With additional irri- gation he forced the native grass so as to produce fod- der for his team and slowly added to his cultivated tract until 1888, when he cut and baled 120 tons of hay, which was sold at an average of $17 per ton, this unusually high price being the result of a failure of Threshing Oats on Ranch oi W. W. Clark. Huntley Flats, near Billings. Six months ago this land was a desert covered with sage brush. King settled in thai section in 1881, choosing a quar- ter section of government land eighteen miles west of that city. Mr. King had no money when he reached Billings and worked by the day for a time, purchasing 4 team on credit. He secured water for the land from Scene at Ranch of Charles King, Laurel (near Billings) Montana. the Utah hay crop. Later on, owing to the fact that the price of hay was going down, he plowed under his meadow and sowed the land to oats and subsequently, in 1901, had the good fortune to raise the champion crop of oats. One particular acre, especially meas- ured, raised 150 bushels, while the whole field averaged 100 bushels to the acre. Mr. King realized $40 net for THE IKKIGATION AGE. 15 each acre planted. He states that land can not stand that sort of a bumper crop each year; it is necessary to summer fallow, keep ground clean and work it thor- oughly. He also states that the theory that irrigation keeps soil up is a fallacy. Mr. King has acquired more land and has one 200-acre farm rented to the sugar beet factory for a period of five years at an an- nual rental of $10 per acre. In further conversation with the writer Mr. King stated that his old or original ranch is now sown to alfalfa, with the exception of sixteen acres, which is an orchard. He raises alfalfa for seed and can usually harvest about five bushels of seed per acre, sixty pounds to bushel; this sells for 12 cents a pound, or about $36 per acre; the only cost in raising alfalfa seed is in the harvesting and hulling. In 1891 Mr. King made a record in potato raising for the Yellowstone valley. He selected an acre of ground and put on it in piles sixty tons of well rotted so that all that was in course of preparation near the hills went into the potatoes. Mr. King is a typical Western rancher, but is a good bit of a student as well. In showing the writer a fine bunch of apples taken from his orchard he said, "I know every stem on those apple trees; I watch the apples grow in clusters and crowd each other for place just as do grapes in a bunch. I know," he continued, "every horse on my ranch and they know me and will come at my call as far as my voice will carry." Mr. King, whose picture is shown in the half-tone standing back of the cultivator, said, in concluding our very pleasant and interesting visit: "A farmer's life may be a little lonesome sometimes, but it has its com- pensations." If any of our readers visit Billings they will do well to meet and become acquainted with Mr. King. Our December issue will tell more about the farm- ers near Billings. Scene near Billings, Montana. cow manure; this was distributed in piles ten feet each way. He then plowed the land and made fur- rows with a two-horse walking plow eight inches deep and planted seed in every third furrow one foot apart, selecting large seed with two "eyes." He then covered the seed with manure and plowed under. It took a long time for the seed to sprout and come to the sur- face, but about all of the seed grew. The crop was then plowed, hoed and irrigated when he thought nec- essary. The vines made remarkable growth, were long, thick and large, and covered the ground so that culti- vation was stopped. Mr. King states that an early frost nipped the ends of the vines, and as a matter of curiosity he dug one hill to find how much the pota- toes would weigh, fearing that they had all gone to vines. The potatoes in the hill opened weighed about three pounds. A remarkable change was found after the frost, as every hill opened later in the season after the vines were frost killefl showed a weight of over ten pounds. He attributes this remarkable difference in increase of weight after the frost to the fact that no more plant food was required by the tops after the frost AN ANNEX TO WONDERLAND. Proposition to Build Wagon Road to Yellowstone Park by Way of Red Lodge Meeting with Favor. The Eed Lodge route to the Yellowstone Park may be a reality within another year if the united efforts of the Red Lodge Board of Trade and the Montana Busi- ness Men's League bear fruit. In order to demonstrate the feasibility of this route, an overland trip was made a short time ago by Albyn Buchanan, secretary of the League, in company with a newspaper man, a photog- rapher and several business men of Billings. The Red Lodge organizations furnished the guides and Sheriff Potter acted as host. Over 100 photographic views were made en route and data collected that will be presented to the congressional representatives and the Department of the Interior. As the road will pass through the Ab- sarokee Forest Reserve and connect with the Soda Butte road in Clarks Fork Canyon, the aid of the government is necessary. Some opposition at the hands of interested parties is expected, but as both Red Lodge and Billings 16 THE IRRIGATION AGE. are united on the project, it is certain to win out. Car- bon county has built fifteen miles of the road already and its engineer is making a survey of the extension now. The road will, pass through the majestic gate to the mountains near Red Lodge, thence up the Rocky Creek Canyon to where it heads at Mirror Lake. From the summit beyond this is the greatest panoramic view in America and over twenty mountain lakes are visible. The route takes one past the famous Frozen Lake, the Chain of Lakes, Bear Tooth Lake and Peak and the old Hudson Bay fortifications. From here on there is a succession of grand parks until the beautiful and im- pressive canyon of the Clarks Fork is reached and the Soda Butte road is tapped. On this road are the Ame- thyst Mountain, the Petrified Forest, the Soda Butte Springs and other freak features not on the regular line of travel. The road when complete will be about fifty miles long. The Red Lodge road will add about two days to the itinerary of the park visitor who prefers to see the sights at his leisure and in his own way. It is to be hoped that Montana's representatives in Congress will lend the measure their united support, as it is a deserving one. The Yellowstone Park is the people's playground, and there can not be too many wagon roads leading into it. page, and to which IRRIGATION AGE calls attention. Owners of reservoirs should send for Mr. Butchart's catalogue. THE NORTHWESTERN HEADGATE. The headgate shown in the accompanying illus- tration shows the Northwestern Iron and Steel Head- gate, with 24-inch opening and 18-foot frame. This gate is hinged so that the frame may be dropped un- der water in the reservoir during winter to prevent ice packing and carrying the gate away. This is only one of many special headgates made by C. D. Butchart, of Denver, Colo., whose advertisement appears on another A NEGLECTED OPPORTUNITY IN ARID RECLA- MATION. While the Government and private capital are searching out reservoir sites, another and less costly means of reclamation lies unseen. This lies in the non- provision of water tight conduits for the sinking rivers and creeks of Idaho and other arid States. A sinking stream is one which cuts through the soil and wastes down through the gravel. A stream of this kind will lose its entire volume in flowing a- few miles. A certain creek in southern Idaho, in which measurements were taken, was seen to lose nearly half its volume in flowing across a forty acre tract. Excavation has, in many instances, shown the gravel interstices unfilled save by a thin coating of dust on the upper surfaces of the boulders. This will give an idea of the extreme porosity underlying the beds of such streams. Along the northern border of the Snake River desert a score of such streams flow down from the mountains, but soon disappear through the gravel into the underlying lava beds. They do not irrigate a tithe of the acreage which they would could their total vol- ume be saved. As much is probably true of like streams in other arid states. The diversion of canals from these streams, where the canals do not bed too near the gravel, effects an appreciable saving of water. It is, however, a matter of less waste in the canals, compared to greater loss in the natural channels. Moreover much is lost in the natural channel before the point of diversion is reached. What is needed is the diversion of the entire stream above the point where the water commences to waste, and its conduction through a water tight canal the full length of the cultivated area. It would require a less outlay of capital than do the great reservoirs. A certain stream in southern Idaho could be carried two miles through a lumber flume, costing a few thousand dollars, deliver water to several diversions, and send several hundred inches to the valley, where it is much needed. This, however, is an exceptional instance. For canals extending sev- eral miles, water tight construction would be more costly. Again, in other localities a canal excavated in the nat- ural earth would be sufficient. On Raft River, Idaho, a diversion of one hundred and sixty inches is carried through a ditch for nine miles without loss, where it would entirely disappear in flowing two miles through the natural channel. This is because the soil is from fifteen to twenty feet deep, so that the porous gravel is many feet below the ditch bed. Not every site that is favorable to the construction of a dam, and to the retention of a large volume of water is available as a reservoir. However, there are few streams that would not profit by water tight canals. Often such canals would profitably supplement the capacity of the reservoirs for reclamation. It is not improbable that the government engi- neers are already taking observations on the sinking riv- ers and creeks with a view to saving the volume thus lost to irrigation. THE IKRIGATION AGE. 17 THE ESCALANTE DESERT. BY WM. H. WILE JR. This vast arid expanse of Southwestern Utah is comparatively unknown to the outside world. Walled in by snowy mountains this wonderful land of sunshine and sage flats has marvelous possibilities for development. Bounded on the east by the beauti- ful Cedar and Parowan ranges — spurs of the mighty Wasatch, and on the west by the endless desert ranges of Nevada — the San Francisco Mountain of myth and legend, this great desert rises toward the south, to sink away through mountain passes into the alkaline wastes of Nevada, and slowly falls toward the north. The Wa- satch Mountains, which run from north to south through- out the central part of Utah, present an enormous mon- oclinal uplift which gradually falls away at a low angle toward the east and breaks off abruptly at the west. Hence the western slopes of the Parowan and Cedar raspberries of the most delicious flavor are found on the very tops of these ranges where the winter snow has left the rich, black soil exposed. Most people imagine a desert to be a vast level ex- panse of sand, on which nothing lives, not even planfs. Pew deserts fulfill these conditions. All our American deserts are inhabited by a rich fauna and flora. The desert plants and animals, like the desert people, have adapted themselves to the conditions, in a wonderful way. Those animals who have been able to exist on the desert have become stronger and more active, often larger. They have had all their faculties sharpened to a wonderful degree. 'They are more keen and alert in avoiding their enemies, simply because they have had great difficulty in obtaining food and those who have been less keen and active have perished. The desert wildcat is very much larger, stronger and more ferocious than the ordinary wildcat of the forest and the river valley. The jack rabbit, whose flight resembles that of an arrow more nearly than anything else, attains a Land laid out in Basins. [An illustration taken from the Primer of Irrigation, fully explained in chapter 13 of that work.] Mountains present toward the desert mighty cliffs, and rock masses, grand canyons and rock walls rising thou- sands of feet perpendicularly. At their bases bare and gaunt rocks, splintered and shattered by the vast ex- tremes of temperature to which they are subjected, pre- sent a great variety of color. Every shade of red and yellow, with delicate tints of gray contrasted with the gorgeous blue of the sky, or the marvelous colors of sunset or sunrise enchants and charms the eye. Above the rock faces, the range rises less steeply and is clothed with small, stunted trees, mostly pinion pine, which with grasses and sages, gives a green appear- ance to the mountain flanks. A vast and wonderful country is found on top of the range extending back to the main ranges of the Wasatch. Prosperous farms are sometimes found in some protected amphitheater at the base of some vast snow deposit, whose size enables it to last from season to sea- son. Beautiful meadows, nurtured by the loving care of Nature, are found at other places. Tender flowers more delicate than those reared by man bloom unseen in these garden spots. Fields of large wild mountain size and speed on the desert not found elsewhere. His wonderful constitution enables him to live from year to year practically without water. Indeed, it is said he never touches water. I have seen hundreds of these beatftiful creatures skim lightly, gracefully, with great bounds, across the desert, scattering in every direction from the wagon road as we approach. Antelope and wild horses are occasionally seen in the distance. But the king of the wild animals found on the desert, and the most dreaded, is the dull brownish yellow desert rat- tlesnake; they occasionally invade your tent and curl up under your stove, ready to strike you unawares, but always with the terrible rattle. Besides the wealth of animals and plants on the American deserts, there are rolling hills and mesas and vast rocky buttes, and moun- tains covered with stunted trees. What may seem more strange, there are at times violent rain and thunder storms, and in winter fearful snowstorms. And just as the animals have undergone a transfor- mation, so have the men become a strong, vigorous, active race. Carlyle's words speaking of the desert cer- tainly apply here: "Consider that wide waste horizon 18 THE IREIGATION AGE. of sand, empty, silent, like a sand sea, dividing habitable place from habitable. You are all alone there, left alone with the universe; by day a fierce sun blazing down on it with intolerable radiance ; by night the great deep heaven with its stars. Such a country is fit for a swift-handed, deep-hearted race of men." Utah is truly a land of "great, grim deserts, savage, inaccessible rock mountains, alternating with beautiful strips of verdure ; wherever water is there is greenness, beauty; odorifer- ous flowers and shrubs, fruit orchards and waving pop- lars. Scientific irrigation is the secret of Utah's prosper- ity. The vast social organization which has reared the great Mormon Temple at Salt Lake City, perhaps the most imposing single edifice in America, owes its exist- ence to irrigation. The Mormon pioneers in 1847 turned the mountain streams upon the alkaline desert and cultivated the virgin soil. This was the first effort of the Anglo-Saxon race to reclaim desert lands, with under present land laws. The problem of administra- tion, which we do not propose to do more than hint at, also presents vital issues. (1) Shall development be by the State or (2) by public corporations or (3) by pri- vate enterprise, operating under restricted grants from the State. These are all important problems before the country today, and must be answered largely according to local conditions. In the final analysis irrigation as an economic problem is composed of five parts, as Mr. Brough, in an article on "Irrigation in Utah," points out: (1) An adequate water supply. (2) Suitable lands to put it on. (3) Efficient and lasting works for delivery and distribution constructed within economic limits of cost. (4) Fair and efficient management of these works in the interest of the consumers under them. (5) A contented, industrious and skillful popula- tion of irrigators located on the land. Orchard Irrigation. (.One of illustrations used in the Primer of Irrigation. I the exception of the flooding of the rice farms of South Carolina, Much remains yet to be done before the sys- tem will have reached anything like the perfection aimed at. Not only in the Escalante desert region, but all over Utah by far the largest amount of the annual water supply runs to waste, all the water is entirely lost except that flowing during two or three months of the irrigation season. The Escalante Desert is underlaid by vast quantities of alkali water> which can easily be pumped to the surface. As we have said, irrigation has reared this vast social fabric out of the dust. Its cost has been over $563,000,000 and $20,000,000 would be a very liberal estimate of the value of personal prop- erty brought into the territory. This is the economic argument in justification of the reclamation of arid land. Where irrigation is practical various problems arise as to (1) whether the Federal government shall ap- propriate money and enter upon the reclamation of its arid public lands, or (2) whether it shall cede the public domain to the States either unconditionally or with such conditions or limitations as would secure this land to homeseekers or (3) that the land shall be reclaimed Many sections of the Escalante region fulfill these conditions and have been converted into garden spots. Such are the beautiful towns of Parowan and Cedar, where the State Normal School is located. But even more important than irrigation with its wonderful possibilities in this section of Utah, is the wonderful natural deposits of iron and coal, particularly the former in Iron county. The marvellous resources of the Iron Mountain region, situated in the very heart of the Escalante Desert will soon be revealed to the world in a volume of the annual report of the United States Geological Survey. My work on a leveling branch of the Geological Survey gave me opportunities to study these marvelous deposits. Professor Newberry says of this so-called "Iron Mountain" : "These depos- its are probably not excelled in intrinsic value by any in the world. There -are certainly no other deposits to compare with them west of the Mississippi for the man- ufacture of pig and bar iron and steel, and it would be difficult to estimate the influence they would have on the industries of the Pacific Coast." Another eminent ex- pert says that Utah's iron resources much exceed those THE IRRIGATION AGE. 19 of any other section of the Union. The recent comple- tion, May 1, 1905, of the Senator Clark line — the San Pedro, Los Angeles & Salt Lake, through Southwest- ern Utah and Nevada, has opened this country to the rest. of the United States. Hitherto the situation of these rich deposits, far distant from rail communica- tion and source of demand for manufactured iron prod- ucts, has prevented Eastern capital from becoming in-, terested to any large extent. A tremendous trade in iron products from South- western Utah is bound to arise over the San Pedro line via the port of San Pedro with countries beyond the Pacific. John T. Jones, a metallurgist in the employ of a Pennsylvania syndicate, asserts that he finds in Iron county a body of iron that will aggregate 400,000,000 tons. There is water in the Rio Virgin River for all the needs of great iron factories and every other natural element, such as coal and lime, for the economic reduc- more in the sun. Indeed, it is said that on some parts of the Sahara water will freeze at night, and an egg will cook on the burning sands by day. This is due in large measure to the rapid cooling of the sand and the loss of heat to the cold outer space, there being no blanket of vegetation to retain the heat of day. This is also due in Utah to the elevation, the whole desert being over 5,100 feet above the sea level, the air is rarified and can not retain the heat of day. However, I do not think I have ever experienced such a balmy, delightful breeze as blows up the desert from the south at night, remov- ing all sensations of weariness or fatigue which the burning sun creates. There is something grand about sleeping in the open air under the canopy of the heav- ens, with this glorious night air blowing in your face. The vast expanse of sky and its far away meeting with the desert gives a feeling of freedom and serenity. In the pass which we have spoken of there is a beautiful spring of water which bubbles out and forms a mud P" Irrigation by Flooding. (From Primer of Irrigation.] tion of iron is at hand. This is just south of the desert in Washington county. Leaving the palace cars of the San Pedro line at Lund one crosses the desert by the stage route through the pass in the very heart of the Iron Mountains to Cedar, some thirty-five miles distant. Lund is a pala- tial desert town, composed of two or three little wooden shanties, a well of filthy alkaline water, and the railroad station. It is an important shipping point for cattle, which are driven in here from all directions and sent to Omaha. Pour to five thousand head of cattle are some- times shipped from here in a single day. It is a mar- velous sight to see these vast herds of cattle being con- centrated from all quarters of the horizon, midst clouds of dust, in the pens at Lund. Working on the desert is attended with numerous difficulties and hardships, not only on account of the vast ranges of temperature, but also on account of the terrible dust storms which continually arise and render leveling work impossible. I hare often noticed a tem- perature of 40 early in the morning and a temperature of 96 in the shade toward noon, and 150 degrees or canyon below. Much of it is used for irrigation by the Roots, who have established their home there, and the rest is dammed up in several little ponds. Climbing the Iron Mountains to the north of the pass we pass rows of little low cedar trees resembling orchards and see occasionally little round chambers, with narrow openings, in the cliffs. Right in the center of these hills to the north of the pass appears an enormous out- crop of iron. The richest sort of magnetite and hema- tite exists in compact masses of thousands of tons. The enormous pinnacle of iron rises fifty to a hundred feet in the air. It has given off lump after lump, which has fallen down, forming an extensive talus formation at the base or has rolled down 'the hill far away. Forming almost an amphitheater around these iron outcrops rise the peaks and huge crags of these typical desert moun- tains. The level floors of the ravines are decked with the blue gray sage which grows amid the rocks every- where, the coppery grey greasewood, with here and there a dark green cedar. And now and again the pretty little peeps greets the eye with its bright little red flow- ers, interspersed with the silvery, pinelike leaves of the 20 THE IRRIGATION AGE. soft and tender white sage. Quite frequently the green mass of the yellow sage, with its amber colored seed pockets, where beautiful yellow flowers have bloomed, is met. The beautiful white snake flower, with its soft, white petals and dozens of yellow stamens, and thick green, hairy calyx; and the large ouse, with its long, green, lilylike flower stem and its little white bulblike flower and its long, green leaves springing out of the central bulb, at once charm and delight the eye. And over the barren floo'r everywhere is the curly grass and tosslers grass, and the little low, white daisy, with its matlike forms. As we descend the masses of yellow brush and rabbit bushes and the little low deer brush and the pretty little white pig brush are passed. Midst rocky mass and canyon floor the path descends to the valley. Truly the desert flora, as well as the fauna, is rich and varied. Mountain and desert alike exert a fatal fascination over the souls of men, compelling them with an irresist- ible power to return to their mighty glaciers and snow fields, or burning, desolate sands. "In the presence of these vast spaces and all but unbounded outlook, the hours hurry by with singular swiftness." No one has as yet attempted to answer, in any detail, the psychological effect on the personality of the vast desert, nor to ex- plain that "expansion of soul which is the instant and lasting reward." "I would walk the verdant valley where the salt waves wash the feet Of the Wasatch. Gazing upward, where the sky and mountains meet. Filled with awe and admiration I would kneel upon the strand, In this mountain-walled treasury of the gods — Utah." THE APPLICATION OF POWER TO FARM WORK. BY ELWOOD MEAD, THE IRRIGATION SITUATION. The Federal Government must show its hand plainly in this State before the next legislature convenes in January, 1907. This refers to the irrigation situation. If the Government fails to have dirt flying on one or more big projects in this State by that time it will be very apt to lose the opportunity of doing anything for the people of Washington in the way of reclama- tion work. If nothing is done within the period men- tioned every corporation man in the State interested in water rights will be singing the same tune, to-wit: The Government had an opportunity and wouldn't do anything; now let it get out of the way and give the corporations a chance. That such an argument would have great weight with the legislature it is useless to deny. More than that, the patience of the people would by that time be well-nigh exhausted and the masses, even in this valley, would be very apt to conclude that reservoirs and canals constructed by corporations would be very much better than no reservoirs and no new canals at all. Thus would the people be forced into the corporation net. Those who made the struggle before the last legis- lature to secure the passage of the so-called Government bill well know what a fight it was to get it. Subter- ranean influence bitterly opposed giving the National Government the law demanded, and a goodly portion of this kind of influence, it might be added in passing, emanated right here at home. — Yakima Democrat. Chief of Irrigation and Drainage Investigations, Office of Ex- periment Stations. (Read before annual meeting of Manufacturers of Agricultural Imple- ments.) Although agriculture is the oldest of human indus- tries, its greatest improvement has been made in the last hundred years. Up to the beginning of the Nineteenth century men plowed as they did in the time of Pharoah and threshed as they did in the days of Abraham. Prog- ress in agriculture dates from the time when machinery began to be substituted for hand labor, from the time when it relieved the farm of the hardest tasks and gave greater rewards for the hours of toil. We can hardly realize the changes wrought by the long list of agricul- tural machines and implements which American in- genuity has brought forth, nor .what this continent would be like if we still cut grain with a sickle and threshed it with a flail. Machinery enables us to grow the leading farm products with one-fifth the labor required fifty 'years ago. In that time, the wages of farm laborers have more than doubled, yet the cost of producing crops has been lowered one-half and the quality greatly improved. Striking as are these statistics, they give no adequate conception of what agricultural machinery has done for the development of this nation, because its material ben- efits have been more than equalled by the social and in- tellectual gain which has come by relieving farmers from deadening toil. In a republic, the quality of the man is of as much importance as what he earns, and while we can not measure by percentage what machinery has done for the intellectual development of the farmer, we know that swinging a hoe does not stimulate thought like operating the lever of a steam thresher. We need not undervalue the great achievements of the pioneer farmers to realize how much greater are the requirements of today. The courage, intelligence and skill with which our forefathers used their primitive tools, and the success they won, is a proud heritage. But their tools and their methods will not answer now. In the rapid series of changes wrought by the progress of invention the old tools have disappeared almost as completely as the Indian and buffalo. Gone also is the skill and dexterity with which the scythe, the hoe, and the ax were used. The trouble we now labor under is that the evolution of farm machinery has gone on so rapidly that it has outstripped the farm laborer's growth in mechanical skill. He has forgotten the old methods and not fully mastered the new. The American farmer uses power machines because he can not afford hand labor. It is too scarce and costly and he is now facing certain tendencies which make his success more dependent on the economics of power than ever before. Other factors which enter into the cost of producing crops all tend to an increase. There is no more cheap fertile public land. The price of land is rising; so is the outlay for maintaining its fertility. Farm labor was never so scarce nor wages so high as now. The American farmer has to compete with the foreign farmer in prices he gets for his produce, and with the American railroad, mine and factory in THE IRRIGATION AGE. 21 the prices he pays his help. The home competition in labor is becoming more direct and severe each year. The building of suburban steam and trolley lines, the extension of telephones into farming districts, and free rural delivery, are bringing the city and country into a constantly closer union. Farm and city laborers meet and compare notes, and the farmer's son or the farm worker no longer hesitates to try his fortune in the factory if wages or conditions of labor seem more at- tractive. With the increasing wages and shortened hours of labor in the factory he is insisting more and more that farm work shall have the same privileges. In any event the influence of organized labor and the rising wages of the cities is felt today in every agricultural community. Men no longer work from sun-up to sun- down and where labor is scarce, as in California, the hours are as rigorously restricted as in any city factory. If American agriculture is to maintain itself in the markets of the world, it must do this through a con- tinued improvement in machinery which will make the individual man more and more efficient. It is not possible to say how this will be done with respect to any particular machine, for the work of the inventor is always an advance into the unknown, but we may with profit consider some of the general influences which should be utilized to secure improvement in de- sign and more efficient use of machinery. The first thing is better training for the American farmer in me- chanical principles. American farm machinery is not rendering the service it should, because it is not selected with wisdom and not operated and cared for with skill. We buy a plow which needs a team of 1,700-pound horses to pull it, and then hitch it behind a team of 1,200-pound horses. The result is neither plow nor team is a success. We leave our wagons, our mow- ers, and our self-binders exposed to rain and sun, thus lessening both their life and their service, and we do this without shame or reproach. We need in this country a public sentiment which will put the farmer who neglects or misuses machinery on the same plane with the farmer who has poor breeds of stock or who neglects to care for them. We need investigations which will enable farmers and manufacturers to adapt machinery more perfectly to the power that is to run it and the strength that is to control it. How much does the average farmer today know or think about the power required to pull any machine or the importance of hav- ing the size of machines adjusted to the size or number or horses which he keeps? And how much energy in this country is wasted by teams who walk too far for the work they do or who are worn out by being harnessed to a load too heavy for them to pull? Investigations carried on last year by the Iowa State College, to de- termine the relation between the weight of horses and the draft of breaking-plows, show how valuable to both the farmer and the maker of machinery a better under- standing of these matters would be. When we hare studied the relation of the power needed to operate ma- chinery to the size and weight of the horses which sup- ply this power, as we have studied the chemistry of feed- ing animals or the relation of fertilizers to the needs of soils, the factory will make better tools and the farmer will make more money out of their use. There has, however, been so little systematized study of the prin- ciples involved in the operation of farm machinery and so little attention given to instruction in farm mechan- ics in our agricultural colleges and technical schools that manufacturers have had difficulty in securing properly trained men; that is, men who combine mechanical •training with a knowledge of agricultural science and practical familiarity with farm life. I have thus far spoken solely of the use of animal power as a substitute for hand labor. We are, however, in the beginning of another evolution whose possibilities we are unable to forecast. This is the employment of steam, wind, gas and electricity as sources of power in farm work. How far these are to take the place of both men and animals we can not predict, but every year sees their uses widening. Wind, which was at first used al- most solely for pumping water for live stock, is being used to cut feed, saw wood, run the machinery of dairies, and it seems possible that with improvements in elec- trical storage it may in time light the farmer's house, furnish the heat to cook his dinner and iron his clothes. The potential power of the streams which rise on our mountain summits and flow down to the sea is enor- mous. Much of this is unutilized because heretofore the factory had to go to the stream and this was not possible, but with the improvements in electrical transmission the stream now goes to the farm and the factory. The waterfalls of the Sierras now generate electricity which pumps water for the irrigation of farms in the Santa Clara valley, 240 miles away. Steam and gas engines plow and pulverize the soil, plant the seed, pump water for the irrigation of the crop, run the cultivator, the harvester and thresher. Some are so nearly automatic that they almost displace the man as well as the horse. Gas engines used in lifting water for irrigation have run day after day an entire season with no attention ex- cept refilling the oil cup and the gasoline tank. Some farms now have more power and more complicated ma- chinery than many extensive factories. On one ranch in California the farm machinery operated by gas or steam cost over $60,000, and the farm equipment of this character is being constantly increased. This kind of power seems to be displacing the horse just as the loco- motive has supplanted the stagecoach. The automobile can go faster and longer than the trotter. The steam plow in some places does better work than the horse and does it cheaper. This year a gasoline engine attached to a harvester on the water-logged lands of the Northwest was able to run in fields where horses mired. Through- out the southern part of the United States there is a great field for the steam and gas motor. They can oper- ate in the summer's heat, amid the mosquitoes and flies, without discomfort and loss of efficiency which attends the use of the horse and mule. To me the most interesting feature of the Lewis and Clarke Exposition and one which was most sig- nificant of our advanced civilization in this country was the splendid display of farm machinery in the agricul- tural building. No one could look at this without hav- ing pride in the men who require and use such tools. I filled page after page of my notebook with a list of these evidences of American inventive skill. It includes dairy machinery which makes better butter than can be made by hand; a 30-horsepower steam plow which will turn over the soil of a good-sized farm in a single day; a 40-horsepower traction engine which hauls its load over the country roads at five miles an hour and requires as much mechanical skill to run it as a locomotive. The full benefits of farm machinery are not realized because the average farmer has not the mechanical training or the requisite skill to get the best results out 22 THE IKRIGATION .AGE. of these complex tools. This has been brought home to us in our studies of pumping machinery used in lifting water -for irrigation. Two years ago I gathered the re- . suits of eighteen gasoline pumps installed in a valley in the Southwest. Thirteen of these had been abandoned, not because irrigation by pumping did not pay, but be- cause the men who bought this machinery were not equal to keeping it in order. They had never before tried to run anything more complicated than a mule and the change to a gas engine was too violent. This year our investigations have included a large number of field tests of pumping machinery in Louis- iana and California. Millions of dollars have been in- vested in this kind of machinery. Measured by value, nearly one-tenth of the irrigated products in this country are now grown with water lifted by pumps. In the rice districts of Louisiana, one-fourth of the outlay in grow- ing a crop is for pumping. Manifestly the efficiency of this machinery has much to do with the profits of -farm- ing. In the field tests made this year, the highest effi- ciency was sixteen times the lowest, or 5 per cent for the poorest pump and 82 per cent for the highest. Last spring I called on the owner of one of the largest ranches in Southern California — a ranch where much of the water used in irrigation is pumped and where in consequence the importance of proper mechan- ical training has been made conspicuous. I told the owner of this ranch that our office wished to obtain the services of a man who had a knowledge of irrigation methods and who, in addition to that, was a skillful me- chanical engineer ; that we wished him to do two things : investigate the efficiency of the pumping machinery in a particular district; advise the farmers how to correct defects where they were observed, and show them how to use water in the right way. The reply was that if his ranch had such a man, the department could not obtain him; that such a man would be worth $20,000 a year and that they were prepared to pay for the man who promised well a salary of $5,000 a year. This, of course, is an extreme case, a case where large interests were involved, but a better knowledge of mechanical principles to the small farmer and to the maker of farm machinery in the country at large is relatively just as important. The importance of mechanical knowledge to the American farmer is just beginning to be appreciated. Until within the last ten years training in farm mechan- ics was practically ignored by our agricultural colleges, but in recent years some of the most progressive have es- tablished courses of instruction and begun investiga- tions. The results of this innovation have been most encouraging. These colleges ha,ve, however, labored under one serious difficulty. It takes all the time and strength of instructors to do the work of the classroom. They are not in a position to conduct investigations and collect data needed for their students, and there is at present a lack of any systematized information for use in the classroom. Eealizing this fundamental need in the training of the future generation of farmers, Dr. A. C. True, director of the Office of Experiment Stations, in his report for 1904, recommended that the irrigation and drainage work of this office be extended to include investigation in the applications of power to other agri- cultural purposes besides irrigation. In support of this he made the following statement : "The need of a better understanding of the principles of mechanics and of better training in the use of ma- chinery is one of the features of American agriculture which has not yet been adequately recognized in the courses of instruction in our agricultural colleges or in the work of this department. We are the greatest makers and users of farm machinery in the world, and it is owing to this fact more than to any other single cause that we have been able to maintain our agricul- tural supremacy in the markets of the world. The cost of this machinery to the farmer is one of his heaviest outlays, and the gain by increasing its life through bet- ter care or its efficiency through more skillful operation can hardly be overestimated. The difficulty of doing this is greater today than ever before. The character of this machinery every year becomes more complicated, requiring increased knowledge of engineering principles on the part of farmers. The traction engine, the steam plow, the combined harvester and thresher operated by steam power, the automobile, the growing use of elec- tricity as a motive power on the farm, the machinery now required in dairies, in the cultivation and harvesting of rice, in the growing of sugar beets and manufacture of beet sugar, are illustrations of the momentous changes in the character of farm machines which have taken place in the last fifty years. The increase in skill and mechanical knowledge required by farmers to operate these complex and costly machines compared to what was needed to operate the primitive tools of half a cen- tury ago can not be stated in percentages. The leading European governments have recognized the revolution- ary character of this feature of farm life more clearly than we have. Especially is this true of Germany and Prance, where both governments are continuously inves- tigating this subject. The recent investigations of the German Government to determine the possibility of using alcohol,, which can be purchased at home, to sup- plant gasoline, which is not produced in Germany, to operate farm engines, is an illustration of the govern- mental studies being made in Europe." This extension of the work of the Agricultural De- partment was approved by Secretary Wilson, who sup- plemented Dr. True's recommendation by an extended statement, which will be found in his report for 1904. Prom this I have taken the following extracts : "Closely related to the healthfulness, convenience and cheapness of farm buildings is the right selection, care and use of farm machinery. The studies of pump- ing machinery have shown that the most important factor in its successful use is the mechanical skill of the farmer, and we are beginning to understand that the in- creased complexity and cost of farm machinery make the education of the American farmer along these lines more and more desirable. Realizing the need of improvement in these mat- ters, and partly to meet the requests of implement man- ufacturers for young men having agricultural and me- chanical training which will enable them to design and construct implements suited to the conditions of the American farm, a number of agricultural colleges and experiment stations have inaugurated courses of in- struction and begun systematic experimentation for the purpose of bringing about a general diffusion of intelli- gence about this feature of farm work. They have ap- pealed to this department for aid in this work similar to that already given them in other lines of agricultural investigation. The requests of the colleges and stations for aid in carrying out these investigations and in planning courses of instruction have been supplemented by numerous sim- ilar requests from farmers for advice and assistance THE IRRIGATION AGE. 23 about the selection and operation of different kinds of farm motors and other farm machinery. In the ab- sence of any special arrangement for dealing with these problems, they have been referred to the Office of Ex- periment Stations and dealt with by the irrigation and drainage division of that office ; but there are at present no funds which can be utilized for systematic work along these lines. I am of the opinion that results of great value, alike to the farmers and the manufacturers of agricultural machinery, will come from the extension of the department's work in agricultural engineering to include studies of this character, in cooperation with the agricultural colleges and experiment stations. I have, therefore, asked Congress for an appropriation which will enable us to employ an expert in farm build- ings and farm machinery, in connection with the irri- gation and drainage investigations. The inauguration of this work on July 1st and the selection of Professor Zintheo to carry out these inves- tigations, is, I feel confident, destined to mark a most useful and important extension of the work of our national agricultural department. Professor Zintheo will explain some of the work he has begun and what we hope to do. This is a new field and our plans' must depend on the funds provided by Congress and on the clearer understanding which further experience will give. It is on this account an appreciated privilege to submit our views and plans to this association and solicit your suggestions and criticism. Supplementing what Professor Zintheo says, there seems to be a few general lines of work in which the Department of Agriculture can be of great practical benefit to both farmer and manufacturer. One is in the conducting of investigations and the publishing of bulletins regarding mechanical principles involved in the construction and use of farm machinery. This work will contribute to the efficiency of instruction in agricultural colleges and affect both the present and future generations of farmers. Another line of work is original investigation of the adaptation of new forms of power' to farm work and their value as compared to animals. The studies of wind and alcohol outlined by Professor Zintheo are examples, of which many oth- ers might be given. The collection and publication of information by the Department regarding improvements in the design of machinery, or of new devices used in agriculture, would have great practical value. Such work ought not to be restricted to machinery made in this country, but should keep track of progress in all parts of the world. The German and French gov- ernments have done much in this direction, and its influence is shown in the improvement in design of their machines and implements, some of which are begin- ning to rival or surpass our own. The farm machinery museum connected with the agricultural high school of Berlin, and the laboratory maintained by France in Paris for testing the principles of farm machinery and their adaptation to the work of the different French provinces, have done much for the farmer at home and to extend trade of manufacturers abroad. The estab- lishment of such a museum or laboratory in Washing- ton and the gathering there of the leading types of farm machinery made by different countries; would be an educational agency worth far more than its cost. THE RAILROADS AND IRRIGATION. Under the heading', "The Railroads and Irrigation," the Omaha Bee of recent date has the following to say : While it has been an open secret for some time that the commissary department of the irrigation propaganda that culminated in the national irrigation law of three years ago was supported by a combination of transcon- tinental railroads, we believe that the details of the arrangement were for the first time made public under official authority in a letter directed by James J. Hill to the irrigation congress in session at Portland last week. In this letter the great railway magnate lays claim for the railroads to the credit of inaugurating the irrigation campaign and explains that "at first three and a little later five of the great railroad systems of the west united and furnished each $5,000 a year as a working fund to make the necessary inquiries and to spread the facts abroad." Had it been known when the Maxwell promotion bureau was enlisting support of western commercial bodies that the agitation behind this beneficent project came simply from an aggregation of paid lobbyists, absorbing $25,000 to $30,000 a year as compensation and incidentals in their work, the response would hardly have been so prompt and so vigorous. That does not detract from the fact, however, that the underlying principle that the national government should assist by congressional appropriation in the reclamation of our semi-arid lands is none the less founded in wisdom and justice, nor will any one object to the railroads sharing in the returns sure to accrue from the enter- prise. But while accrediting the railroad magnates with foresight and shrewdness it is a little too much for them to pose, as Mr. Hill would have it, as disinterested phil- anthropists when it is known that the inspiring motive on their side was not only the prospective increase in traffic coming from the settlement of the uninhabited parts of the public domain, but also the more direct and immediate creation of a market for unsalable lands still remaining in their possession out of their early land grants. With the railroads owning alternate sec- tions it would be impossible for the government to reclaim any considerable part of the public domain without at the same time bringing, the railroad holdings within the reclamation area and it is a safe guess that the railroads have already gotten back the money they spent for promotion. In this one thing, however, namely, the occupation of the vacant tracts of the western states by self-sup- porting bona fide settlers, the interest of the railroads and of the general public are identical, and in the execution of pending irrigation projects and the perfec- tion of the irrigation law to the end of safeguarding reclaimed land against misappropriation by land grab- bers both can work together. THE IRRIGATION AGE. 1 year $1.00 THE PRIMER OF IRRIGATION, a finely illustrated 300-page book 2.00 II both are ordered send .... 2.50 Address, IRRIGATION AGE. 112 Dearborn Street, Chica-go. 24 THE IRRIGATION AGE. PREPARING LAND FOR IRRIGATION AND METHODS OF APPLYING WATER. METHODS IN USE IN NEBRASKA. • Almost the total expense of preparing land for ir- rigation in Nebraska is due to the construction of the field laterals and furrows. In those cases, including per- haps the majority, where the making of the furrow serves also as a cultivation the cost of making them should not be charged wholly against the preparation of the ground for irrigation. The distance apart of the laterals in the field de- pends chiefly upon which of the two methods of irriga- tion in use in the State is to be employed. It depends also to some extent upon the character of the soil in respect to its capacity for the rapid absorption of water, and upon the lay of the land. For. flooding, the laterals are placed from 100 to 300 feet apart. The greater distance obtains on wild hay land, and the lesser in the irrigation of alfalfa and sma-11 grain growing on soils which take the water readily. An average distance apart of laterals in cultivated fields which are to be irrigated by flooding is 125 to 150 feet. Feeder laterals for fur- row irrigation are placed at greater intervals, ranging ordinarily from 300 to 1,200 feet, according to the lay of the ground and the carrying capacity of the furrows. There is a general tendency to build laterals closer to- gether, as it is found that the water is more easily and effectively handled in this way. The field laterals are very generally made about one foot wide on the bottom, one foot deep, and from four to six feet wide on top. The grade of course varies to some degree with the lay of the land, but a fall of five feet to the mile is common, and is quite generally recog- nized as a minimum below which it is not desirable to go. The common stirring plow, the lister, the wooden V, and the reversible blade machine are all used for the construction of laterals and approved by experienced irrigators. The blade machine is considered better than the V in clay or rocky ground. The reversible machine requires about twice the force of men and horses to work it that the V does, but when used systematically the work can probably be done at somewhat less cost than with the V. A superintendent of large experience esti- mates that two men and two teams with a V can com- plete from one to three miles of field laterals per day, depending on the condition of the ground. For irriga- tion by flooding this would be sufficient for the irriga- tion of from twenty to sixty acres. Allowing $6 a day for men and teams, the cost per acre would be from ten to thirty cents. For turning the water out of the field laterals all of the better known devices are in use — canvas dams, sheet-iron dams, and dirt checks. The sheet-iron dam is said to be rspecially satisfactory in fields where dig- ging as undesirable, as in fields of alfalfa or of small grain, since it can be set and removed without the use of the shovel. In flooding, the laterals are dammed and opened at intervals ordinarily coming within the range of from fifty to 100 feet. For furrow irrigation of general field crops the furrows are usually made with a plow or lister when large furrows are required. A disk cultivator makes a good furrow for watering corn and potatoes. When the earth must not be thrown against the plant, as in the case of beets or vines, a smaller appliance, known as an irrigation shovel, is attached to the cultivator and makes a neat furrow. IRRIGATION IN WESTERN KANSAS. In early years a Mr. Allman supplied the garrison at Fort Wallace, Kas., with provisions. This led to an attempt to grow fruit and vegetables, for which there was a great demand. At the outset the necessity for an artificial watering of crops during the dry season was apparent. In 1877 a ditch system was constructed to supply the land, and it has been in continual use since that time. The main supply ditch takes its water from the Smoky Hill River, which flows through the northern part of the ranch. The most commendable feature about the distribut- ing system is the manner in which the laterals serve the land lying immediately below them and drain that above. In this the natural slope of the land favors the irrigator. An ordinary plow with a depth of cut of about ten inches and a width of about sixteen inches was used in the construction of the laterals. This was run twice Box for Admitting Water to Ditch from Stream with slow Current. [Illustration taken from the Primer of Irrigation.] over the line of the ditch so as to make a dead furrow. Where the line of the laterals could not be easily changed to avoid a low place or hollow, the surface soil for several feet on either side of the lateral was scraped with a board scraper and a fill made. At first consider- able trouble was experienced with these fills and close attention was required to prevent breaks. Breaks that occurred were found to be most easily mended by the use of straw or manure with the earth. Crops are grown on those fields suited both to the requirements of the plant and the economical distribu- tion of water. Barley, rye, oats, and other small, grains are grown on the higher ground. They mature early in the season and need to be irrigated only at a time when water is plentiful. Some of the water used on the crops on the higher levels sinks into the ground and reaching the lower levels helps to keep them moist. Alfalfa is grown on the next lower levels, while the lowest patches are devoted to fruits and vegetables. All grains and grasses are irrigated by flooding, while the orchard and garden are furrow irrigated. Root THE IRRIGATION AGE. crops, such as beets, carrots, and parsnips are sowed in rows eighteen inches apart. The furrows are made very shallow, but the land used has sufficient fall (ten inches in 100 feet) to be irrigated evenly throughout the length of the furrows. One break in the lateral serves to sup- ply several furrows. Where the length is between 200 and 300 feet, the water is allowed to run down each fur- to the rows, say within eight inches of them. In this way the water is certain to reach the small rootlets of the younger plants and a less amount of water is needed. The four-shovel cultivator is used in making these fur- rows. The shovels are set in pairs and one furrow is made with each pair. But one furrow is made for each row and the furrows that irrigate any two rows are made '^^^^^^^^^^^^^^1?^^^ [Depressed Beds. Illustration from Primer of Irrigation.] row for about two hours. The quantity allowed depends largely upon the distance between the furrows. In the garden the water is run down each space between the rows except on potatoes and tomatoes. In the first irri- gation of potatoes the water is turned into every fur- row to insure an even setting, but in later waterings only into alternate furrows. Usually one miner's inch of water is found sufficient for garden furrows eighteen between those rows. This makes two furrows between alternate pairs of rows. During later irrigations the furrows are made so as to irrigate two rows each, and are run in the intervening spaces where no furrows were made before. In the orchards the furrows are made tbout three feet apart and are at least four feet from the trees. The cultivator used in making these furrows has five shovels. Wind Mill and Tank for House and Garden Use. [Primer of Irrigation.] inches apart, while as much as three or even five miner's One large shovel in the center makes the furrow, the inches are required for furrows thirty or thirty-six two smaller ones on each side cultivate the ground. This inches apart. Early in the season when corn is still implement is run over the ground as soon after an irri- small, furrows used to irrigate this crop are made close gation as possible and prepares the land for the next THE IBRIGATION AGE. irrigation while cultivating the ground. The ground IB always cultivated with this implement after a rainfall between two irrigations. In plowing fields that are to be irrigated cross plow- ing is better than two plowings in the same direction, as there is no danger of making dead furrows. How- ever, ideal conditions can not be secured the first season a field is irrigated. Low places will appear where all was thought to be level and the water will wash from one furrow to another. This is especially true if the furrows are very long. When such low places are found they should be marked, so that they can be filled before the next season. On account of the many difficulties met with, about one cubic foot of water per second is all one man can take care of the first season. Later, one man can man- age double this amount. Mr. Allman's experience has shown him that the time to irrigate different crops varies greatly, as does also the depth of water to be applied. Cabbage and like plants do well with a shallow irrigation about every ten days or two weeks. Potatoes given a shallow irriga- tion about setting time set well. Too deep an irrigation at this time causes the plants to make too vigorous a leaf growth and set too many potatoes. No crop should be irrigated when in full flower, though a shallow irriga- tion when buds are opening insures an abundance of perfect blooms. Corn does best when the land has re- ceived from five to eight inches of water just before seeding. Given a like irrigation when about ten inches high and again when beginning to tassel there is usually no need for further watering. When the season is par- ticularly dry it is sometimes necessary to give another, but shallower irrigation after the kernels have begun to fill. Fruits irrigated a few days before they are picked are generally fresher looking than those not irri- gated at this time. Mr. Allman irrigated small garden truck about every week. An inch or two of water is usually applied at each watering. AN EXAMPLE OF HILLSIDE IRRIGATION. On the farm of J. A. Jones, of Scott County, is a fully developed system of hillside irrigation. The water is obtained from springs. A line of drain tile in- tercepts the water from hillside springs. At various points along the line are openings from which the water flows down zigzag furrows between the trees and gar- den truck. The surplus water is connected in a pond used for fish raising and ice making. A SERVICEABLE FLUME. Mr. Warner, also of Scott County, has installed a system of flumes on his place through which to convey spring water to his fields. The largest flume is about twelve inches across. The bottom is made of 1.5 by 12-inch lumber and the sides of 1 by 8-inch lumber. Clear-grained lumber free from knots is chosen for this purpose. To add strength to the flume yokes of 1 by 3-inch material are placed every ten feet or so, and in such a way as to have one not more than two feet from the end of each board. Another way of arranging the yokes is to make them of 1 by 6-inch material so that they are wide enough to cover the board joints. The strongest form of brace used was one having dovetailed joints. Where these were used the tail on one of the joints on the lower member was cut deeper than the upper and wedges were driven into the joints, as shown in figure 33. In this way the joint is kept very tight. THE NORTHERN HOTEL, Billings, Montana The leading hotel of the Queen City of the Yellowstone Country. Steam heated, electric lighted; headquarters for tourists. irrigatu-n men and all who enjoy good service. A. F. McNABB, Manager. $2. SO will secure for you one year's subscription to THE IRRIGATION AQE and a finely bound volume of the Primer of Irrigation which will be sent postpaid in a few months, when volume Is completed. The Primer of Irrigation will be finely Illustrated and will contain about 300 pages. Send post office or express money order for $2.50 and secure copy of first | edition. One Method Take Your Power to Where it Is Most Needed Fairbanks-Morse Mechanical Irrigation Machinery Will often increase value of Arid Land from $1.00 to $100, or even $5OO per acre IT'S A SIMPLE PROBLEM LET US PROVE IT FOR YOU Send for Bulletin No. 650, 1. R. Fairbanks, Morse & Co. Irrigation Department CHICAGO - - ILLINOIS THE IRRIGATION AGE. $2.^0 will pay for the Irrigation Age one year and The Primer of Irriga- tion. Canadian Pacific Railway Irrigated Lands now ready for sale. This is the greatest irrigation project in America. Prices and terms reasonable. For particulars apply or write Canadian Pacific Irrigation Colonization Co.. Ltd. J. M. PATTERSON, General Agent Calgary, Alberta, Canada Will Your Wooden Headgate Last Another Year ? A Northwestern Headgate being made of iron and steel is strong and reliable, and will outlast a dozen wooden gates. Being care- fully and scientifically made 't is easily operated, ami will not le&k a drrp Being the most durable headgates made, NORTHWESTEBN HBADQATES are consequently the cheapest. They are guaranteed to prove entirely satisfactory, or your money re- funded. My CATALOGUE is FREE. Better send for it. C. D. BUTCHART, Denver, Colo. Ten Tourist Lines to Pacific Coast Divided between two superb routes. Via El Paso through New Mexico. Via Colorado through the Rockies. Rock Island through tourist cars both ways. From Chicago, St. Louis, Kansas City, Omaha, Des Moines, Cedar Rapids, St. Paul and Minneapolis and hundreds of other points. ''From Everywhere East to Anywhere West." The Rock Island red folder "Across the Continent in a Tourist Sleep- ing Car" tells all about it. Full details regarding rates and the service via both routes, promptly upon request. Rock Island System JOHN SEBASTIAN, P. T. M. ROCK ISLAND SYSTEM, CHICAGO. THE IKEIQATION AGE. SUGAR-BEET INDUSTRY IN NEBRASKA AND COLORADO Is attracting1 the attention of capitalists and farmers along- the UNION PACIFIC From beets averaging 15 to 25 tons to the acre, the factory can extract 14 per cent, granulated sugar, or 280 pounds to the ton of beets. For full information about the Famous Platte Valley, Its entire lengrth traversed by the Union Pacific. E. L. LOMAX General P«sstnjer and Ticket A Jeni OMAHA. NEB. BOOKS ON Irrigation and Drainage THE IRRIGATION AGE has established a book department for the benefit of its readers. Any of the following named books on Irrigation and Drainage will be forwarded postpaid on receipt of price: Irrigation Institutions, El wood Mead 81.25 Irrigation in the United Statei, F. H. Newell 2.00 Irrigation Engineering, Herbert M. Wilson 4.00 Irrigation and Drainage, F. H. King 1.50 Irrigation for Farm and Garden, Stewart 1.00 Irrigating the Farm, Wilcox 2.00 The Primer of Irrigation, cloth, 300 pages 2.00 Practical Farm Drainage, Charles G. Elliott. . .... 1.00 Drainage for Profit and Health, Waring 1.00 Farm Drainage, French 1.00 Land Drainage, Miles 1.00 Tile Drainage, Chamberlain 40 Address I THE D. H. ANDERSON PUBLISHING CO. 112 Dearborn Street, CHICAGO, ILL. Renew your subscription of the IRRIGATION AGE for 1905 Send us in Post Office or Express money order for $1.00 With Primer of Irrigation $2.50 ABOUT THE SOUTH 'About theSouth'Ms the name of a 64-page illustrated pamphlet issued by the Passenger Dept. of the ILLINOIS CENTRAL R. R CO. in which important questions are tersely answered in brief articles about Southern Farm Lands, Mississippi Valley Cotton Lands, Truck Farming, Fruit Growing, Stock Raising, Dairying, Grasses and Forage, Soils, Market Facilities and Southern Immigration along the lines nf the Illinois Central and Yazoo & Mississippi Valley ra'lroads, in the States of Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi and Louisiana, including the famous :: :: :: YAZOO VALLEY OF M.SS.SS.PP. Send for a free copy tu J. F Merry, A. G. P. A., I. C. K R., Dubuque, Iowa. Information concerning rates and train service to the Snuth via the Ilinois Central can be had of agents of connecting lines, or by addr ssing A. H. HANSON, G. P. A., Chicago, III. THE IRRIGATION AGE. 29 GaJva^nized Steel Irrigation Flumes AND WATER. TR.OUGHS Galvanized steel is rapidly taking the place of wood for fluming purposes and with The Maginnia Patent splice fluminp is made easy Any boy can put the Maginnis Steel Flume together or take it apart. Sti el flumes and troughs "Ship Knock down" Third Class freight. Let me figure on your flume. All flumes guaranteed. Write for Testimonials and Particulars to P. Maginnis, Mfr. Kimball, Nebraska The = COLORADO MIDLAND RAILWAY :( MIDLAND ROUTE): Penetrates the Heart of Colorado, pass- ing thro' the Grandest Mountain Scenery, reaching CRIPPLE CREEK, GLEN- WOOD SPRINGS, LEADVILLE and the irrigated lands of the Grand Valley. Observation Library Cars Denver to Ogden :: :: :: Pullman Tourist Cars Chicago and St. Louis to California via Great Salt Lake :: :: :: :: :: :: WRITE FOR OUR LITERATURE AND RATES H. C. BUSH, C. H. SPEERS, Traffic Mgr., Denver, Colo. Gen. Pass.Agt., Denver, Colo. H. W. JACKSON, Gen. Agt.. Chicago. I .Can Show You Excellent Farming Lands at from $10 to 815 per acre, right alongside improved farms that earn more than this price per acre every year, averaging the last twelve years. I have thousands of acres of such land for sale. Land precisely similar, but a lit- tle further out, and not in as well settled districts, I can sell you for less money. The possibilities of both soil and climate are the same, all that is needed to make hne farms of these wild lands is WORK, and not an awful lot of that. These lands are embraced in what is known as The Cadillac Tract and comprise an area of about 25,000 acres of "good farming lands, lo- cated from one-half to six miles from the enterprising City of Cadillac, Wexford County, Michigan. Cadillac now hai a population of about 8,000 (with no dead ones), and is growing rapidly. Over 300 new houses were built here last year and all are occupied. More than ever are being built this year. Ten years hence will see Cadillac the leading town of Northern Michigan. Why? Because we have got the natural advantages and re- sources, and best of all, the people to make it grow rapidly and surely. The characteristic soil of this area of Michigan is a warm, sandy loam, generally underlaid with clay or gravel or both, and is an ideal soil for this climate. All crops natural to the Temperate Zone are produced abund- antly. The climate is equable and agreeable and healthy, as is shown by our freedom from contagious and epidemic diseases. I have a handsomely illustrated booklet, together with a map of these lands, which I will send you free on your request. It gives you detailed information about this country; every word of it, except the testimo- nials, was written by the advertiser, who will stand back of it. WRITE TODAY. IT WILL PAY YOU. C A rWl 71T* 1 4S THiT^UDlT' District Agent Colonization Bureau of •****my«»»j »J« * n\Jf\r~X^t, Michigan Railroads. Room 8, Webber-McMuIlen Building . - CADILLAC, MICHIGAN "The basil of my business is absolute and unvarying Integrity."— Samuel S. Thorpe. Please mention THE IRRIGATION AGE when writing to Advertisers. 30 THE IKRIGATION AGE. Illinois Central R.R. EFFICIENTLY SERVES A VAST TERRITORY CHICAGO, ILL. OMAHA, NEB. COUNCIL BLUFFS, IOWA. MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. ST. PAUL, MINN. PEORIA, ILL. EVANSVILLE, IND. ST. LOUIS, MO. by through service to and from the following cities: CINCINNATI, OHIO. NEW ORLEANS, LA. MEMPHIS, TENN. HOTSPRINGS.ARK. LOUISVILLE, KY. NASHVILLE, TENN. ATLANTA, GA. JACKSONVILLE, FLA. Through excursion sleeping-car service between Chicago and between Cincinnati AND THE PACIFIC COAST. Connections at above terminals for the EAST, SOUTH. WEST, NORTH. Fast and Handsomely Equipped Steam-Heated Trains — Dining Cars — Buffet-Library Cars — Sleeping Cars— Free Reclining Chair Cars. Particulars of agents of the Illinois Central and conuecting lines. A. H. HANSON. Pass'r Traffic Mgr., CHICAGO. S. G. HATCH. Gen'l Pass'r Agent. CHICAGO 50 YEARS' EXPERIENCE TRADE MARKS DESIGNS COPYRIGHTS &c. Anyone sending a sketch and description may quickly ascertain our opinion free whether an invention is prob-ably natentable. Communica- tions strict ly confidential. HANDBOOK on Patents sent free. Oldest agency for securing patents. Patents taken through Munn & Co. receive tpecial notice, without charge, in the Scientific American. A handsomely illustrated weekly. Largest cir- culation of any scientific journal. Terms, $3 a year ; four months, fU. Sold by all newsdealers. MUNN ft Co.™-—* New York Branch Office, 62S F 8U Washington, D. C. PRAIRIE Incubators Brooders 100 Egg Incubator complete. .$10.00 50 Egg Incubator complete.. 6.00 100 Chick Brooder complete.. .7.00 Delivered from Kansas City, St. Louis, Chicago. Beautiful catalogue free. PRAIRIE STATE INCUBATOR CO. Box 362. Homer City, Pennsylvania The Wizard1 Engine With Pump ARE DSED BY THE U. S. GOVERNMENT ' In sending out their last specifications forl F gasoline engines for West Point, the( U. S. ' War Department required them "to be Olds Engines QrjNjnnl." They excel ail others or the U. S. Government would not de- mand them. The horizontal type, 2 to 100 H. P.-, and are so simply and perfectly made that it requires no experience to run them, and Repairs Practically Cost Nothing. Send for a catalogue of our Wizard Engine, 2 to 8 H. P. (jump-spark ignition, the same as in the famous OtasmobiTe ) . The most economical small power engine L pjadej fitted with either pump -jack or di- L reel-connected pump. Or, our general catalogue, showing all sizes. Olds Gasoline Engine Works, Lansing. Mich. °-dai -~ Motsinger Anto-Sparto Starts and Runs Gal Engines Without Batteries o other machine can do It suocss- ully for lack of original patents owned by us. No twist motion In onr drive. No belt or switch necessary. No batteries what- ever, for mane and break or Jump-spark. Water and dust- proof. Fully guaranteed. Motslnger Deylce Mfg. Co. m MAu.8r,«NDi.ETOH,iND.,u. ».A. 15. QUO Newspapers and Periodicals every week Thinkers Students Writers Public Men Business Men and ANYONE wishing to collect clippings on any subject, — business pointers, material for lectures, sermons or debates, • — should read our booklet, "The Uses of Press Clippings." » Sent to any address ou receipt c (stamps. Consolidated Press Clipping Co. 167 W abash Ave.. CHICAGO I ASPINWALL POTATO MACHINERY 1, CUTTERS. PLANTERS. SPRAYERS. DIGGERS. SORTERS. ESTABLISHED THIRTY (30) YEARS. ASPINWALL MFG CO., cJACKSON, MICH., U.S.A. The Profits Are Yours 25 to 100 per cent Dividend Paying Stock without a cent's investment for same. No canvassing. No agency. A strictly business proposition. Buying from us means from factory to you. No jobbers. No retail profits to pay. We "Divide the Profit with You." You get dividend paying stock and better goods at lower prices. Yo\i Can't Lose by Taking Profits Let us fend you free the "most remarkable mercantile offer ever ma.de," and our catalogue of unequalled prices. The Peoples' Mercantile Co, DIVIDEND DEPARTMENT DENVER, COLORADO Dealers in Merchandise for Men, Women and Children DON'T BUY GASOLINE ENGINES all one-cvlinder engines t revolutionizing gas power. Costs Less to Buy and Less to Run. Quickly, easily started. No vibration. Can be mounted on any wagon at small cost — portable sta* » m,._^ 1_,_ __ r. --._. THE TtMI'LE Pl'MP CO., Mfrs., Me«cher & l&th Sto., Chicago. THIS "" tionary or traction. Mention this paper. SEND FOR CATALOGUE. UNTIL YOU INVESTIGATE "THE MASTER WORKMAN." a two-cylinder gasoline engine superior t» y wagon at small cost — portable, sta* IS OUR FIFTY-SECOND YEAR. THE IRRIGATION AGE. 31 The Idan=Ha, Boise The Leading Hotel in Idaho Modern and up-to-date in every particular. Political, Commercial and Social Headquarters of Idaho. E. W. Schubert, Manager THE FARMER IN THE! SOUTHWEST PROSPERS! Because he pays from $8 to $15 an acre for land that produces as good crops as land in Illinois and Indiana which sells for $75 to $100 an acre. The mild climate gives him earlier crops and the short winter makes stock-raising less ex- pensive. Yo\i have the same chance to prosper that is being taken by hundreds of the northern and eastern farmers. Write for free copies of our illustrated books on Texas and Oklahoma. Low rates to all points in the Southwest on the first and third Tuesdays of each month, via FRISCO Chicago & Eastern Illinois R. R. W. H. RICHARDSON. G. P. A.. Chicago. 111. do Southwest THE Southern Pacific TRAVERSES LOUISIANA, TEXAS, NEW MEXICO, ARIZONA, CALIFORNIA PULLMAN STANDARD AND EXCURSION SLEEPERS. FREE CHAIR CARS. DAY COACHES. OIL BURNING LOCOMOTIVES NO SMOKE NO DUST NO CINDERS Low Colonists' Rates to all Points. See for yourself THE FAMOUS OIL, RICE, COTTON, SUGAR, LUMBER, TOBACCO, GRAPE, TRUCK AND CATTLE COUNTRY OF TKe Grea^l SovitKwest WRITE FOR ILLUSTRATED PAMPHLETS TO T. J. ANDERSON, Q. P. A. JOSEPH HELLEN, A. Q. P. A. HOUSTON, TEXAS 32 THE IRRIGATION AGE. The Fertile Lands of Colorado are best reached by the DENVER & RIO GRANDE R. R Scenic Line of the World" Colorado has fertile valleys surpassed by no other land under the sun and by means of irrigation the farmer is absolutely insured against crop failure. Write for free booklet and all information. S. K. HOOPER, General Passenger and Ticket Agent. DENVER. COLO. R. C. NICHOL. General Agent, 242 Clark St., CHICAGO, ILL. ST. LOUIS —TO- HOT SPRINGS, ARK. TEXAS, MEXICO and CALIFORNIA. Elegant Through Service. OVER 19 HOURS SAVED TO MEXICO. DOUBLE DAILY SERVICE. DINING CARS, "Meals a la Carte. H.C.TOWNSEND, G. P. and T. Agent, ST. LOUIS, MO The Great East and West Line Try A G tun Across the Entire States of I tAAO *"" NO TROUBLE TO ANSWER QUESTIONS. Through Tourist and Standard Sleepers between Chicago and California without change. Close connection at El Paso. New Dining Cars (meals a la carte) between Texas and St. Ltuis. Write for new book on Texas. FREE. E. P.TURNER, General Passenger Agent, Dallas, Texas Several thousand acres of good, un- | Improved Wisconsin land for sale by the "OMAHA ROAD" at low prices and on easy terms. This land railroad and good markets are but a short distance away. New Extensions recently built . Elves transportation facilities to a I section of Northern Wisconsin, re- I markable for Its resources. Excursion rates will be made for homeseekers. If you are Interested write for our new | | pamphlet giving particulars. T. W. TEASDALE | General Passenger Agent, ST. PAUL, Mnra. I Renew your subscription of the IRRIGATION AGE for 1905. Send us J | in Post Office or Express money order for $1.00. THE IRRIGATION AGE One year, $1.00 THE PRIMER OF IRRIGATION 300 pages. $2.00 Very Low Rates One-way Colonist Excursion tickets via the Northern Pacific Railway, until Oct. 31st, 1905, to Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana and points in British Columbia. Your chance to find a home in the Great Northwest. Liberal stop- over privileges and low side-trip rates for those who wish to break the journey. Fast through passenger service. New and handsome standard and tourist sleeping cars and through dining cars. RICH LAND AT LOW COST ALONG THE Northern Pacific Railway A. M. CLELAND, GENERAL PASSENGER AGENT, ST. PAUL, MINN. For special literature and information write C. W. Mott, General Emigration Agent, St. Paul, or to C. A. Matthews, General Agent Passenger Department, 208 South Clark Street, Chicago, 111. OWN : A ; FARM! Thousands of Jtcres of Fertile Lands capable of raising the finest quality of farm products in luxurious abundance, are for sale upon reasonable terms in Wisconsin, Northern Michigan, Minnesota, South Dakota, Iowa, Nebraska and Wyoming. Reference to reliable statistics will demonstrate the fact that the pursuits of AGRICULTURE:. STOCK-RAISING AND DAIRYING in these states are attended with profitable results. For further information regarding lands, addrtsi CHICAGO AND J. F. CLEVELAND LAND COMMISSIONER, C. &. N.W. By- 22 Fifth Ave., Chicago, III. NORTH- WESTERN RY. ASK FOR TICKETS VIA THE NORTH-WESTERN LINE CHICAGO TICKET OFFICES 212 CLARK STREET. PASSENGER STATION, WELLS AND KINZIE 6TREETS. OAKLEY AVENUE AND KINZIE STREET. H. R. MeCULLOUGH, Third Vice-President. A. GARDNER, General Manager. W. B. KNISKERN, . . Pass. Traffic Manager , V * • DOUBLE POWER lor its equal. Wind power doubled. Two 14 ft. wheels worfc on same pinion; sec- ond wheel gives more pow- er than first. A Governor That Governs In all winds. Develops 10 full h. p. In 25 mile wind. All power Deeded for farm, shop, irrigating, etc. Ask about our self oiling, self governed, single wheel pumper — also Armsaver Husker. Ask for book fio DOUBLE POWER MILL CO. Appleton, WU. TWENTY- FIRST YEAR VOL. XXI. No. 2. I Hi ll THE ' IRRIGATION AGE^ ESTABLISHED 1885 WITH WHICH IS MERGED , THE BRAINASE JOURNAL : ESTABLISHED 18?9 IGATMAGB PUBLISHED IN THE INTEREST OF IRRIGATION DECEMBER 1905. THED.H.ANDERSON PUBLISHING CO, Publishers. 112 DEARBORN ST., CHICAGO. DRAINAGE SPECIAL FEATURES Boost for Boise. Paying Maxwell. The Imperial Valley. The Crow Indian Reservation. The Sahara Ditch. More About Montana. Senator Hansbrough's Position. Demand for Western Land. Boise Plans to Entertain. Complaint About Reclamation Bureau Farm Machinery Investigations CHARLES » i 36 THE IKRIGATION AGE. ASPINWALL POTATO MACHINERY I , CUTTERS. PLANTERS. SPRAYERS. DIGGERS . SORTERS. ESTABLISHED THIRTY (30) YEARS. ASPINWALL MFG CO., cJACKSOts, MICH., U.S.A. FARM LEVELS. ROAD LEVELS. ARCHITECTS' LEVELS. Elc. Levels especially designed for Terracinf , Ditchinf , Drainage, Irrigation, Rice Culture, and also for Road Building, Contracting, etc. Levels with all the latest im- provements and that are very simple, durable, accur- ate and easy to adjust and to operate. Prices range from {5 to $35, depending on the attachments, size of telescopes, etc We build the level that will suit your purpose and that will satisfy you in quality and price. Write for our complete catalogue and let us show you their several advantages. BELYEU LEVEL C\, ALEXANDER CITY, ALA. The Primer of Irrigation $2.00 The Irrigation Age $1.00 When both are ordered send $2.50. IRRIGATION AGE 112 Dearborn St. Chicago RIFE AUTOMATIC HYDRAULIC RAM PUMPS WATER BY WATER POWER Large Capacity Rams for Irrigation RUNS CONTINUOUSLY NO ATTENTION NO EXPENSE Operates under 18 in. to 50 ft. fall. .*. Elevates water 30 teet for every '°"t fall used. So per cent efficiency developed. .'. Over 4,500 plants In successful operation. .*. In- formation and estimates promptly and cheerfully furnished. •.• Catalog Frae. RIFE ENGINE COMPANY I I I BROADWAY. NEW YORK, U. S. A. Dempster Gasoline Engines Make Sure of Having Water When You Need It Pump it with a Centrifugal Pump and Dempster Engine Dempster Gasoline Engines 2 to 30 Horse Power Reliable Economical Durable Always Ready for Business DEMPSTER MILL MANUFACTURING CO, K*aotor*y: Branch Houses: KANSAS CITY, MO.; SIOUX FALLS, SO. DAK.; OMAHA, NEB. THE IRRIGATION AGE VOL. XXI CHICAGO, DECEMBER, 1905. No. 2 THE IRRIGATION AGE With which is Merged MODERN IRRIGATION THE DRAINAGE JOURNAL THE IRRIGATION ERA MID-WEST ARID AMERICA THE FARM HERALD THE D. H. ANDERSON PUBLISHING CO., PUBLISHERS, 112 Dearborn Street, CHICAGO Entered at the Postoffice at Chicago, 111., as Second-Class Matter. D. H. ANDERSON ) Edi W. J. ANDERSON ] tait< ANNOUNCEMENT. "The Primer of Irrigation" is now ready for delivery. Price, $2.00. If ordered in connection with subscription, the price is $1.50. SUBSCRIPTION PRICE. To United States Subscribers, Postage Paid 11.00 To Canada and Mexico, 1.00 All Other Foreign Countries 1.50 In forwarding remittances please do not send checks on local banks. Send either postomce or express money order or Chicago or New York draft. A monthly illustrated magazine recognized throughout the world as the exponent of Irrigation and its kindred industries. It is the pioneer journal of its kind in the world, and has no rival in half a continent. It advocates the mineral development and the industrial gro.wth of the West. Interesting to Advertisers.' It may interest advertisers to know that The Irrigation Age is the only publication in the world having an actual paid in advance circulation among individual irrigators and large irrigation corpo- rations. It is read regularly by all interested in this subject and has readers in all parts of the world. The Irrigation Age is 10 years old and is the pioneer publication of its class in the world. The citizens of Boise, Idaho, where the Boost for Fourteenth National Irrigation Congress Boise. will be held in 1906 (probably during September) , are already at . work on plans for entertaining the delegates. Elsewhere in this issue will be found an article outlining some of the plans. It is exceeding fortunate for Boise that she has such men as Messrs. Gwinn, Booth and Shubert, all of whom are boosters and good workers. Mr. Booth, who will act as assistant to the secretary, is president of the Boise Chamber of Commerce and a man fully quali- fied to handle his end of the work. Mr. Gwinn is one of the leading citizens of Idaho and his -selection as executive chairman was an exceedingly fortunate one. Mr. Shubert is the best known hotel man of the State and will lend valuable assistance in arranging for the entertainment of the delegates. Everyone interested in irrigation and the development of the West should "Boost for Boise" and the Fourteenth National Irriga- tion Ccingress. The traveled foreigner is very apt /to *' temper his admiration for things Amcri- . , j can by the observation that for the most "part they are unfinished and crude. The wave of interest in agricultural engineering, and irriga- tion in particular, which has swept over this country in the last few years has naturally fostered the idea that America was outstripping the old world in the magnitude and number of her irrigation projects. A comparison of the work already completed, or under way, in foreign countries, with the numerous plans now being worked out in the United States, seems to show that in this particular field Americans are followers or imitators and not leaders or originators. Even in the magnitude of the work the palm must be awarded to India and Egypt, while if consummate finish and judicious water distribution are considered, the laurels go to Italy and to her engineers. In the great plains of northern India over 40,000,000 acres are irrigated, which a generous estimate shows to be over ten times the area reclaimed by irrigation in this country. Indian plains that now support a population of 800,000 inhabitants were formerly absolute deserts. The Ganges canal, which was opened over fifty years ago, now has a length, including its tributary canals, of 10,000 miles. In the State of Mysore a 'reservoir is now under construction which, by means of a masonry dam 142 feet high, will enclose a valley containing over 2,000 square miles. The Assuan dam in Egypt, which project it is estimated will be completed by 1908, at a cost of $31,000,000, will form a lake more than 100 miles in length, and will make possible the growing in the Nile basin of two crops a year instead of one. However, now that the Federal Government has undertaken the reclamation of the desert wastes of the West, it is hoped the work will no longer warrant the assertion recently made by an international authority that irrigation works in America "are often rude and of a temporary nature, the extensive use of timber striking a foreigner from the old world" and deploring the lack of well devised systems of water control. 38 THE IRRIGATION AGE. In a folder issued recently by the St. Paying; Louis branch of the Maxwell-Boothe irri- Maxwell. gation association which was repudiated by the thirteenth National Irrigation Congress, we note that the author starts out with his usual rot about "conquering a new republic and the share which St. Louis will have in it," and to one who has followed Mr. Maxwell's effusions his style is easily discernible. It is also noted that in announcing the list of speakers for a meeting which was no doubt "framed up" by the Maxwell-Boothe crowd, Mr. Maxwell mod- estly heads the list with his own name as follows : The Conquering of this New Republic will be the subject of addresses by Hon. George H. Maxwell, etc., etc. This entertainment was held in the Mercantile Club Hall, St. Louis, and was presided over by a local light of the name of Wernse. One of the interesting features of tbf announcement, however, is as follows : "The addresses will follow a half-hour exposition of stereopticon views loaned by the U. S. Reclamation Service and Forestry Service at Washington for this evening/'. In order to give our readers a more clear idea of the manner in which the chief engineer of the Reclamation Service and Mr. Pinchot of the Forestry Bureau feel it necessary to assist the Maxwell-Boothe crowd and in fact pay his association for the assistance rendered these gentlemen through its press bureau, we quote herewith several paragraphs which appeared in a series of articles published three or more years ago in the columns of THE IRRIGATION AGE under the cap- tion, "Influences In the National Irrigation Program"; "He (Maxwell) saw that it would be necessary for him to become intimate with Government officials who could bring him into contact with congressmen, mem- bers of the cabinet, and even the President. He had already become acquainted with those who had ambi- tions to direct the irrigation policy of the country, and through them he met heads of bureaus in Washington - who hoped, through his co-operation, to broaden the sphere of their influence and work. We do not wish to bring these men into disrepute and do not say that their ambitions are either to be commended or condemned. We do say that their methods are open to criticism. That they have been working with Mr. Maxwell for the past two or three years is an estab- lished fact. The readers of 'Forestry and Irrigation' can easily inform themselves as to the bureaus which are working with Mr. Maxwell to maintain that publi- cation. Those who were at the Irrigation Congress held in Chicago in 1900 have no doubt as to who the gentle- men are, and they fully appreciaie the support which , the National Irrigation Association has since received. The arrangement made with Mr. Maxwell by these offi- cers is not known, but since 1900 the National Irriga- tion Association has advertised these men and their work in return for substantial support of another kind. Mr. Maxwell has, through one of these men, been able to confer with the President upon more than one occa- sion. Through the favors extended by another he has met congressmen who have been particularly active in the movement for national aid, and has thus been brought into contact with the Secretary of the Interior. He has had their support in meetings of the Irrigation Congress or wherever their services have been needed. He has been introduced into clubs at Washington, and has appeared before engineering and scientific societies. Only a short time since, both Sir. Maxwell and one of his Government assistants appeared before an economic society in Washington to promote their mutual policies. Through the publications controlled by Mr. Maxwell he has been able to repay his debt to these gentlemen. Besides, he has flooded the country with material sent to the daily newspapers, advertising those who have been of service to him. He has realized that should the Government embark on a plan whereby the West is to- be reclaimed, it would be to his advantage to ha"ve his friends maintained in places where they would be val- uable in carrying out the policies of the National Irri- gation Association. We hare a bale of newspaper clip- pings sent out by this bureau relating to the thorough training and wide experience of the men with whom Mr. Maxwell .has found it advisable to work." It will be noted that a close alliance existed be- tween Maxwell's association and the Reclamation and Forestry bureaus and this was an open co-operative affair until the matter was brought to the attention of higher officials in Washington, who instructed that {he gentlemen at the head of these bureaus sever connec- tions with the Maxwell crowd. These instructions were followed so far as the knowledge of the superior officers went, but those who were fully conversant with the inner facts, knew that Messrs. Newell and Pinchot de- pended largely on Maxwell and his association to bring themselves and the work of their respective departments before- the public. This is why the heads of these bureaus feel that they should now do all in their power to bolster up the tottering frame of "The Maxwell-Boothe Incorpo- rated Irrigation Association." We give these facts so that those interested in the subject may keep fully posted on developments. Our friends in various parts of the coun- Fulsome try are forwarding to us from time to Harangues, time a lot of printed matter which is evi- dently gotten out by the St. Paul office by the National Irriagtion Association, as we note that the name of Benjamin F. Beardsley, who is supposed to be secretary of this organization for the St. Paul district, appears on all of the matter. This literature is composed of reprints from Minneapolis and St. Paul daily papers and contains interviews with Mr. Blanch- ard, press agent of the Reclamation Service, as well as reprints of editorials from one or two other publications all of which is intended to boost the National Irriga- tion Association, an organization which was definitely turned down by resolution of the National Irrigation Congress recently held at Portland, Ore. This effort on the part of Mr. Maxwell and his assistants is evi- THE IKEIGATION AGE. 39 dently made to counteract the effect of said resolution and is a despairing effort to again place the associa- tion in good odor with the public. In order that our readers may fully understand some of the methods of this organization we reproduce herewith part of an editorial which appeared in a Montana daily, which is controlled editorially by one of the men who has re- ceived assistance in a political way from the association. It may not be out of place to mention here, however, that the gentleman mentioned is no longer a member of the United States Senate, and is devoting his time supervising work on his farm near Great Falls, Mont. The following clipped from the literature mentioned will give a fair idea of how Maxwell and his crowd intend to kill the usefulness of the National Irrigation Congress. It will be noted that the impression which it is intended to convey is that the National Irrigation Congress has never assisted in advancing the cause of irrigation. It will also be noted by the following clip- ping that- the writer of the article, who is, no doubt, George H. Maxwell, states that "the Congress at its meetings has always been the arena in which much oratory has been spouted." This is a peculiar statement to come from the pen of George H. Maxwell or one of his lieutenants, in view of the fact that every one who has ever attended an irrigation congress is well aware that Maxwell has been the man of all others who forced his oratorical talents upon that body; in point of fact, if Maxwell had said less at the Congresses he would have stood much better in the estimation of the people gen- erally. The trouble is that Maxwell has always "orated" too much at these Congresses and taken up the time of that body with his fulsome harangues until its members became thoroughly disgusted with him and he was turned down as above stated. We give herewith the quotation mentioned. "Which facts call to mind the little furore raised by the National Irrigation Congress in Portland a few weeks since, that body going out of its way to take a; poke at the Association, and disclaiming any connection therewith. "So far as it is to be learned in Montana, the action of the Congress was unnecessary, as no one who is in earnest in the cause of irrigation could ever for a mo- ment believe that the Congress was connected with any- thing which had ever particularly advanced the cause along — at least that is the general impression. The Congress in its meetings has always been the arena in which much oratory has been spouted, but with the oratory action seems to have fallen by the wayside. If the Congress has ever accomplished anything startling in the cause of irrigation it has concealed the fact from the general public. At the same time it is an excellent bod}', and the more such there are in the United States the greater education along irrigation lines. The only objection seemingly is that such a; body should object to any similar body doing business along the same lines." This class of literature has been sent to all of the leading papers throughout the country and is being widely distributed in St. Louis and Kansas City, where the repudiated Association is making an effort to com- plete an organization whereby funds may be collected for its support. As stated on previous occasions, it is our impression that the men who are being led into this Association by such matter as is being distributed should investigate more fully. The fact that one or two publications in the country support the Maxwell- Boothe organization should not be positive proof that the money contributed will be expended for the general good of the country. If the St. Louis, Kansas City and St. Paul people who have joined this Association, or con- template doing so, will request Messrs. Maxwell and Boothe to furnish a detailed statement of their receipts and expenditures for the last seven or eight years they will readily learn that such a statement will be difficult to obtain. It is doubtful if any members of the Asso- ciation outside of Boothe and Maxwell are aware of the vast sums paid in to that Association, or the manner in which these sums were expended. The IRRIGATION AGE has been requested by friends of these gentlemen to "lay down" in its expose of its methods. It may as well be stated, however, that this journal will continue to give facts of the so-called National Irrigation Asso- ciation until the public generally is fully informed of its objects and manner of conducting business. TOWNSITE SALES POSTPONED. The Secretary of the Interior, acting upon the sug- gestions of the Governor and many prominent citizens of Idaho, has announced the postponement of sales of lots in the new townsites of Heyburn and Rupert, on the Minnidoka project. The dates of sale, November 14 and 21 respectively, have been extensively advertised, and indications were that a large attendance would be present. Owing to the lateness of the season, the pos- sibility of bad weather and the lack of accommodations for the visitors, it was deemed wise to postpone the date of sale until early in April of next year. At that time pleasant weather can be counted upon, the water will have been turned into the new Government canals, and more than 1,000 of the new settlers who have already established themselves on the lands, will be clearing off the sage brush and putting in their crops. The Minnidoka tract today offers one of the best object lessons in the West of the wisdom of the Reclam- ation Law, and present conditions predicate that one of the most prosperous and populous agricultural com- munities in the world will soon rise up from out of the desert at this point in the Snake River Valley. *t* *•! . Send $2.50 for The Irrigation Age * 1 year, and The Primer of Irrigation *£ 40 THE IRRIGATION AGE. THE DESERT BLOSSOMS UNDER THE EFFECT OF IRRIGATION. Illustrated by the Imperial Valley. One of the most striking features in the opening of a farm by irrigation is the rapidity with which the land takes on the appearance of long occupancy once the water is applied. There is little of the long wait that attended the settlement of the timbered lands of the Mississippi valley, few of the early day privations and hardships that marked the opening of a farm in those sections. The delay comes in the constructing of the main canal, and once that is accomplished the farms are made. For the owner to plow and seed every acre in the first year of cultivation is not exceptional. By From the beginning of time the Colorado River, a snow-fed stream rising on the west slope of the Bocky Mountains, has been rushing madly toward the sea, discharging an immense volume of water into the Gulf of California. It does not traverse broad fields and fertile valleys, 'but throughout its entire course has cut its tortuous way down mountain gorges, until it finally reached the gulf. The Colorado has been an effective tool in the hand of that great artist, Nature. Through countless ages it has been carving out canyons which for scenic grandeur have no equal in the entire world. But the carving of these canyons has meant the tearing away of millions upon millions of tons of solid rock. The process of erosion is slow, and the rock has been removed in minute particles, but these particles, mingled with the sedi- ment brought down to the river by the melting snows General Passenger and Emigration Agents of the Northern Pacific Railway. (Taken near Sunnyside, Wash., November, 1904.) the second or third year the tree growth has come to destroy the level stretch and bleak appearance and so obliterate the last reminder of the desert. The story of opening one irrigated section reads much like that of another and while the following account is largely confined to the experience in the Im- perial valley in California, it will serve almost as an account of similar enterprise in any of the irrigated sections of this State. The history of arid America relates many interest- ing tales of the creation of vast deserts back in ancient geologic times, but none more impressive than the story of the great Colorado desert in extreme southwestern California, the desert which has become famous as the death bed of so many venturesome fortune hunters. The Colorado desert is distinctive. Of all the des- erts of the West it alone lies beneath the level of the sea : it alone was builded bv a river. and mountain streams, have given the Colorado its reputation as a muddy river, for it carries more silt than any river in the United States save the Missouri. Like all silt-bearing streams the Colorado has built a delta at its mouth, a delta more expansive and more unique than that of any other river in the world. It was this delta'that eventually created the great Colorado desert. Back in prehistoric times, instead of heading sev- enty miles south of the International boundary line, the Gulf of California extended more than 100 miles northward into what is now California. It was walled in on either side by high mountain ranges. The Colo- rado River entered the gulf from the east, at a point near the present international boundary. There it de- posited its silt and solid matter, and soon began the building of a delta. The delta steadily pushed west- ward and southward until, after vears innumerable. THE IRRIGATION AGE. 41 it reached across the gulf, to the foot of the range on the west. In seasons of low water the delta formed an effective dam, shutting off the northern extremity of the gulf from the gulf proper, creating what became in fact a small inland sea, 100 miles in length and fifty miles across at its widest point. Under the scorching rays of the sun the waters of the inland sea rapidly evaporated, until the sea became perfectly dry, leaving an enormous sink, at one point 287 feet below the original level of the gulf. Each summer, with recurring high water in the Colorado, there would be an overflow into this inland sea; river water would rush in, carrying in sediment with it. As the floods receded the water in the sink again dried up, leaving behind a thick deposit of silt on the bed of the former gulf. This process .of inunda- tion continued, probably for centuries, the river each year overflowing into the sink, each year adding new soil to what it had deposited the year before. Never, however, was there sufficient overflow to restore the inland sea; only enough to cover the vaHey slightly, and for a short time, for with each successive dry season the flood waters were carried off by evaporation, or sank into the soil. The overflow into the Colorado desert, as the old sea bed became known, continued for centuries, until there was a- thick deposit of rich silt covering practically the entire sink, the Imperial valley, as it is known to- day. But as the deposits were made in the Imperial valley they were also made close to the river channel, and today, except in seasons of extreme high water, there is.no longer an overflow into the Imperial valley; the river is unable to climb its banks. When the inland sea first evaporated, a thick coat- ing of salt was left on its bed. The annual inrush of water from the Colorado gradually carried this salt to the lowest spot in the valley, creating what is known as the Salton sink. Most of the salt had been concen- trated in this low area, forming a vast salt bed five miles wide and twenty miles long, located near the north extremity of the valley, and seventy miles from the Colorado River. Today this salt is being scraped tip by the carload, shipped to a refinery and constitutes an important source of supply for the home market. So thorough was this washing that most of the salr left by the evaporating sea has been concentrated in the sink, leaving little saline matter beneath the rich deposits of silt that line the rest of the valley. Today the Colorado River, that created the Colo- rado desert, or the Imperial valley, is being utilized in its reclamation. The waters which once freely flowed from the Colorado at certain seasons over into the Im- perial country, now have to be diverted onto that vast tract. Fortunately, however, in times of frequent over- flow, the waters of the Colorado cut three channels down into the Imperial valley, running toward the Salton sink, and these old channels have recently been con- nected with the river by artificial canals, and have once more been brought into use as conveyors of water. Five hundred thousand acres of land in the Imperial valley in California, and half as much adjoining land across the international boundary, have been laid off, and are being furnished with water from the Colorado River. Most of this land is below sea level. The reclamation of the entire area has been undertaken by private capital, and is being pushed to a successful conclusion. Five years ago the Imperial valley was a vast desert waste, without water, without settlement, without de- velopment of any kind. Today it. gives indications of what is to come. Fully half of the valley has passed into private ownership, and is under irrigation, or is being brought under irrigation, and the remaining lands are being taken up at a rate which insures the ultimate development of the entire valley, but it may be many years before the Imperial country is fully developed. The Southern Pacific Railroad has built a branch line clear through the valley from a point on its main line to the international boundary, and has already installed one cross-line. On this road five flourishing towns have sprung into existence, Brawley, Imperial, Heber, Calexico and Holtville. Calexico is on the bor- der line; directly across the line in Mexico is another city, really a continuation of Calexico, which goes by the name of Mexicali. Each has its customs house, and the two combined, when the Southern Pacific further extends its line into Mexico, will form an important shipping point. Imperial is the principal town in Imperial valley, and is located in the very center of the irrigated .country. It started in 1900 and has developed with the country. It is more than a typical frontier town, it has more the appearance of a permanent settlement; its buildings are carefully constructed; its streets regularly laid out; it has its newspaper, a national bank, with more than $200,000 deposits, and is well equipped with stores, which supply almost every need of the residents and those in the tributary country; has a telephone system, electric lights, waier system, public schools and churches. From the veranda of the hotel you can look off to the east, across the once dreaded Colorado desert, and see in the distance a long, low line of what might be a bench of solid salt. It is the white sand that once formed the eastern shore of the gulf of California. If you approach the sand you will find the sharpe of the ancient beach has been preserved ; it takes but a slight stretch of the imagination to see the gulf restored to its old in a day, and there is no water save what you carry with you. The lands of Imperial valley having been subject to entry under the public land laws, many of the first settlers have made desert entries, taking the domain, covering over a country that is now being studded with great farms. The line of this beach can be traced for miles, but no one follows it up; it's too hot on those white sands to travel far; maximum area, 3£0 acres. In most instances they have made a mistake. They have taken more than they can irrigate properly; more than they need to make a handsome profit on their an- nual crops. But the men who have gone in and taken forty, or even eighty, acre farms, and have intelligently applied themselves to. only so much land as they can handle, are meeting with the utmost success. This is a problem that will work itself out in time. The men who made a mistake at the outset now see their error and in an- other season will get better results; but this is the his- tory of every irrigation district where opportunity is given to acquire lands in large quantities. If a man is going in largely for dairying of stock raising and portions of the Imperial valley are ideal for this business, he is justified in taking up 320 acres. If, on the other hand, he intends to plant his lands in .can- 42 THE IRRIGATION AGE. taloupes, in orchards, in table vegetables, he does not need 320 acres. If he can manage it, if he has the money to run it, let him take the largest tract obtain- able; but for the poor man to take up 320 acres of this land is folly. It should have been said before that, one of the chief attractions of Imperial valley is its early season. Fruit and vegetabes grown here ripen several weeks in advance of the crops elsewhere in California. The Im- perial farmer can supply the earliest market, can com- mand the highest prices, and by the time other sections are getting their crops in the market the Imperial crop will have been consumed, and the farmer will be put- ting in his second planting. In this country a crop of wheat or barley can be sown in November and harvested in May ; a second crop of Kaffir corn, Milo maize, millet or sorghum can then be planted and mature that same season. Wheat and barley, by the way, stand prominent in the list of crops that give quick return. Experience has demonstrated that forty-five bushels of wheat or fifty-five bushels of barley can be depended upon if the farmer knows how to intelligently apply the water and put in his crop. Alfalfa is another good quick crop. If seeded in the spring four crops can be cut the first season, and after that from six to eight crops each year. This record can not be equalled anywhere else in the country. Sugar beets are coming into the Imperial valley and negotiations are already under way for the erection of a sugar factory at Imperial. In fact, almost any crops can be grown, except apples and those fruits which will not stand frost. THE SAHARA DITCH.WYOMING. APPROVE' SUNNYSIDE SCHEME. A recent telegram from Washington says: The superintendent of the geological survey and the chief engineer of the reclamation service have approved the Sunnyside irrigation project, and the matter has been laid before the Secretary of the Interior for his final action. The project contemplates the irrigation of 40,000 acres of land at an estimated cost of $40 an acre, and this with the Tieton project, which is also before Secre- tary Hitchcock for his approval, will bring about the reclamation of not less than 64,000 acres in the Yakima valley. The estimated cost of the Tieton project is $50 an acre. The Sunnyside scheme, which will probably be approved by the secretary, involves the purchase of the entire property and rights of the Washington Irrigation Company, exclusive of lands which the company owns. These lands, under the terms of the contract, are to be watered at a specified annual price per acre. The amount of the purchase prices is withheld, pending Secretary Hitchcock's action, but it is re- ported to be in the neighborhood of $250,000. The recommendation of the Sunnyside project, fol- lowing closely upon the announcement of definite action in regard to the Tieton scheme, will, in turn, probably be followed by a definite announcement in regard to other units in the great Yakima scheme within the next few months. A Wyoming enterprise of considerable importance, now nearing completion, is that of the Sahara Ditch Company. The canal bearing that name will draw its water supply from Powder River and will irrigate and reclaim about 10,000 acres near Sussex, Wyo. Most of this land lies in a body and is included within the great bend of the river, near this point, where the stream gradually changes its course from a southeasterly direc- tion to due north. The soil is good and experts have pronounced the tract an ideal one for irrigation, and situated as it is just away from the southeast base of the Big Horn mountains, the winters are milder and the springs earlier than in other' parts of Johnson County or the State in general. Johnson County, which formerly included all the country surrounding the Big Horn mountains, was long Send $2.50 for The Irrigation Age 1 year, and The Primer of Irrigation View Showing Construction of Flurne over Powder River. — Property of the Sahara Ditch Company, Buffalo, Wyo. ago christened by an eminent judge as the "Garden of Wyoming," and the only reason for the tardy develop- ment of this tract on Powder River, was the greater outlay necessary for its reclamation. Lack of capital at home and lack of knowledge in regard to it abroad. The present incorporators of the company are all local business men or engaged in the stock industry, and are men who have made their own way unaided except as Nature generally aids the industrious and thoughtful. With its great natural resources of coal and oil well" explored, but yet undeveloped, the pro- moters believe the Powder River valley has a great fu- ture, but at the present time the reclamation of these lands is of special interest and importance, as a source of winter forage for those who desire to avail themselves of the extensive range privileges of the surrounding country, a range extending to the Platte River on the south and to the Black Hills on the east. Most of the land under the Sahara ditch has been THE IKRIQATION AGE. segregated under the terms of the Carey Act and will be thrown open to settlement as soon as construction work is completed and the formalities of law complied with. Probably in the early spring of 1906. E. D. Metcalf is president and W. J. Thorn, secre- tary of the company, both of Buffalo, Wyo. THE CROW INDIAN RESERVATION. BY A. BUCHANAN, BILLINGS, MONT. FROM COWBOY TO CAPITALIST. Mr. I. D. O'Donnell, to whom the Bismarck irriga- tion crowd owe much of the knowledge acquired dur- ing their visit to Billings, came to the Yellowstone valley twenty-three years ago, beginning life there as a cow-boy. He is the pioneer in the new system of irrigation, and owes much of his success to the water which his efforts were largely instrumental in turning upon the land he had gradually acquired. Water ap- plied scientifically to tfie soil has made him a rich man and it -is not to be wondered at that he is an enthusiastic irrigationist. Mr. O'Donnell delivered an address at the State irrigation congress in Bismarck last winter, Inside View of Flume over Powder River near Sussux, Wyo. and is acquainted with the conditions that exist in the Bismarck irrigation belt. In conversation with the writer Mr. O'Donnell said: "There are no grounds whatever for the theory advanced by some of your people that the soil in the vicinity of Bismarck will not hold water. The top soil of your North Dakota lands is as good or better than that of the bench lands of Mon- tana, and a good, -porous subsoil is all the better for irrigation purposes, as it will do away with the danger of the soil becoming waterlogged. "If the soil is properly worked on the surface there will be no trouble about getting water over it. Your ditches will hold water without a question, as the silt from the river will soon form a coating on canals and laterals and make them water-tight. Our new canal is carrying water through four miles of loose, open gravel, made water-tight by the natural process, and the Mis- souri Eiver is much more certain to form a water-tight coating than is the Yellowstone. The silt from the river is also a great fertilizer. The fact that thousands of people are passing through the cheap lands of North Dakota every year and settling on the irrigated lands of Montana should be all the argument necessary to con- vince your people that irrigation is just what is needed." — The Palladium, Bismarck. N. P. The engineers for the northwest division of the United States Eeclamation Service have opened their offices at Billings and aje now in the field engaged in making the preliminary surveys of the seven great irrigating projects that will be directed from this point. For the next year or so over one hundred and fifty men will be engaged in the field in laying out the im- mense projects that are being undertaken • by the na- tional government and millions of dollars will be spent by Uncle Sam in reclaiming land that under the present condition is valuable only for grazing purposes. Three of these great canals will be dug on the Crow Indian - reservation and the contract for the first of these which is destined to make the Big Horn valley one of the most fertile farming regions in the Northwest will be let soon. The government land office for this district is receiving Hundreds of inquiries from Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, and in lesser degree from other Mississippi valley States in regard to the opening of this great reservation and asking for information of every sort in regard to the requirements of settlers, the condition of the country, climate, etc. But Uncle Sam pays little heed to these letters; he is too busy with his irrigating enterprises to advertise the land, and those who want to learn more about the reservation must depend upon the newspapers for information. The land is here and will go to those who are first on the ground. A word as to the State in which this magnificent domain is located. Montana is sometimes called the Mountain State, but the mountains are confined to the western portion. Montana has an area of 145,000 square miles, or a little less than the empire of Japan, and under a complete development of irrigation and intensi- fied, diversified farming will suport a population fully as large. Considering the natural resources and size of the State, it has the smallest population and conse- quently offers the greatest opportunities for the home- seeker and investor of any State in the Union. In all this vast area, no more favored locality is found than that of the Yellowstone valley that meanders across the southern and eastern portion of the State. Protected on all sides by mountain ranges and enjoying the ben- efits of the warm winds from the Japan current, its winters are remarkably short and mild for this latitude. The snowfall is less than that of the southern parts of New York or Ohio. Plowing is not an uncommon sight in December, and building operations often continue through the winter, with only temporary interruptions. The ceded strip of the Crow reservation takes in a wide belt of this beautiful valley and it is here that the largest of the canals is to be built. The Custer battlefield lies in about the center of the Crow reservation and on the south line of the ceded strip. It was here that Sitting Bull and his savage Sioux exterminated Ouster's division twenty-nine years ago. The agency is near by and in the pretty valleys sur- rounding it many of the old warriors who helped the Sioux and Cheyennes in -their bloody work are follow- ing the peaceful pursuit of farming. Today the larger portion of the Crows are earning their livelihood by honest toil, although they still work under the direction of farming experts employed by the government. The 44 THE IRRIGATION AGE. ceded strip comprises in round numbers 1,150,000 acres, or about one-fifth of the entire reservation. It lies within Yellowstone County and its western border is only a few miles from Billings, the county seat. The Burlington railway traverses it diagonally and offers an outlet to the eastern and western markets. The land is a rolling prairie, with' plenty of wooded sections and numerous streams that insure water for irrigating pur- poses. The largest of these, the Big Horn, gets its water supply from the snow-capped mountains of Wyoming. The soil is mostly a sandy loam and in some sections a black alluvial deposit. No better soil for general farm- ing and horticulture exists in the world. Wheat, oats, Threshing at Miller's Ranch, Three Miles South of Billings, Mont. barley and rye can, by reason of the large average yields per acre, be produced at a less cost than in the rain belts of the middle States. Wheat on sod land, without fertilizers of any kind, produces from twenty-five to fifty bushels to the acre. Oats yield from forty to one hundred standard bushels ; barley, forty to sixty bushels ; rye, twenty to twenty-five bushels an acre. In potatoes the Yellowstone 'valley can rival the largest yield that Colorado can produce under the most favorable condi- tions. Any place in the valley will produce two hun- dred bushels and several have made records a-bove five hundred bushels. There is a ready market right in Montana for potatoes at from 65 cents to a dollar a hundred. The impending opening of the Crow reservation and the rapid development of the Yellowstone and other valleys in the eastern part of the State has attracted the attention of capitalists and by the time the ceded strip is thrown open there will be other avenues for marketing the product of this rich agricultural region. Many homeseekers are taking time by the forelock and getting on the ground early in order to "avoid the rush" and to have the advantage of an actual acquaint- ance with local conditions before the "strip" is opened. Some are purchasing Yellowstone valley lands outside the strip that are already under ditch, as lands are still cheap and the difference in cost is not enough of an object for those who command ready capital to make it worth while to wait for the opening. To the farmer who is accustomed to cultivating an "eighty" or a "quarter," and has had little experience in what is known in the Northwest as intensified farm- ing, where a few acres is made to do the work of ten times as much under other methods, the raising of al- falfa offers the greatest inducements. Under ordinary conditions, three crops can be raised each year, stock can be turned in on the stubble after the third cutting, and there is a ready market for the product among the sheep men who buy it in the stack and winter their stock on the ground. In the Yellowstone valley today there is a larger acreage in alfalfa than all other crops com- bined, -and as the price runs from $3.50 to $5.00 a ton in the stack, and six tons is an average yield, and the cost of cultivation is less than in any other crop, the profits from this source are considerable. Although Uncle Sam is going into the irrigation business on a bigger scale than anyone else, it remained for private enterprise to point out the way and the private individual or corporation still has the right to take out water when he fulfills the legal requirements. Private enterprise has already accomplished a great deal for the reclamation of the Northwest, and that, too, in the face of untold obstacles. The lower portion of this valley, which is far prettier to the eye of the farmer than its name would imply, is within the ceded strip, and it is here that the government will construct its first ditch, reclaiming thirty-five thousand acres that is now covered with sage brush. There are only a few thousand acres of this great valley that is under cultiva- tion just now, but the crops on these have been enormous and experiments have shown that it is adapted to gen- eral farming and is particularly favored for fruit grow- ing. Along the Yellowstone River for 350 miles are dozens of ditches of lesser size, and land is still com- paratively cheap. Nothing has been done to advertise the country. Eastern Montana and northern Wyoming are today the last of the old frontier. For years past thousands of settlers bound for the coast have passed through valleys more fertile than those at their jour- ney's end. These valleys needed but the magic touch of water to make them blossom as the rose. Within the last few years, private capital has accomplished a great deal, and now Uncle Sam, with 'his limitless wealth, Ranch of Louis La Fehldt, Five Miles North of Billings, Mont. will complete the work. The opening of the Crow res- ervation will open the eyes of the East to the fact that right here at their very doors lies a region of undevel- oped resources that will in the course of time become the stronghold of the nation. The towns that a few years ago were frontier trading posts are beginning to live up THE IRRIGATION AGE. to the possibilities of the section. In Billings, the trad- ing center of a section half as big as Missouri, new hotels have sprung up, new stores with eastern ideas are winning trade, new industrial enterprises that a few years ago would have been laughed down as the vagaries of a scheming promoter, are gain- ing ready support. Everywhere is the spirit of prog- ress and the homeseeker will come from the quiet East into a country bristling with enterprise and eager to get ahead. While the ceded strip is only a small part of the great reservation, the influx of settlers is hound to have an effect on legislation and the rest of the land will not long be withheld from settlement. MORE ABOUT MONTANA. In response to a letter of inquiry the following let- ter was received recently from a well known rancher. This is a fair illustration of what is being accomplished under irrigation near Billings. BILLINGS, Mont., Nov. 1st. DEAR SIR: In the falj of 1904 I purchased forty acres of the Billings Land & Irrigation Company, paying $35 per acre therefor. At the time that I purchased the land it was cov- ered with buffalo grass and cactus and had never been broken. In March and April of the present year I fenced the tract with 47-inch "American Field Fence," posts one rod apart. I hired the work done, and the fence and labor cost me about $100. I had the ground plowed and harrowed a number of times, drilled to oats and the ditches for the irrigation of the tract, con- structed from the lateral of the company ; this cost $200. In addition the seed cost me $55. The expense of har- vesting and threshing amounted to $100. doubtedly have increased my crop by 50 or 75 per cent. Ne>xt year the ground should do much better, on ac- count of the newness being worked out. Yours trulv. • View on Crow Indian Reservation, Montana, Showing Some of Land Ceded. From the tract I harvested a- little more than 40,000 pounds of oats, part of which I sold at the machine at $1.20 per hundred, the purchaser furnishing the sacks. The balance I have stored and expect to receive $1.50 for them next spring. In addition I have the pasture and straw. As stated, I hired all the work done. If I had been able to attend to it myself, and thus get the water on the crop when it was needed, I would un- Alfalfa Cutting on Hesper Ranch, owned by I. D. O'Donnell, Billings, Mont I. D. O'DONNELL. Among the many interesting men to be found in Billings, Mont., is I. D. O'Donnell, who is credited with originating the five and ten-acre plan for irrigation farming near that city. In a recent conversation with this gentleman he stated that the small tract for the man with small means has been his idea and after many years' effort in this direction has proved successful. Mr. O'Donnell states that many of the successful small tract farmers near Billings are men who work in town and look after their landholdings at odd times and in many instances they make as much clear money from their farming operations as they make at good wages in town, thereby doubling the income. Many of these small farm- ers are engaged in dairying and raising celery, both of which bring good returns. In another column will be found further mention of Mr. O'Donnell. WILL BUILD A NEW TOWN. Word comes from Belle Fourche that the contract for constructing the big dam, one of the factors in the government irrigation ' project under way, was let to a Denver contracting firm. This will be a cement wall 6,500 feet across and eighty feet deep, and will take four years' time to complete it. A new town will be started about twelve miles below Belle Fourche on Owl creek, where a large sugar beet factory will be estab- lished, and the government will operate a large experi- mental farm to be conducted under the supervision of the agricultural department. — Mining Review. Send $2.50 for The Irrigation Age 1 yea r, and the Primer of Irrigation 46 THE IERIGATION AGE. EMMETT McCORMICK'S RANCH NEAR BILLINGS. Among the many men who have settled in Montana near Billings and who have been successful in that country is Mr. Emmett McCormick, who has a well im- proved 160-acre ranch six miles west of Billings. Mr. McCormick, with whom the writer talked not long ago, reached Billings twenty-two years ago and secured em- ployment as foreman for the Ouster Cattle Company. He has been on the ranch for the past five years, working it two years of that time on shares. He has harvested Home of Eramett McCormick, West of Billings, Mont. three crops, amounting to a gross figure of $22 per acre, or over $3,500 for one year's crop. Mr. McCormick also works anotjier quarter section on shares, from which he makes about $1,100 net each year. As the actual ex- penses of running the two ranches does not exceed $1,000 a year, it will be readily seen that the income from his home ranch is clear profit. This sum, over $3,500, should satisfy a man of ordinary ambition. Mr. McCormick's home ranch is all seeded to alfalfa with the exception of what is used for corral and garden pur- poses. A photo of Mr. McCormick's ranch house is shown herewith. NORTH DAKOTA IRRIGATION. A reconnaisance of much importance in North Da- kota has been completed recently by A. L." Fellows, State engineer, formerly of the reclamation service. Mr. Fel- lows has found a large number of small tracts which may be irrigated, and in dry seasons^greatly benefited thereby. He points out what is now being generally recog- nized, that irrigation, to be successful on these lands, must be brought about by the construction of very cheap and economical works, simple in design, such as can stand idle possibly through several wet years, and still be available in years of drouth. These small tracts of lands are widely scattered and in the hands of private owners, many of whom do not care to farm the lands themselves, but axe holding them as grazing lands or •with a view to future speculation. These owners do not wish to incur any considerable expense in irrigation, and while they are willing to have the government undertake the work of reclamation, are not inclined to assume any responsibility in the matter. In other words, if the government will step in and make the land valuable they will not object, but they do not care to obligate themselves to pay the expense which might be incurred. Discussing this question today a prominent official of the reclamation service asked: "While irrigation is talked and urged by newspaper writers and real estate dealers in towns, it is very ap- parent that actual farmers and small land owners are not even yet particularly impressed with its importance. They do realize, however, that it involves the introduc- tion of new crops and methods of cultivation with the hard and continuous labor that is inseparable from suc- cessful intensive cultivation. "The greatest difficulty to be overcome in the North Dakota situation is not so much the building of irriga- tion w.orks as the education of the people who now own land, and who are apparently satisfied with present con- ditions and evince little interest in schemes of enthusi- asts and government experts." The semi-arid section of the State, during the past five years, has had more than an average rainfall in the growing season, and bountiful crops have rewarded the farmers. Agriculture has been extended far across the line which heretofore has been regarded as separating humid from semi-arid sections. Under the circum- stances, the agitation for national irrigation has encoun- tered more or less indifference on the part of the land owners. SENATOR HANSBROUGH WILL NOT TRY FOR AMENDMENT. Senator Hansbrough, of North Dakota, who was in St. Paul recently, denied to a local paper the report from Washington that he is going to try for an amend- ment to the irrigation law this winter, which will take the work out of the hands of the interior department. He says the present organization of the work, with a competent engineer to supervise the bureau, is satis- factory, and he has no intention of trying to change it. In an interview Senator Hansbrough stated the sit- uation to The Journal as follows : "The facts are- about these : When the irrigation law was passed in 1902, the work was placed under the interior department. What has since been known as the reclamation bureau was organized out of the em- ployes of the geological survey. There was a general feeling in Congress that the government, having en- tered upon the reclamation of arid lands, the very best engineering talent of the country should have charge of the work. There was some doubt, whether well founded or not, about the capacity of the geographers and hy- drographers of the survey bureau, and their fitness for this important service. "As chairman of the committee on public lands, I had had charge of the irrigation law. By reason of this fact I felt a very deep interest in its success. I had no doubt in my mind of the importance of securing the hest engineering ability; so I introduced the bill creating the office of supervising engineer of the reclamation service. This was done after consultation with Presi- dent Roosevelt. "Some of the members of the reclamation service objected to my bill, and devoted themselves very strenu- ously during the entire session to preventing considera- tion of it. The irrigation committee was quite evenly divided on the measure, and the session adjourned with- out any action. THE IKRIGATION AGE. 47 PRESIDENT TOOK ACTION. "The necessity for an experienced engineer of high attainments appears to have been deeply impressed on the President's mind, and about a year ago, being ad- vised by the attorney general that he had full authority under the irrigation law to do so, he appointed Mr. Grunsky, who had been on the Panama canal commis- sion, and who was an engineer of pronounced ability, to the position which I had sought to create in my bill. Very naturally the reclamation service was greatly dis- pleased with the action of the President, and through what may be termed the literary department of the service, this displeasure was extensively paraded in the newspapers, the President being severely criticised for his action. It was charged, to begin with, that when I introduced my bill to create the office of supervising en- gineer my purpose was to take the reclamation work out of the hands of men who were appointed under the civil service law, and to place it in the hands of some man who would build up a political machine. This charge was enlarged upon from time to .time, until numerous senators and representatives were brought into the al- leged conspiracy. "Very naturally, the literary bureau of the reclama- tion service was greatly embarrassed when President Eoosevelt, himself, a famous stickler for civil service methods, came to regard the situation as I did, and Mr. Grunsky was frowned upon as an interloper. Nothing has since transpired to confirm the dire apprehension of the reclamation service. I am sure that in the ap- pointment of Mr. Grunsky the President had no thought of building up a political machine. Nor do I believe that Mr. Grunsky himself had any idea of that kind. I am glad to know that the reclamation service has con- cluded to work in harmony with Mr. Grunsky, and feel confident that they will work together without fric- tion." _________ DEMAND FOR WESTERN LAND. That there is greater demand for western lands, and especially for Colorado lands, is proven by the re- marks of residents of eastern cities who deal in farms and ranches. They say that the people of this State have no conception of the extent of the inquiry. Grad- ually their inquirers are coming west to investigate for themselves, and the number of purchases resulting make up an unusually large percentage. The reasons for this are well set forth in the following, taken from the Denver Republican: A great tidal wave of investment is reaching out from the East. Its approach is as yet scarcely recog- nized at home, but the land agents, who are no more optimistic than their good business warrants, realize this. It is stated in some quarters that home people are miss- ing promising investments, which eastern people are quick to seize upon. The arid and semi-arid lands of Colorado have already advanced in price and will un- doubtedly do so again if the demand for them continues. C. E. Wantland, general sales agent of the Union Pacific Eailroad, has just returned from a trip of sev- eral months, which took him all over the Pacific coast region and intermediate territories. He also attended the irrigation congress at Portland. His statement of conditions as he found them will be a revelation to many people living in the West itself. It should add much to a better understanding of the situation. "The general land conditions in the West," said Mr. Wantland, "are better now than at any time in the last five years. There are many reasons for the present land movement in Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, Wyom- ing, and certain districts on the Pacific coast. "The national irrigation work being done by the government has given strength to all irrigation enter- prises, and a great deal of eastern capital is now going into irrigation work. Questions affecting colonization work are being discussed now intelligently. Business men of the West are beginning to see that colonization is just as important as canal building, and the quality of settlers is an important item in the work. "The government has now let contracts on irriga- tion works for over $25,000,000. The actual work now going on, or which will be undertaken in the near fu- ture, is of great benefit to the merchants of the western states, and is, of course, of interest to every property owner in the country. It is being realized now that when the census of 1910 is taken the western half of the United States will not show such a small percentage of population as at present, and the number of farmers in this country will be greatly increased. .V. "Of course, general prosperity is a great factor affecting the land movement now on in the West, but probably the greatest factor is the great gain from scien- tific agriculture. While 10,000,000 acres may be added in the next ten years to the agricultural area in sixteen semi-arid States, owing to national and private irriga- tion, thus doubling the land now reported as under irri- gation by the last census, probably from 20,000,000 to 50,000,000 acres now considered arid or semi-arid and good only for grazing purposes, will be reclaimed and made into productive farms, by reason of improved methods. "Even the very worst deserts are receiving atten- tion. The Campbell soil culture system and the work of the United States Department of Agriculture and State agricultural colleges, are producing wonderful re- sults. The land agents of the country are just begin- ning to wake up to the advantages, and it is safe to say that the business men of the western States have not yet had their eyes opened to the gain which will come to the trade of these States from the new farms spring- ing into existence now in the semi-arid districts. "The combination of circumstances . now giving strength to western lands is something imusual and there seems every reason to believe that the movement now under way will extend quickly to all parts of the Pacific coast where the conditions are at all favorable. Money is easy and men are beginning to realize that land is the safest form of investment. The opening of for- eign trade across the Pacific is giving a new market for products raised in the intermountain and Pacific coast States. The new demand for live stock is such that buyers from Chicago now meet buyers from the Pacific coast as far east as central Wyoming. New packing cen- ters are being developed and shortly the rapid increase in population of the western States will force the estab- lishment of other manufacturing industries which here- tofore have not been considered practicable. The de- velopment of the sugar beet industry alone has been remarkable, and new factories are springing up all over the West. "Good prices for farm and ranch products appear to be safe for a number of years. Land values being low 48 THE IERIGATION AGE. in intermountain and Pacific coast territories, as com- pared with States east of the Missouri Kiver, it is safe to assume that the increase in values of farm lands recently noticed in many western States will continue, and as the farms increase, so will the values of city property. "The development of the plains region is wonderful. If improved farming methods are continued it is prob- able that during the next two years 1,000 new families each month can be placed upon the plains district east of Denver. With proper laws regulating the distribu- tion of public lands this number of settlers can be in- creased materially. "All this development means much to the State of Colorado as a land owner. The State now owns about 3,500,000 acres of land. The Campbell system of soil culture and other improved farming methods will add millions of dollars in the next few years to the value of lands owned by the State. The land agents of Colo- rado can now tell a good story and have every reason to expect a good business during the coming year." OGDEN RIVER STORAGE RESERVOIR. FEEDING ALFALFA TO HORSES. BY I. D. ODONNELL, BILLINGS, MONT. Will Be of Great Benefit to That Part of Utah. The preliminary work of another storage reservoir in Ogden canyon is nearing completion. It compre- hends the storage of the flood waters for irrigation pur- poses, and the installation of a power plant of 2,100 horse-power electric capacity. The new company will be known as the South Pork Power and Jrrigation Company, and its organizers are practically the owners of the Ogden Eapid Transit Com- pany and allied companies. The site selected is in the South Fork of Ogden canyon, where an immense dam will be constructed to store the flood waters. This project will be not in the least in conflict with that of the Pio- neer Power Company further down the canyon. The new company has already spent $7,000 on pre- liminary work. Two sites for a dam have been explored and on the upper, which is at Cobble creek, much of the preliminary work done will be available for construction, if this site is selected. Here a dam 850 feet in length at top, 300 feet at the river and 110 feet high is to be constructed on the most approved modern plan. It will form a reservoir two miles back through a region where the land is not capable of cultivation, and will store about 1,000,000,- 000 gallons, or the equivalent of 20,000 acre feet, suffi- cient to irrigate 30,000 acres, ordinarily. The area of this reservoir will be something over 600 acres. The second proposition is for a dam about one and one-fourth miles lower in the canyon and comprehends a dam 160 feet high, 630 feet long on top, 100 feet at the river bed, and having a storage capacity of 50,000 acre feet. In either proposition there are ample power possi- bilities. It is expected to generate 2,100 horse-power, and of this the street railway will be a market for 7,000, leaving 1,400 horse-power for sale. Work on the project has been progressing all summer, and will continue until frost. This project, taken in connection with that of the Pioneer Power Company, means the storage of sufficient water to reclaim 90,000 acres of now uncultivated lands north and west of Ogden. It seems to be the general opinion thai alfalfa hay is not a good horse feed, and especially for horses on the road or for fast work. Now I would like to correct this, as alfalfa is too good a feed to be con- demned for any purpose. The fact is nearly every one who. feeds horses feeds them too much hay. The same would apply to all kinds of hay. If you give a horse about what alfalfa he should have, say twelve to fifteen pounds per day for horses of 1,000 pounds, and a fair grain ration, you will find he will travel just as far and just as fast as with other kinds of hay and be in better condition. But if you allow your horse to east thirty to forty pounds per day, which they will of alfalfa if you give it to them, you are sure to have a horse that is short-winded and sloppy. One of the famous trot- ting horses on the eastern turf, with record below 2 :03, is fed alfalfa as his only hay. A good ration for the horse of any kind of feed is about one pound of grain and one and a half pounds of hay to each one hundred pounds of horse. And this would apply to alfalfa. In fact, the horse should do better on the alfalfa- than with other hays, and with less grain. This might be the opportune time to say that the majority of farmers feed too much hay of all kinds to their horses. In fact, the horse barn to my notion is where one of the greatest wastes of the farm can be found. Horses would travel better, stand more work and be healthier if fed less hay, the most farmers give them all they can eat and aim to have them waste enough to make their bedding, when they have plenty of good straw going to waste on the farm. The London cab horses, which are considered the finest and best kept horses in the world, have but two hours in the morning and two hours in the evening, with noon hour, for feeding. At eight o'clock in the evening every scrap of feed is taken away from them and they are heeded for the night. The Montana farmer would think his horses were being starved if he found no feed in the manger after eight or nine o'clock in the evening. The feeding of alfalfa to horses does away with the old time brand mash once a week, which was considered •so necessary. A great many alfalfa feeders have from experience decided that the first cutting of alfalfa is best for horses, or alfalfa that is fairly coarse, or some that had come to full bloom; the idea is (though they do not know it) that in feeding that kind of alfalfa the horse gets about the amount he should have. The horse picks it over and takes the best of it and manages to get about what he should have. If they were to give the horse same amount of good, well made alfalfa hay he would eat it all ; then he would have too much. An overworked horse, or one run down and thin, will pick up and get fat and in good condition on alfalfa pasture quicker than on any other pasture known. And where a grain ration is added they have been known to put on as high as six pounds per day. Horses will eat and do well on the refuse from sheep feeding lots where alfalfa has been fed, while cattle will not take to it. THE IRRIGATION AGE. 49 IRRIGATION IN EGYPT. That the engineers of today are tackling the same irrigation problems in Egypt that the ancients essayed 4,000 years ago speaks much for the worthy purpose of our scientific efforts, however little satisfaction it yields on account of industrial progress. Like all modern enterprises in Egypt, it is likely to demonstrate the reality of another "lost art." To a leading article in Engineering we are in- debted for a clear statement of present conditions in Egypt so far as they relate to irrigation problems. In the first place the cultivable soil of the country owes its origin entirely to the accumulated deposits of silt brought down annually by the Nile floods. In the absence of rainfalls, the soil is dependent for both mois- ture and fertility upon these inundations. Diodorus, Strabo and Herodotus have independ- ently borne witness to a vast artificial lake or reservoir, which was constructed to receive the superfluous water turies of neglect, and the lake vanished, but the depres- sion remained, as a fertile valley in the desert. When, in recent years, the control of Egypt was undertaken by western nations it was seen that one of the most important things to be done was the regulation of the Nile and the control of irrigation by the con- struction of proper irrigation works. The irrigable area of Egypt is placed at six and a quarter million acres, and there is an ample supply of water in the Nile for the purpose, providing that the superfluous flood water is stored for use in the dry season. At the present time four million acres are perennially irrigated, and one- quarter of a million acres lying along the edge of the deserts must remain irrigated only in flood time, leaving the great area of two million acres yet to be dealt with. Since a storage capacity of two milliards of cubic metres of water are required for each million acres, the problem is that of providing reservoir capacity for four milliards of cubic metres of water. At its present level the res- ervoir formed by the dam at Assouan stores but one Furrow Irrigation. [From the Primer of Irrigation, Page 150.] from the Nile at flood time, and to distribute it when and where required by means of canals. The latter writer is enthusiastic in his admiration of the work, which he classes far above the mighty pyramid of Cheops as an example of the triumph of human skill and labor over natural obstacles. This lake — Moeris — was dug by the orders of King Amenemhat III, who lived about 2000 B. C. It had a superficial area of 950 square miles, with a depth in places of 300 feet. It was connected with the Nile by a canal ten miles long and 300 feet wide, controlled by means of sluices, which served to draw off the surplus water from the river, and return it at periods of low water. As all who have followed the recent history of Egypt will know, the site of the ancient lake has been identified beyond doubt with the present province known as the Fayoum, by Mr. Cope Whitehouse, whose re- searches have not only abundantly justified the classical historians, but have had a most direct bearing upon the problem of the irrigation of Egypt at the present day. The canal to the Nile had become silted up during cen- milliard of cubic metres, 'or only one-fourth of the re- quired amount, leaving three milliards of cubic metres to be provided for. In seeking for a reservoir for the supply of Egypt during the dry season, it is not to be wondered at that the reconstruction of the ancient Lake of Moeris should have been carefuly considered. As, however, in the bed of the lake is a fertile province with a cultivable area of 400,000 acres and a value erf £80,000,000, its con- struction on its original site is out of the question ; but there exists a smaller depression in the Libyan hills immediately to the south to which no such objections apply. This depression is known as the Wady Rayan, and Mr. Cope Whitehouse, the discoverer of Lake Moeris, has for years insisted that in turning the Wady Rayan into an artificial lake or reservoir lies the true solution of the problem of Egypt's water supply. Its area at a level of twenty-nine metres, about that of the sea, would be about 700 sqpare kilometres, or 270 square miles. When full its greatest depth would be seventy metres, though only the upper four or five metres would 50 THE IBRIGATION AGE. be used annually, giving a possible supply of some three milliards of cubic metres out of a total contents of twenty milliards. Such a lake, however, would have one great drawback. Although during the month of April it would give a plentiful discharge, by the end of May its level would have so diminished that it could not give all that lower Egypt requires. By the middle of June it could not meet half the demand upon it for water, and a fortnight later it would be practically useless, as its level would have sunk approximately to that of the Nile. For this reason, by itself it would be inadequate, but, fortunately, we have at hand a means of contribut- ing to the summer supply from another source. The Assouan reservoir, owing to its height, can be drawn from at any season of the year, and it is proposed oy Sir W. Willcocks to raise the dam by six metres, making it the height originally intended, and use the water so stored to supplement the Wady Eayan discharge, thus maintaining a constant total discharge throughout the were rejected, not because of any engineering reasons, but because the government considered it preferable to leave a great part of Egypt unwatered rather than allow private enterprise to obtain command of any part of the national irrigation. However, whether it is to cost £600,000 or £2,600,000, the outlay will bring an enormous and immediate return, and the names of those who have assisted in bringing it to completion will deserve remembrance among the greatest benefactors of Egypt. ^ BOISE PLANS TO ENTERTAIN. The National Irrigation Congress. In a recent issue of a local paper Mr. Montie B. Gwinn, chairman of the executive committee of The National Irrigation Congress, is spoken of as follows : M ;•• ii ••«r»7»i''rr»*'L™^il\H'W;' wn'onirtoM i /*• \i '"'">* •"• *i^' &ym Diverting from a Small Stream wjtli Rapid Current. [From the Primer of Irrigation, Page 151. J summer. The Assouan reservoir would, when raised, yield a supply of two milliards of cubic metres, and this would not be drawn upon until some time during May. As the summer came on the proportion of water from Assouan would increase, until in July it would be giving practically the whole supply. Working to- gether in this manner the lake and the reservoir would provide the whole of the water needed for the irrigation of Egypt. The estimates of cost of the Wady Eayan scheme, according to Sir Wm. Willcocks. amount to £2,600,000. Mr. Cope Whitehouse, who first proposed the use of the Wady Eayan over twenty years ago, and who \mdoubtedly has a most intimate knowledge of the local topography, maintains that the entire work necessary can be done at a cost of £600.000. He has offered many times to undertake the contract for the work on the basis of this estimate, or to carry it out as a private specula- tion, subject to equitable terms of purchase by the Egyptian government when completed. These offers Montie B. Gwinn, chairman of the executive com- mittee of the National Irrigation Congress, has returned from his recent trip to Salt Lake, where he went to advise with General Manager Bancroft and General Pas- senger Agent Burley of the Short Line on many ques- tions of importance regarding the next ssssion of the Congress which is to be held at Boise, probably in Au- gust or September of next year. At his office in the Sonna block Mr. Gwinn talked of the result of his trip to a Capital News reporter. Mr. Gwinn said: A PIECE OF GOOD FORTUNE. "Of all the great pieces of good fortune which has blessed the State of Idaho, none has ever equalled the securing of the fourteenth National Irrigation Con- gress. It may seem a little early to talk about it, for the date at which the Congress will be held has not been fixed by the committee-, but the time is with us right now to begin making preparations and arranging our plans to care for and entertain a vast number of delegates that will visit Idaho on that occasion. THE IRRIGATION AGE. 51 MORE THAN 1,000 VISITORS. "While the sessions are to be held in this city, in my judgment this is a State affair, and our plans should be made as broad and as extensive as the occasion is big, securing to the State, and especially southern Idaho, all of the benefits that will come from our opportunity to entertain the 1,000 or 1,200 delegates that will be here to see irrigation practiced in the most practical way. The men who attend these congresses are prac- tical men, who come here to see what Idaho is doing, and the impressions they will take away will do us more good than all of the advertising we have ever had. We secured a great victory when we landed the Congress, and now we must secure a greater victory in the way we handle it. RAILWAY'S CO-OPERATION. "I went to Salt Lake for the purpose of consulting with the railroad officials in the matter of laying the foundation plans of the entertainment, and I am glad to state that my conference was more than satisfactory, holding the coming session in the capital city. It isn't enough that our visitors shall see Boise, and learn all there is to know of our city and what there is here. We must let them see what is behind the city that has made it and what will continue to make it a great com- mercial center. To that end we talked of excursions to be run from Boise, probably after the Congress ad- journs, to Weiser, the Payette, the Boise valley, Snake Eiver projects at Twin Falls, Idaho Falls, Blackfoot, and St. Anthony. They will have so much theory while in session that we must not overlook the practical side of the question, for it is in that we will get a return for our work and the money we spend in entertainment. At every place the excursions visit the farmers will have a display of the products of the field and orchard, and after they have gone away Idaho will be the talk of the country, and the talk will be of the kind that counts. "For these excursions the rates will be such that we can make the trips complimentary to our invited guests, and those who have to pay will be glad to do so. Measuring Stream by Miners' Inch. [From the Primer of Irrigation, Page 202 ] for I found that they stand ready, willing and anxious to aid us in every possible way to make the sessions a magnificent success. They 'will not only give us their time and experience and advice in ail matters where their help is needed, but the substantial aid in the way of trains and rates, and special cars, and the many things a railroad can do when they believe in the ben- efits to come from the good impressions that will follow success. "I was surprised to learn that Mr. Burley has sta- tistics compiled, showing all of the irrigation projects in the State, the miles of canals built, those under con- struction, the cost of each, and the number of acres be- ing watered. These he will have put into shape to be used in showing to what a great extent the industry has advanced in the State, and the railroad will do its full share in exploiting our resources in every way. POST-CONGRESS EXCURSIONS. "We discussed many things, in an informal way, of course, but enough to give me many ideas of the best plans for securing the full benefits to be derived from VETERAN CONVENTIONERS TO AID. "I am receiving letters every few days from Gov- ernor Pardee, of California, president of the Congress, containing valuable information, and showing the great interest he has in the success of the coming meeting, and Tom Richardson, of Portland, who knows more than anyone about pulling off big things, has asked me to call on him for anything he can do to help. Scores of others have already volunteered their assistance. The meeting is looked forward to as to be the most success- ful ever held, because here there will be no counter- attractions, and the time of the sessions will be devoted to the irrigation business.' BOOTH A HOST IN HIMSELF. "I wouldn't feel so confident of the outcome of the work ahead of us but for the fact that with me is Presi- dent Booth, of the Chamber of Commerce, who is as- sistant secretary of the Congress. He not only knows what to do, but he is a man that does things. He knows men and methods, and he realizes what success will mean to Boise and the whole State. 52 THE IRRIGATION AGE. MR. GWINN OUTLINES ORGANIZATION. "It is going to take a good deal of money to carry out our plans, but it will be the best money we ever spent. Our first step is to form a local organization, and this should be begun at once. We must get together a committee of the best workers in Boise, and to add members from all of the surrounding towns, men who will take a lively interest in the matter, and who will not think it is too early to go to work at once. Plans must be outlined for raising a large sum of money to be used in defraying the legitimate expense of entertain- ing the large delegations that will come. With this done, the rest will be comparatively easy. A number of plans have been suggested as to the best way to accom- Slish this, which will be made known as soon as they are ecided upon. The one thing that we are determined on is that Boise and Idaho will be remembered as having been the place where the Irrigation Congress reached the climax of its glory in a most successful convention." 1 told and shown and shown and told ten thousand times ten thousand that if they would simply build an open ditch to turn the flood waters, often called the winter waters, of the Umatilla River onto the land south and southeast of Irrigon, that they could turn some 50,000 acres of six-bit land into $100 }and — and all at an expense of less than $100,000, or practically for one-half of what they have spent in going over the very same land, digging holes and test pits in it, assaying it, an- alyzing it, smelling of it, sifting it, sorting it, tasting it, bottling and labeling it, and sending it on to Wash- ington as "Exhibits A to" — well, God alone knows. The work asked was in no way an experiment. The engineers have been shown a thousand times over on Butter creek alfalfa lands, now worth $100 per acre, that never get a drop of water save when the Umatilla or Butter creek is at flood. And these lands were abso- lutely valueless until they got this warter. "The feasibility of the scheme for the government, Sugar Beefs Acres Showing Method of Making Map of Land. [From the Primer of Irrigation, Page 122.] GOVERNMENT IRRIGATION. Mr. Bennett, editor of the Irrigon Irrigator, has learned at last that the Reclamation Bureau is not the infallible institution that some of his former editorials led us to believe. Mr. Bennett will learn much more of the failures and mistakes of this department if he will hold his ear to the ground during the year of our Lord 1906. We quote as follows from a recent issue of the Irrigator, headed "Government Irrigation" : "It is now reported that the Umatilla government irrigation project has been permanently and finally abandoned. So the telegraphic dispatches from Wash- ington stated on Sunday last. As a matter of fact it was found over a year ago that the scheme was imprac- ticable ; but those in charge of the preliminary work held on and on and kept spending money, in a way that a private individual or corporation would have consid- ered unwise, to say the least. "And yet Mr. Newell and his underlings have been and its impracticability for private or .corporate inter- ests, has been time and 'again pointed out by such men as ex-Congressman Malcolm A. Moody, United States Senator C. W. Fulton, Gov. Geo. M. Chamberlain, Con- gressman Williamson, and practically every citizen in the vicinity of the lands. "But no. There would be no glory in the simple diversion of a couple of hundred cubic feet of water, which would only mean, the reclaiming of a few thou- sand acres, and the adding to the crops of Oregon at least a million tons of alfalfa a year, or to her income, say, $3,000,000 per annum. "And again, the scheme would be too easy, not com- plicated enough, not giving enough work for the legal branches of the service. And so the whole field is aban- doned, after an expenditure of probably $200,000 in ex- perimental work. "But the end is not yet, for there will be a change in the reclamation service some of these days." THE IERIGATION AGE. 53 THE IMPROVEMENT OF THE COMMON HIGH- WAYS. BY PROF. J. J. VERNON, New Mexico College of Agriculture. Good roads are indicative of a high state of civiliza- tion. The improvement in the condition of the common highways proclaim, in mute yet unmistakable language, the advancement in the civilization of a country. Highly specialized industries, which usually attend upon a high state of civilization among a people, seldom flourish where means is unprovided for a quick exchange of com- modities. As the standard of living in a community rises, it soon finds expression in a demand for better roads — roads suitable for the gentleman's saddle horse, for the family carriage, for the salesman's road wagon, for the deliveryman's auto-car, and for the pleasure seek- ers' and tourists' automobiles. The most natural system to follow in road building a given kind of work in a day as ten men could per- form in the same time with teams and the old slip scrapers, it is evident that the purchase and use of such a machine, provided, however, that the price was not exorbitant, would be most desirable and would result in much economy. Furthermore, if, at the same time, with such a machine the work could be done infinitely better, it would seem to be the height of folly not to invest in one. The modern road-grader is just such a machine. ' The road-grader has become so popular in most of the older States today that the old slip scraper is seldom seen, and when it does appear it is used only in corners where the grader can not reach the work. With a modern grader in the hands of an expert in every county, the roads leading out from our cities and towns would soon discard their shrunken appearance and take on a- more rounded elevated form, and the holes and inequalities would gradually disappear, leaving a surface so uniform that they would delight the eye and afford pleasure to the traveler. Space will not permit of an extended discussion of Dam in Dry River. [From the Primer of Irrigation, Page 151. J is to begin the improvement in the city or village, work- ing outward in the different directions on the lines of least resistance, but at all times striving to reach the greatest population and the heaviest traffic. The 'work should be placed in charge of a man who understands road building and road repair. This state- ment is equally true whether there be much or little money available for the work. The system which per- mits the appointment of men as road supervisors regard- less of their fitness for the position is accountable in a great measure for poor roads and for the feeble interest taken in road improvement. Probably there is no more road work in many counties than could be superintended by one man, and that man could be selected with an ey_e to his qualifications for the work to be done, which would result not only in better roads, but also in greater efficiency and economy. Such a system prevails in many of the older States of the Union, and it has been sug- gested that it might prove most desirable in this section under our conditions. The use of improved labor saving machinery in the building and repair of the common highways, no doubt, would result advantageously to all concerned. To illus- trate : If a machine were devised whereby two men and four teams, with the machine, could perform as much of the methods and means for road improvement, but at least enough has been said to introduce a subject which is deserving of much thought among the people of this section. We are on the eve of a great wave of progress and would it not pay both the merchant and the ranch- man to give the matter of road building and road repair more attention? COMPLAINT ABOUT RECLAMATION BUREAU. The following communication, signed by Mr. Fred R. Reed, one of the best known men in Idaho, appeared recently in the Burley (Idaho) Bulletin, and treats of conditions which have been mentioned before in these columns. In Mr. Reed's letter he says: "The writer drove over the settled part of the tract today and was pleased and gratified to note the growth and development on every hand. The people on the north side of the Snake River will have water for their lands next spring (1906) ; on the south side of the Snake River no time is fixed for the completion of the gravity and pumping systems. Hundreds of settlers are anxiously waiting for some reliable information as to 'when they may be given an opportunity to buy water of THE IRRIGATION AGE. Uncle Sam, so that they may place their homesteads under cultivation and make a living. The people on the south side located on the lands because it was under the fostering hand of the United States government and part of the great Minidoka reclamation project. Just as much so as on the north side, they as citizens are entitled to all the word implies. They are poor people, most of them, who have all their world's belongings with 'them. Most of these locators have wives and children. They are waiting, living on the desert, many of them hauling water miles to drink and for domestic purposes. The locators are good citizens, law abiding, patient and brave. All they need to make them the happiest of people is word from headquarters that water will be ready for their lands within a reasonable time. Uncle Sam is not giving them anything except an opportunity to work, for which opportunity they pay Uncle Sam the market value. It makes no difference on which side of the Snake River people are located. The plans of the Minidoka reclamation project carry with them no gifts or presents for the settlers. What the settlers may ex- pect to receive as their reward after they pay the acre- age debt for water rights and secure titles to their land is the difference between the actual cost and the selling price per acre, which will be between $27 and $28 per acre. This is first cost. In the judgment of the writer these acres will sell from $75 to $100 per acre in five years. Now, homesteaders who will have water next year can go ahead and make a living. But the hundreds of good people that are "doing time" on the south side, what about them? When can they hope for relief? When do they get water ? If they are trespassers within the confines of the government's great irrigation proj- ect; if they are aliens and not eligible to the benefits of citizenship, it is Uncle Sam's duty to cancel their home- stead entries and dispossess them of their holdings. If they are right, as they are, they are entitled to some authentic, relia-ble information so that they may know what to do and what to expect. It is not the intent of this article to insinuate, to cast any slurs on the reclama- tion service, or its officers, or accuse the government of double dealing. There is nothing intended to offend. There is, however, a determination on the part of the writer to help the settlers of the south side to secure information that is bread and butter to them. "What the homesteaders on the south side ask for is to have the reclamation service set the time when the relief they pray for may be theirs." CORRESPONDENCE SPOKANE, WASH., November 14, 1905. Editor Irrigation Age: The Idaho-Washington Land Company, of Moscow, Idaho, bought yesterday from Thomas M. Bruce, James T. Brattain, Myron C. Munger and Henry R. Ochiltree, through the Great Northern Land Company, ten sections of land on Lower Crab Creek, in Douglas County, for $28,827. About half of the acreage is good bottom land, capable of irrigation, and there is ample water to be had for this pur- pose. It is understood that this is the intention of the pur- chasers. The Idaho-Washington Land Company was recently or- ganized by Moscow and Minnesota men, and this is the firsf purchase made. The property was bought three years ago by Messrs. Bruce,, Brattain, Munger and Ochiltree from the Northern Pacific Railway Company for $8,000, under contract, and only a small cash payment was made, and the full purchase price has not yet been paid. No improvements were made, but about 400 acres have been in meadow each year. The sale yesterday represents a handsome profit on the money in- vested. CODY, BIG HORN COUNTY, WYO., November 11. Editor Irrigation Age: The big steam shovel of the Big Horn Development Com- pany, which was moved on its own track from Cody to the scene of operations on the south side of the Shoshone River, is now working and the big canal is being excavated rapidly. This canal will be thirty miles long and will divert water from the Shoshone River to the Oregon Basin, a large natural reservoir, covering over 5,000 acres and capable of holding sufficient water to irrigate the 200,000 acres to be reclaimed for a period of two years without additional water flowing in. From the reservoir the canal will be constructed a dis- tance of forty miles. It is hoped to have everything in readi- ness to run water on the land in the spring of 1907. The Oregon Basin project is the one that was held up by the Government for several years, the engineers of the Government reporting that it would militate against the suc- cess of Uncle Sam's Shoshone project. The State officers showed that it would do nothing of the kind, however, and after a long fight, in which the State authorities held up the title to water under the Government enterprise until the de- partment approved of the segregations under the Oregon Basin enterprise, the matter was finally settled and work was started on both projects. LAWTON, OKLA., November 15. Editor Irrigation Age: The Navajo irrigation project for southwestern Okla- homa is now hanging in the balance and will in a very few days tip one way or the other. The Government board of consulting engineers is now on the ground, and upon their final decision will depend the fate of Oklahoma's $2,000,000 project for reclaiming a section of the semi-arid land in the West. The board is composed of B. M. Hall, of Carlsbad, N. M., chief engineer of the reclamation department in the southwestern division ; A. P. Davis, assistant engineer, with headquarters at Washington, and William Sanders, of San Francisco, an engineer of the reclamation service in the west- ern division. The board is making its headquarters at Synder and is investigating this week every feature of the irrigation project. They are going over the ground, examining the water supply, the drainage, the flow of the streams and the plats drawn by the execution of the project. The late investigations of Engineer J. J. Camp, chief officer, now in charge of the project in the field, to ascertain the existence of bedrock in the streams and its depth from the surface, have resulted successfully and most favorably to the project. This was the vital point on which the irrigation matter has been resting for the past few months, and at one time it appeared that the project would have to be abandoned on account of the ab- sence of serviceable bedrock at a reasonable depth. Such items as salt, sand and sediment are yet to receive the con- sideration of the board. It is estimated that the 22,000 acres of land to be con- demned for a reservoir will cost the Government $20 per acre, or a total cost of $440,000. All the land to be condemned is homestead land and most of it is now being lived upon and cultivated by farmers. Inasmuch as the present owners must vacate and afterward the lands are to be worthless, save for reservoir purposes, the homesteaders will doubtless demand of the Government prices not lower than $20 per acre. This means the removal of 137 farmers to other sec- tions of the country. "I have stronger hopes than ever before that the irriga- tion project will be carried out." said an engineer of the Geological Survey today. For three years he has been ob- serving the progress of reclamation affairs and is informed in nearly all matters pertaining thereto. BROWNSVILLE, TEX., November 14, 1905. Editor Irrigation Age: J. L. Allen, of Houston, representative of Iowa capital- ists, who have recently purchased 8,500 acres of land about twenty miles above Brownsville, says work will begin in a THE IRRIGATION AGE. 55 few days. An engineer is expected soon to look over the ground and the work of putting in ten miles of canal will begin at once. A pumping plant of large capacity will be in- stalled and the land put in first-class shape for agricultural purposes. ALAMOSA, COLO., November 15. Editor Irrigation Age: A big mass meeting of residents of the San Luis Valley is being held here today for the purpose of forming some plan whereby the order of the Secretary of the Interior may be so changed as to permit the building of reservoirs and using the waters that can be stored in them for irrigation pur- poses. It is claimed that if the obnoxious ruling can be re- scinded or materially modified a vast empire that is now bar- ren can be made productive and rich. The question to be debated is whether or not the Inte- rior Department's order shall be fought in the courts or an appeal made to President Roosevelt. The latter plan is fa- vored and will probably be 'adopted, but in case this fails then the fight in the courts will begin. F. H. Newell, head of the Government Reclamation Serv- ice in the semi-arid regions of the West, is blamed for the continuance of the anti-reservoir order. He is accused of prejudice against the temperate regions in the matter of irri- gation in favor of the semi-tropical sections. It is affirmed that 100,000 acres of the finest land in Colorado were being held back from development by the rul- ing of the head of the Reclamation Service to allow a nebular scheme for the reclamation of the same amount of land near El Paso to be reclaimed at some indefinite future date. Mr. Newell holds that it takes from eighty to 160 acres to support a man in the temperate regions, while in the semi-tropical sections ten acres is plenty. On this theory he had continually refused to consider the construction of any - large reservoir in Colorado, except the one at Gore Canon, the waters from which will be used on the lands of Arizona and California. The ruling against reservoirs in the San Luis Valley was made in 1896 and since that time over twenty-five different companies have tried in vain to secure rights of way to build dams that would furnish water for 100,000 acres of rich land in the San Luis Valley. Mr. Newell has refused the rights of way on the grounds that the Mexican Government objects to the diversion of the waters of the Rio Grande River and its tributaries, but no effort has been made to adjust this difference. Certain El Paso politicians had a scheme to build a large dam near El Paso and wished to use the water that should go to irri- gate the land in Colorado. They are trying to interest the Reclamation Service in this scheme and are preventing the water from being used on Colorado lands. The creation of a forest reserve in Archuleta, Mineral, Rio Grande, Conejos and Hinsdale Counties, as outlined by the Government, is being advocated by the settlers of those sections, but they ask that the usual restrictions be removed in this instance. They claim that the land is not suitable for cattle grazing and that if the sheep are barred it will re- sult in killing the sheep industry of that section. APPLYING WATER. When making the first irrigation in the spring more time is required for the water to cover the ground thoroughly than for any of the succeeding irrigations. In a general way for alfalfa it requires twice as long and for plowed land about three times as long. Frost seems to open up the ground and the first irrigation packs it and makes it more solid, so that subsequently the water goes over it much faster. The time required depends upon the slope of the ground as well as upon the nature of the soil, but under similar conditions as to slope, gravelly land requires more time than any other. In irrigating such land the best way is to water only a portion .of it and then change the water to some other piece of land, allowing the watered portion of the gravelly soil time to pack. Then turn the water on again and it will travel quickly over ' the part first watered, reaching the unwatered land before much water is absorbed. Farmers "claim in a general way that light clay, very sandy and gravelly land should be irrigated three times as compared with twice for loam. If plowed deep in the fall any kind of land will require less water than if it is merely scratched. Sandy land gradually im- proves with irrigation, changing to a sandy loam in seven or eight years. Sandy loam, with a flat slope and a clay subsoil, when irrigated late in the winter or early in the spring in non-freezing weather, will produce one or two good crops of alfalfa without further watering. In hot weather it is best to irrigate sandy land at night, for if the water is put on in the daytime it is likely to scald the crop. Comparatively flat light clay land will produce the most alfalfa. The first crop is generally cut late in May on bench lands and early in June on bottom land. The second crop comes on about the middle of July on bench land and before the first of August on bottom land. The third crop is allowed to grow as long as it is safe from frost, being generally cut about the middle of Septem- ber, although sometimes it is not taken until October. Alfalfa should be plowed under every few years and the land put in grain or sugar beets. For two years after alfalfa has been plowed under wheat will make nearly twice the usual crop. As a general thing, it is custom- ary to irrigate grain three times, although frequently four irrigations are required on bench lands, while some- times only two are needed on bottom lands. Grain should be irrigated when it is necessary only. If irrigated often it makes too much straw and is likely to fall down. When wheat is irrigated three times, it is usual to water it first in the boot, generally from the 15th to 20th of May; the second time, when it heads out, and the third time when it is in the dough, just before it begins to ripen. It is customary to irrigate oats three times to make a crop, although sometimes four waterings are necessary on bench lands. The first irrigation is generally about May 15th. Barley requires about the same treatment as wheat and oats, but ripens a little earlier than wheat. On sandy loam, thoroughly cultivated, corn will not need any water until it tassels out. Comparatively flat light clay land and black loam produce the best grain. THE NORTHERN HOTEL, Billings, Montana The leading hotel af the Queen City of ^he Yellowstone Country. Steam heated, electric lighted; headquarters for tourists, irrigation men and all who enjoy good service. A. F. McNABB, Manager. 5C THE IRRIGATION AGE. NOTES. ••••••••••••••••••••••••••I The Secretary of the Interior recently awarded a contract to Orman & Crook, of Pueblo, Colo., for the construction of the Belle Fourche, S. D., dam and distribution canals. The contract calls for the con- struction of an earthen dam and appurtenances and seventeen and a half miles of canals, involving about 2,600,000 cubic yards of earth work, 3,000 cubic yards of rock excavation, 24,000 cubic yards of concrete ma- sonry, and 45,000 pounds of steel and cast iron. The dam when completed will be one of the largest earth embankments in the United States. It will be 100 feet high in the highest place, one mile long on top, tweriy feet wide on top, with one and a half to one water slope, which will be completely paved with stone to a depth of eighteen inches. The conduit or controll- ing gates are to be placed in a concrete well located in the center of the fill, connecting with the reservoir and the distributing canal by a three-inch concrete conduit of sufficient capacity to fill the canal when the reservoir is low. -In this well three steel gates will control the outflow. When the reservoir created by this dam is full the area of the water surface will be nearly 9,000 acres, and the water will be sixty feet deep. The canals provided for in this contract are for both sides of the Belle Fourche River. The north side canal, to provide water for 60,000 acres, will have at its head a bottom width of twenty-six feet and will carry a depth of water of seven feet, with a grade 1.056 feet per mile. The south side canal will irrigate 4,000 acres on the north side of the river, emptying a quan- tity of stored water into the river which will be diverted into a continuation of the canal on the south side of the river and made to irrigate 20.000 acres of the first-class lands in the vicinity of Vale and Empire. The first section of this canal will be sixteen feet wide on the bottom, carry a depth of water of five feet, giv- ing it a capacity of 243 second feet. The successful bid on the dam was $879,164; on the north side canal $71,129.75 ; and on the south side canal, $53,005.5.0. According to the contract the dam must be completed by September 1, 1909; the north side canal by May 1, 1907; and the south side canal by September 1, 1906. It is specified that as work upon the dam progresses the Reclamation Service has a right to store water behind it to such height as the engineer may determine to be safe. In case 'the work on any schedule is not completed on the date required, a deduction of $50 per day will be made from the amount due on the contract for such schedule for each and every day the work remains uncompleted. write ARTHUR P. CUTTER The Land Man 84 LA SALLE ST., CHICAGO if you want to buy or sell land If You Like The Irrigation Age Why Not Send it to a Frieud FOR. ONE YEAR.7 1 Cannot fail to please any man and will please him lor twelve months Fill in address and mail with One Dollar at our risk If you wish to send "PRIMER OF IRRIGATION" also, send $2.50 THE IRRIGATION AGE, 112 Dearborn Street, Chicago Send your Magazine one year, commencing with the month of ! NAME ! STREET _ I CITY STATE and notify party named above that the subscription has been i paid for and is sent with the compliments of $2.50 will secure for you one year's subscription to THE IRRIGATION AGE and a finely bound volume of the Primer of Irrigation which will be sent postpaid in a few months, when volume Is completed. The Primer of Irrigation will be finely Illustrated and will contain about 300 pages. 5end post office or express money order for $1.50 and secure copy of first I edition. One MetKod Take Your Power to Where it Is Most Needed Fairbanks-Morse Mechanical Irrigation Machinery Will often increase value of Arid Land from $1.00 to $100, or even $50O per acre IT'S A SIMPLE PROBLEM LET US PROVE IT FOR YOU Send for Bulletin No. 650, 1. R. Fairbanks, Morse & Co. Irrigation Department CHICAGO - - ILLINOIS THE IRRIGATION AGE. RECLAMATION NOTES. Field work on many irrigation projects through- out Montana has ended for the winter and Henry N. Savage, supervising engineer of three States for the Reclamation Service, has left for Denver. He will go thence to Washington to formulate plans for next sea- son in Montana-. Meanwhile the State engineer is mak- ing water-right surveys along the Sun River at the ex- pense of the Great Falls business men preliminary to an adjudication of the rights of present settlers along that stream, a settlement of these rights being imperative before the government will do any further work on the Sun River canal project. Winter work will be continued at the Shoshone dam, which, when completed, will be the highest dam in the world. Survey work is also promised for the winter on other contemplated irrigation projects, both government and private. >•••••••••••••••• THE IRRIGATION AGE, 1 year . . . . . $1.00 THE PRIMER OF IRRIGATION, • finely illustrated 300-page book. •'•" .? 2.00 II both are ordered send . ... . 2.50 Address, IRRIGATION AGE. 112 Dearborn Street, Chicago. "American" Centrifugal Pumps Gasoline Engines for Irrigation Outfits "AMERICAN" machinery produces certain results which can be obtained by no other methods. Every outfit is a machine, and, like any other machine, must be judged not by its cheapness but by what it accomplishes. Results can not be obtained with poorly made equipment. To the inexperienced eye it may look like an "AMERICAN" machine, it may work after a fashion, but results are what make the machine valuable. Brains, skill and experience through a quarter of a century of development have made "AMERICAN" machinery what it is today. MANUFACTURED BY THE AMERICAN WELL WORKS Factory and Genera.1 Office, Aurora, Illinois. U. S. A. CHICAGO: 45 West Randolph Street DALLAS. TEXAS 58 THE IRRIGATION AGE. Choice of Routes To California VIA THE Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway. 1. The Overland Limited to San Francisco, via Omaha and Ogden, in less than three days. From Union Station, Chicago, 8.00 p. m. daily. 2. Tourist Sleepers to Los Angeles via the new San Pedro, Los Angeles & Salt Lake Railroad, leave Union Station, Chicago, 6.05 p. m. daily. 3. Personally conducted tourist-car parties to Los Angeles and San Francisco, via Kansas City and Pueblo, leave Union Station, Chicago, 10.25 P- m- Tuesdays and Thursdays. 4. Daily tourist sleeper, Chicago to San Francisco, with direct con- nections to Los Angeles and Portland, leaves Union Station, Chicago, 10.25 p. m. Route via Omaha, Ogden and Sacramento. 5. The Southwest Limited, leaving Union Station, Chicago, 6.00 p. m. daily, makes direct connections with through trains to Cali- fornia in Union Station, Kansas City. 6. The Pioneer Limited, leaving Union Station, Chicago, 6.30 p. m. daily, arrives St. Paul 7.25 a. m. and Minneapolis 8.00 a. m., making direct connections with northern transcontinental trains for the Pacific Coast. If you will state your destination, complete information regarding rates, routes and train service will be sent to you. California book for six cents postage. Folders descriptive of California free. F. A. MILLER, GENERAL PASSENGER AGENT, CHICAGO. THE IRRIGATION AGE. 59 DON'T BUY GASOLINE ENGINES sfly started. No vibration. Can be mounted on any wag<___ Mftv., Meachcr A 16th 8U., Chlcaco, THIS IS OUR FIFTY-FIRST YEAR. UNTIL YOU INVESTIGATE * THE MA8TEK WORKMAN," .two-cylinder gasoline engine superior to is power._CostsI*wto^YJuidJto!i_toEnJtt^jQulckl^,_eas]ly started^. No vibration. Can be mounted on any w_agon_at_small_cost— portable, ste- sll one cylinder engines; revolutionizing . . tionary ortraction. Mention this paper. SEND FOR CATALOGUE. THE TEMPLE PUMP $2.^0 will pay for the Irrigation Age one year and The Primer of Irriga- tion. Canadian Pacific Railway Irrigated Lands now ready for sale. This is the greatest irrigation project in America. Prices and terms reasonable. For particulars apply or write Canadian Pacific Irrigation Colonization Co.. Ltd. J. M. PATTERSON, General Agent Calgary, Alberta, Canada Will Your Wooden Headgate Last Another Year ? Or will it break and wash out when you get water itored in your reservoir lor next season's use 1 You Know a wooden headgate is liable to break any time. and almost always leaks. Why take any chances ? You can t afford to. Get your reservoir in good shape, so that you need have no tear of breaks or leaks. A Northwestern Headgate beicg made of iron and steel is strong and reliable, and will outlast a dozen wooden gates. Being care- fi'lly and scientifically made it is easily operated, ana will not leak a drop. Being the most durable headgates made, NORTHWESTEBN HEADQATES are consequently the cheapest. They are guaranteed to prove entirely satisfactory, or your money re- funded. My CATALOGUE is FREE. Better send for it. C. D. BUTCHART, Denver, Colo. Ten Tourist Lines to Pacific Coast Divided between two superb routes. Via El Paso through New Mexico. Via Colorado through the Rockies. Rock Island through tourist cars both ways. From Chicago, St. Louis, Kansas City, Omaha, Des Moines, Cedar Rapids, St. Paul and Minneapolis and hundreds of other points. ''From Everywhere East to Anywhere West." The Rock Island red folder "Across the Continent in a Tourist Sleep- ing Car" tells all about it. Full details regarding rates and the service via both routes, promptly upon request. Rock Island; System ' JOHN SEBASTIAN, P. T. M. ROCK ISLAND SYSTEM, CHICAGO. 60 THE IERIGATION AGE. "The basis of my business is absolute and unvarying integrity."— Samuel S. Thorpe. In Modest Humble WAY, I feel that I am a public benefactor because I am giving to every honest, thrifty, industrious man an opportunity for him to achieve his in- dependence; why do you farm that expensive land, which pays you only a small rate of interest, when you can buy land of me, at about a tenth of its price, which will not only pay for itself in a short time, but will continue to make you a lot of money and will treble in price in ten years, if you let it lie idle and pay the small taxes on it? Why do you rent expensive lands when you can buy lands of me for nearly the amount of the yearly rent? Why live in changeable climate when you can live in a uni- form one, where malaria, typhoid, hay-fever and other germs are unknown? Not away out in the wilderness, but right in the center of civilization, close to an enterprising and prosperous city with every modern convenience and advantage "I Have Over 10,000 Acres of cheap lands, available for farming, fruit-growing and stock-raising, possessing all the advantages mentioned above and others I have not stated. What are the drawbacks, did you ask? Only one, the stumps. When you have disposed of them, which is not so hard a job as you imagine, you have practically a clear field to cultivate; no rocks to work among, no tile to lay or ditches to dig. We have thirty (30) inches of rain and we get it when we need.it. I have a map and booklets telling the truth about this country. They are free for the asking. Write today, you owe it to yourself. SAMUEL S. THORPE Room 8, Webber-McMullen Bldg. CADILLAC, MICH. REAL ESTATE DEALERS AND AGENTS:-! want you to co-operate with me. I can make it worth your while to represent me. I pay liberal commissions. A postal card will bring you full particulars in regard to same and my methods of doing business. THE IKRIGATION AGE. 61 Steel Irrigation Flumes AND WATER. TROUGHS Galvanized steel is rapidly taking the place of wood for fluming purposes and with The Maginnis Patent splice flummp is made easy Any boy can put the Maginnis Steel Flume together or take it apart. Steel flumes and troughs "Ship Knock down" Third Class freight. Let me figure on your flume. All flumes guaranteed. . Write for Testimonials and Particulars to P. Maginnis, Mfr. Kim ball, Nebraska The Idan= Ha, Boise The Leading Hotel in Idaho Modern and up-to-date in every particular. Political, Commercial and Social Headquarters of Idaho. E. W. Schubert, Manager The COLORADO MIDLAND RAILWAY :( MIDLAND ROUTE): Penetrates the Heart of Colorado, pass- ing thro' the Grandest Mountain Scenery, reaching CRIPPLE CREEK, GLEN- WOOD SPRINGS, LEADVILLE and the irrigated lands of the Grand Valley. Observation Library Cars Denver to Ogden :: :: :: Pullman Tourist Cars Chicago and St. Louis to California .via Great Salt Lake :: :: :: :: :: :: WRITE FOR OUR LITERATURE AND RATES H. C. BUSH, C. H. SPEERS, Traffic Mgr., Denver, Colo. Gen. Pass. Agt., Denver, Colo. H. W. JACKSON, Gen. Agt.. Chicago. THE FARMER IN THE SOUTHWEST PROSPERS Because he pays from $8 to $15 an acre for land that produces as good crops as land in Illinois and Indiana which sells for $75 to $100 an acre. The mild climate gives him earlier crops and the short winter makes stock-raising less ex- pensive. 'Yovi have the same chance to prosper that is being taken by hundreds of the northern and eastern farmers. Write for free copies of our illustrated books on Texas and Oklahoma. Low rates to all points in the Southwest on the first and third Tuesdays of each month, via FRISCO Chicago & Eastern Illinois R. R. W. H. RICHARDSON. G. P. A.. Chicago. 111. THE IRRIGATION AGE. Wealth ir\ the Empire Business opportunities in new and growing towns. Wonderful agricultural wealth in the great irrigated districts. F. Walden, of Zillah, Wash.,cleared $10,000 net in one year from 80 acres. Others are making like prof- its. Schools, churches, rural delivery, rural telephone lines — a good land to live in and a climate second to none. Adjacant to Spokane and the great Puget Sound cities — ample markets for all time. Ask C. A. Matthews, Gen. Agent Passenger Dept., 208 South Clark St., Chicago, 111., or C. W. Mott, General Emi- gration Agent, St. Paul, for information about the great irrigated district of Eastern Washington. Northern Pacific FLailway A. M. CLELAND General Passenger Agent St. Paul, Minn. With Pump ENGINES ARE USED BY THE U. S. GOVERNMENT ' In sending out their last specifications for* f gasoline engines for West Point, the^ U. S. War Department required them "to be Olds Engines or equal.'* They excel all 1 others or the U. S. Government would not de- mand them. The horizontal type, 2 to 100 H. P., and are so simply and perfectly made that it requires no experience to run them, and Repairs Practically Cost Nothing. Send for a catalogue of our Wizard Engine, i 2 to 8 H. P. (jump-spark ignition, the same as in the famous Oidsmobue). The most economical small power engine made; fitted with either pump- jack or di- h rect -connected pump. Or, our general catalogue, showing all sizes. Olds Gasoline Engine Works, Lancing, Mich. Motsinger Anto-Sparker Starts and Runs Gas Engines Without Batteries TSo other machine can do 11 succss- Inlly for lack of original patents owned by us. No twist motion In our drive. No belt or switch necessary. No batteries what- ever, for make and break or Jump-spark. Water and dust- proof. Fully guaranteed. CO. "I MAtM8T,PENOLETON,IND.,U. S.A. 15,000 Newspapers and Periodicals every week Thinkers Students Writers Public Men Business Men and ANYONE wishing to collect clippings on any subject, —business pointers, material for lectures, sermons or debates, — should read our booklet, "The Uses of Press Clippings." Sent to any address on receipt of stamps. Consolidated Press Clipping Co. 167 Wabash Are.. CHICAGO T H Gasoline Engines Best For Irrigation. WHEN it comes to pumping water for irrigation purposes the "I. H. C." Gasoline Engines will be found the simplest, 'safest and the most durable and economical. They can be attached to any kind of pump, in any position, for raising water from deep or shallow wells, reservoirs, canals or running streams. They excel in full, regular and long sustained power. They can also be used for a general pur- pose engine for sawing wood, churn- ing, cream separating, feed grind- ing, etc. They give the maximum of power at the minimum cost. No expert knowledge or trained engineer necessary to operate them. They are unequaled for power of all kinds. Made in a variety of sizes and in two styles. Horizontal or Portable 6. 8. 10. 12, 15 Horse Power. Verti- cal, 2. 3. 5 Horse Power. Call on local agent and examine these engines or write nearest general agency for illustrated catalog showing how they will save you money. WESTERN Denver, Col.. Portland, Ore., Salt Lake City, Utah. GENERAL AGENCIES: Helena, Mont., Spokane, Wash., San Francisco. Cal. INTERNATIONAL HARVESTER COMPANY OF AMERICA. CHICAGO. ILL. (INCOr.l'OIlATElM THE IRRIGATION AGE. 63 SUGAR-BEET INDUSTRY IN NEBRASKA AND COLORADO is attracting* the attention of capitalists and farmers along* the UNION PACIFIC From beets averaging1 IS to 25 tons to the acre, the factory can extract 14 per cent, granulated sugar, or 280 pounds to the ton of beets. For full information about the Famous Platte Valley, Its entire length traversed by the Union Pacific; E. L. LOMAX General Passenger and Ticket Agent OMAHA. NEB. BOOKS ON Irrigation and Drainage THE IRRIGATION AGE has established a book 1 1 department for the benefit of its readers. Any ; ; of the following named books on Irrigation and Drainage will be forwarded postpaid on receipt of price: Irrigation Institutions, Elwood Mead 81.25 Irrigation in the United States, F. H. Newell 2.00 Irrigation Engineering, Herbert M. Wilson 4.00 Irrigation and Drainage, F. H. King 1.50 Irrigation for Farm and Garden, Stewart 1.00 Irrigating the Farm, Wilcox 2 00 The Primer of Irrigation, cloth, 300 pages 2.00 Practical Farm Drainage, Charles G. Elliott 1.00 Drainage for Profit and Health, Waring 1 00 Farm Drainage, French 1.00 Land Drainage, Miles 1.00 Tile Drainage, Chamberlain 40 < • Address THE D. H. ANDERSON PUBLISHING CO. 112 Dearborn Street, CHICAGO, ILL. Renew your subscription of the IRRIGATION. AGE for 1905 Send us in Post Office or Express money order for $1.00 With Primer of Irrigation $2.50 ABOUT THE SOUTH •About theSouth" is the name of a 64-page illustrated pamphlet issued by the Passenger Dept. of the ILLINOIS CENTRAL R. R. CO. in which important questions are tersely answered in brief articles about Southern Farm Lands, Mississippi Valley Cotton Lands, Truck Farming, Fruit Growing, Stock Raising, Dairying, Grasses and Forage, Soils, Market Facilities and Southern Immigration along the lines of the Illinois Central and Yazoo & Mississippi Valley railroads, in the States of Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi and Louisiana, including the famous :: :: ' YAZOO VALLEY OF M,SS.SS,PP. Send for a free copy to J. F. Merry, A. G. P. A., I. C. K. R.. Dubuque, Iowa. Information concerning rates and train service to the South via the Illinois Central can be had of agents of connecting lines, or by addressing A. H. HANSON, G. F. A., Chicago. III. 64 THE IRKIGATION AGE. The Fertile Lands of Colorado are best reached by the . . * DENVER «- RIO GRANDE R. R. "Scenic Line of the World" Colorado has fertile valleys surpassed by no other land under the sun and by means of irrigation the farmer is absolutely insured against crop failure. Write for free booklet and all information. S. K. HOOPER, General Passenger and Ticket Agent, DENVER. COLO. R. C. NICHOL. General Agent, 242 Clark St.. CHICAGO, ILL. The Great East and West Line TrV AC >Nn IHIIIQIAUA Across mo Entire States of ItAAO MB LUUlOlANA MOUNTAIN ROUTE Through Tourist and Standard Sleepers between Chicago and California Paso. without change. Close connection at El New Dining Cars (meals a la carle) bet-ween Texas and St. Louis. Write for new book on Texas. FREE. E. P.TURNER, General Passenger Agent, Dallas, Texas Several thousand acres of good, un- improved Wisconsin land for sale by the "OMAHA ROAD" at low prices and on easy terms. This land Renew your subscription of the IRRIGATION AGK for 1905. Send ns in Post Office or Express money order for $1.00. A80U LAND Is ad- jacent to the railroad and good market* are but a short distance away, New Extensions recently built (fives transportation facilities to a section of Northern Wisconsin, re- markable for Its resources. Excursion rates will be made for homeseekers. If you are Interested write for our new pamphlet giving: particulars. T. W. TEASDALE General Passenger Agent, ST. PAUL, MINN. IS THE MOST DIRECT LINE FROM ST. LOUIS HOT SPRINGS, ARK. TEXAS, MEXICO and CALIFORNIA. Elegant Through Service. OVER 19 HOURS SAVED TO MEXICO. DOUBLE DAILY SERVICE. DINING CARS, "Meals a la Carte." H. C. TOWNSEND, Q. P. and T. Agent, ST. LOUIS, MO. THE IRRIGATION AGE One year, $1.00 THE PRIMER OF IRRIGATION 300 pages, $2.00 Go Southwest THE Southern Pacific TRAVERSES LOUISIANA, TEXAS, NEW MEXICO, ARIZONA, CALIFORNIA PULLMAN STANDARD AND EXCURSION SLEEPERS. FREE CHAIR CARS. DAY COACHES. OIL BURNING LOCOMOTIVES NO SMOKE NO DUST NO CINDERS Low Colonists' Rates to all Points. See for yourself THE FAMOUS OIL, RICE, COTTON, SUGAR, LUMBER, TOBACCO, GRAPE, TRUCK AND CATTLE COUNTRY OF TKe Greatt SovitKwest WRITE FOR ILLUSTRATED PAMPHLETS TO T. J. ANDERSON, Q. P. A. JOSEPH HELLEN, A. Q. P. A. HOUSTON, TEXAS OWN ; AtFARM! Thousands of Jfcres of Fertile Lands capable of raising the finest quality of farm products in luxurious abundance, are for sale upon reasonable terms in Wisconsin, Northern Michigan, Minnesota, South Dakota, Iowa, Nebraska and Wyoming. Reference to reliable statistics will demonstrate the fact that the pursuits of AGRICULTURE, STOCK- RAISING AND DAIRYING in these states are attended with profitable results. For further information regarding lands, addrtss CHICAGO AND WESTERN RY. J. F. CLEVELAND LAND COMMISSIONER, C.&N.W.R,. A8K FOR TICKETS VIA 22 Fifth Ave., Chicago, III. fcg.-a; »/,«;»• THE NORTH-WESTERN LINE CHICAGO TICKET OFFICES 212 CLARK STREET. PASSENGER STATION, WELLS AND KINZIE STREETS. OAKLEY AVENUE AND KINZIE STREET. H. R. McCULLOUGH, W. A. GARDNER, W. B. KNISKERN, Third Vice-President. General Manager. Pass. Traffic Man DOUBLE POWER {1,000 Reward for it* equal. Wind power doubled. Two 11 ft. wheels work on same pinion; sec- ond wheel gives more pow- er than first. in all winds. Develops 10 full h. p. in 25 mile wind. Alt power needed for farm, shop, irrigating, etc. Ask about our self oiling, self governed, single wheel pumper — also Armsaver Husker. Ask for book ftfl. DOUBLE POWER MILL CO. Applelon, Wl>. TWENTY- FIRST YEAR VOL. XXI. No. 3, THE ' IRRIGATION AGE^ ESTABLISHED 1883 WITH WHICH IS MERGED , THE mom, JOURNAL .: ESTABLISHED 1879 KIGATIONAGE PUBLISHED IN THE INTEREST OF IRRIGATION DRAINAGE JANUARY 1906 THEM. ANDERSON .PUBLISHING CO, Publishers. 112 DEARBORN ST.. CHICAGO. SPECIAL FEATURES Failed to Discredit Grunsky. Editorial Expressions by G. L. Shumway. Irrigation in Nevada. The Supplemental Value of Irrigation. Western Nebraska. Canadian Irrigation. Billings. Montana. Reclamation Notes. Questions for Reclamation Bureau to Answer. Morris Machine Works BALDWINSVILLE.N.Y. Centrifugal Pumping Machinery, designed for any irrigating prop- osition. Send details or specifica- tions of what Is wanted and we will recommend a pumping outfit to supply the need. New York office, 39-41 Cortlandt Street Houston office, Cor. Wood & Willow Sts., Texas Henion & Hubbell, Agents, 61 N. Jefferson Street, Chicago. 111. Harron, Rickard & McCone, Agents, 21 Fremont Street. San Francisco, Cal. --- ^^"^ Centennial Auger Machine Mascot Auger Machine Soft Mud Machines, Horse and Steam Power Clay Working BUILT RIGHT- RUN RIGHT" We build an entire line of Clay Working Machinery for the manufacture of Clay products by all processes, including Sand-Line Brick. Our yard supplies are the best. Kiln Irons, Cutting Wire and all supplies. Send for infor- mation or catalogue. The American Clay . Co...Bucyrus, Ohio Disintegrators Eagle Repress Hand and Power Cutters Hand Power Screw Press Horse Power Plunger Machine Products of our Auger Machines THE IRRIGATION AGE. 65 I STANDARD FOR SIXTY-FIVE YEARS MADE BY DEERE & CO., MOLINE, ILL. I ii 1 1 n ii II 1 1 1 1 1 1 in 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 ii i in 1 1 1 in 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 ii 1 1 iiiiiiiiii in SAMSON TURBINE! When the PUMP cannot be direct connected to the tur- bine shaft, the power is usually transmitted by gears, shafting, etc. On account of the HIGH SPEED of the SAMSON, for a given power, lighter and consequently CHEAPER transmission machinery can be used. JAMES LEFFEL & CO., Springfield, Ohio, U. S. A. Write Department K-2 for Catalog. Mill I I I II I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I M I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I inn O" "O ENGINES A Story With ^ Moral A. A. Breder, Egg Harbor City, N. J., J writes: "Please send, by mail, one blade for igniter lever, engine number 7185. This is my first order for repairs, and I have had my engine since October 8,1900." The part cost Mr. Breder 25 cents. Divide 5 years into 25 cents and find the [I] annual cost of maintaining the engine. The moral is obvious. OTTO GAS EN6INEWORK5.Phila.Pa. STANDARD OF THE WORLD 66 THE IKKIGATION AGE. MYERS POWER. PUMPS WITHOUT AN EQUAL ON THE GLOBE OPERATING WITH GAS ENGINE FIG. 952 HORIZONTAL BULLDOZERS. 3" to 6* CYLINDERS MYERS BULLDOZER POWER PUMP 5' Cylinder FIO 8M MYERS BACK GEARED WORKING HEAD TAPPED FOR 3' PIPE 5. 1%. and 10 STROKE FOR BELT. WIND OR HAND POWER BULLDOZER WORKING HEAD BULLDOZER PUMP 6" BRASS LINED CYLINDER "* FIO. 1079 /'COUPLING NUT I \ BRASS ROD Write for Descriptive Circulars and Prices. We want you to acknowledge this Ad. so that we can acquaint you in detail with the superior features of Myers Power Pumps. This is the proper season. The right time to write is right now. FIG. 813 MYERS BULLDOZER WOR KING HEADS No. 359 5". 71A", 10' STROKE DISCHARGE, 2'.', or 3 INCHES SUCTION 2 to 4 INCHES No. 364 12'. 16'. 20' STROKE REGULARLY FITTED 4" DIS- CHARGE SUCTION 8* OR LESS F. E. MYERS ®L BR.O., PR.OPR.IETORS OF SLUMS' A1VI> HAY TT O O JL, O F* THE IRRIGATION AGE. UNION MACHINES WITH PUG MILLS COMBINED FIVE SIZES ALL CAPACITIES Outfits for Drain Tile, Hollow Ware, Building and Paving Brick and other Clay Products If interested write us for particulars and estimates. E. M. FREESE & CO QALION, OHIO 68 THE IRRIGATION AGE. ASPINWALL POTATO MACHINERY I ^CUTTERS. PLANTERS. SPRAYERS. DIGGERS . SORTERS. ESTABLISHED THIRTY (30) YEARS. ASPINWALL MFG CO., cJACKSON, MICH., U.S.A. FAIN LEVELS. ROAD LEVELS, ARCHITECTS' LEVELS, Etc. Levels especially designed for Terracing, Ditching, Drainage, Irrigation, Rice Culture, and also for Road Building, Contracting, etc. Levels with all the latest im- provements and that are very simple, durable, accur- ate and easy to adjust and to operate. Prices range from {5 to $35, depending on the attachments, size of telescopes, etc We build the level that will suit your purpose and that will satisfy you in quality and price. Write for our complete catalogue and let us show you their several advantages. BELYEU LEVEL C(>.. ALEXANDER CITY, ALA. The Primer of Irrigation $2.00 The Irrigation Age $1.00 When both are ordered send $2.50. IRRIGATION AGE 112 Dearborn St. Chicago RIFE AUTOMATIC HYDRAULIC RAM RUNS CONTINUOUSLY NO ATTENTION NO EXPENSE >UMPS WATER BY WATER POWER Large Capacity Rams for Irrigation Operates under 18 In. to 50 ft, fall. .*. Elevates water 30 feet for every foot fall used. So per cent efficiency developed. .•. Over 4,500 plants In successful operation. .'. In- formation and estimates promptly and cheerfully furnished, •.• Catalog Fr»e. RIFE ENGINE COMPANY I I I BROADWAY, NEW YORK, U. S. A. Dempster G Cngines Make Sure of Having Water When Yon Need It Pump it with a Centrifugal Pump and Dempster Engine Dempster Gasoline Engines 2 to 30 Horse Power Reliable Economical Durable Always Ready for Business DEMPSTER MILL MANUFACTURING CO, factory: Branch Houses: KANSAS CITY, MO.; SIOUX FALLS, SO. DAK.; OMAHA, NEB. THE IRRIGATION AGE VOL. XXI CHICAGO, JANUARY, 1906. No. 3 THE IRRIGATION AGE With which is Merged MODERN IRRIGATION THE DRAINAGE JOURNAL THE IRRIGATION ERA MID-WEST ARID AMERICA THE FARM HERALD THE D. H. ANDERSON PUBLISHING CO., PUBLISHERS. 112 Dearborn Street, CHICAGO Entered at the Postoffice at Chicago, 111., as Second-Class Matter. D. H. ANDERSON ) M| W. J. ANDERSON ] Eam ANNOUNCEMENT. "The Primer of Irrigation" is now ready for delivery. Price, $2.00. If ordered in connection with subscription, the price is $1.50. SUBSCRIPTION PRICE. To United States Subscribers, Postage Paid, $1.00 To Canada and Mexico 1.00 All Other Foreign Countries 1.50 In forwarding remittances please do not send checks on local banks. Send either postoffice or express money order or Chicago or New York draft. A monthly illustrated magazine recognized throughout the world as the exponent of Irrigation and its kindred industries. It is the pioneer journal of its kind in the world, and has no rival in half a continent. It advocates the mineral development and the industrial growth of the West. Interesting to Advertisers. It may interest advertisers to know that The Irrigation Age is the only publication in the world having an actual paid in advance circulation among individual irrigators and large irrigation corpo- rations. It is read regularly by all interested in this subject and has readers in all parts of the world. The Irrigation Age is 2J yean old and is the pioneer publication of its class in the world. A rumor is afloat that the head of the Failed to Geological Survey has made such repre- Connect. sentations to the Secretary of the Interior as to lead him to request President Roose- velt to drop Carl Edwald Grunsky as adviser or head of the Reclamation Service. Eeport further says that the President emphatically declined to remove Mr. Grunsky which is good news to all who are looking for clean work along irrigation lines. To those who are ac- quainted with inside facts it is easy to trace back to the Newell-Maxwell crowd as the instigators of this move. Director Walcott of the Geological Survey has no doubt had a hand in the deal also. Mr. Grunsky is too good a man to be handicapped by this lot of "halo balancers." We are representing in this issue three The Union illustrations which were furnished by the Pacific. passenger department of the Union Pa- cific Eailway. One is an irrigation scene on that railway in the South Platte Valley; the other is a view of onion fields near Greeley, Colo., while the third shows an irrigated wheat field in Dawson County, Nebraska. It is our intention to show during the com- ing year many views along the line of this railway which will be accompanied by proper descriptive matter. In connection with the use of these articles it occurs to us that the railway companies of the West are given scant credit for the vast amount of valuable literature distributed through their passenger depart- ments and this we believe is particularly true of the Union Pacific System. It is not known what department of that well managed system should receive credit for the elaborate and comprehensive reports issued. We presume, however, that the passenger department is responsible and it is not more than fair to say that this class of literature turned out from the offices of the Union Pacific Railway at Omaha is far and away ahead of the average railway literature, in the sense that great care and a vast amount of labor must have been ex- pended in the preparation of statistics which make up these reports. Messrs. Lomax and Fort of the passenger department, as well as Mr. Darlow, of the advertising department of that system, are, no doubt, entitled to a great deal of credit for turning out so much valuable matter. Organize. The contests which have been provoked in many localities by over aggressiveness and insufficient tact on the part of rep- resentatives of the Reclamation Service and unreasonable demands on the part of prior private interests have wrought incalculable injury to private enterprise, to the Reclamation Service, and the entire West, and unless dealt with wisely bids fair to demolish aspirations of the personnel involved, and menaces many practical plans for redemption of arid lands. The per- sistence with which the conflict has been provoked, and the autocratic attitude of Federal representatives, is the most discouraging end to encounter. Clothed in the ample vestments of governmental authority a word is far more potent than from the individual. Uncon- 70 THE IKEIGATION AGE. sciously each asservation carries a significance as of eminent and infallible origin. It seems there is need of an association of fearless men. Men who have at heart the progress and develop- ment of a greater West; whose various endearors shall include the tasks of harmonizing interests, of deter- mining rights where conflicts pend, to exercise its in- fluence with contending elements. It should be com- posed of men broad enough to see both sides and brave enough to criticize the erring. The West wants development — all it can get. The National Irrigation Act has inspired confidence in many a lagging enterprise. Promoters with a worthy project heretofore handicapped by want of means, need now only show the merits of their plan and security from Federal intervention, and ca-sh materializes. The na- tional law has done a noble work if it never builds a dam or ditch, and there are many projects where the Government would be a welcome adjunct. It could upon some equitable basis assist construction. It certainly is not the purpose of the Government to crowd out pioneers. Originators of irrigation in modern America are entitled to their prior rights and privileges, unmenaced and unmolested. It is an im- perative duty this generation and the country owes to the fathers of an idea which will build homes for mil- lions from an arid wilderness. It will take men of courage in such an association, men who care not for blatant criticism of erstwhile sycophants; men who must expect to have their motives impugned and maligned by fortified beneficiaries of this or that contingent. These things, sometimes so im- portant to us individuals, are dwarfed to insignificance when one realizes what it all means to future genera- tions, and all it means for the quick development of the newly irrigated area. Young, untactful men who have been advanced by the rapid growth of the Eeclama- tion Service, are too fond of exercising their new au- thority, too prone to imagine their work includes stern contests and gives them unlimited privilege. It is un- fortunate for those young engineers who are, in the main no doubt, aggressive, ambitious, able and worthy, that the attribute of exciting hostilities and of unnec- essary interference with extraneous affairs have found encouragement from higher sources. One almost con- cludes their actions are inspired and that the original purpose of the National Irrigation Act, which was to foster and supplement irrigation development, is being perverted for a purpose. To square the shoulders and tell of comprehensive brains essential for reclamation heads, and to have the eyes assume an omni-spective luminosity, does not dispel conclusions. Stories of un- ceasing toil, of days and nights of unwearying labors, yet almost hysterically repudiating plans of relief, ex- hibitions of morbid sensitiveness when a proposal is made to improve the business end of the service, adroit coupling of names of independent citizens with antag- onists, and no apologies when apprised of errors; all these permit and provoke unbidden apprehension. Emphasized is the above when engineers of the Government find it necessary to reorganize Water Users' Associations, to commit them to attitudes which delib- erate judgment fails to commend ; and when a member of the association rises in protest, the beneficiaries busy themselves writing discrediting letters about the timo- rous individual. Those of the affected district have a privilege which they will exercise. They urge that usual business customs shall prevail in these vast proj- ects. As Senator Carter said, "Whoever heard of a vast industrial enterprise, a trans-continental railroad, for instance, financed by its engineers?" Let an associa- tion be created with purposes advisory alike to corporate and Federal authorities, and it might eliminate much of the personality, censure and aspersion which has heretofore invaded correspondence and conversation. One must learn by criticism and it is hoped that sug- gestions may be received in friendly spirit and not have any neutralizing effect. Our readers are requested to send in suggestions for the forming of an association of those directly interested, with the end in view of holding meetings where the people may voice their grievances and register complaints against those in authority who pay no heed to the cry of the oppressed. An Answer. When a citizen of any community has so lived that his fellow men shun him there are only two paths open for him : one, to look for new fields where he may start anew, or secondly, an effort to live down a reputation unsavory, or bad, by good conduct and clearly under- stood effort to correct wrongs perpetrated. The ex- tent of man's evil doing is broadened or limited by the size of the community in which he is located. A man may, for instance, carry on badly for a long time in a large city before being found out, while his time would be short in a small town. When an individual has a country as broad as the United States in which to operate he is practically unlimited as to time or opportunity, there being much less chance of his be- ing exposed simultaneously over a large area. Thus it is that an organization of the character of the National Irrigation Association is hard to down, there being, perforce, so much virgin territory to work even if its weaknesses are made known in widely sepa- rated localities. These thoughts are prompted by a letter of inquiry received by the editor recently from a reputable and well known citizen of Chicago in which he says, "Will you be so kind as to tell us from what source such matter as the enclosed emanates?" The THE IRRIGATION AGE. 71 enclosures were a lot of printed sheets containing quo- tations from St. Paul and Minneapolis papers lauda- tory of the organization known as the National Irri- gation Association. THE IRRIGATION AGE has made many attempts in the past to enlighten the public concerning the weak- nesses of this band of "halo wearers," but it seems that there are many who are as yet ignorant of its plan of misrepresentation and graft. The fact of the matter is that this organization is being supported by a lot of well meaning gentlemen in St. Paul, Minneapolis, St. Louis and numerous other cities under the misapprehension that it is found- ed on a clean base and is doing much to assist in the development of the West, by irrigation under Govern- ment control. This was perhaps true in the early his- tory of the organization, but is far from being the fact today. To further enlighten our correspondent, the fol- lowing facts may be briefly stated : The National Irrigation Association is not living up to its original plan of assisting the National Irri- gation Congress in the way of providing funds to meet ordinary expenses, nor has it ever done so. This asso- ciation is collecting large sums of money from its members throughout the country and is giving nothing of a tangible character in return. The ringleader of this association admitted before the Committee on Irrigation of Arid Lands of Con- gress that its income exceeded $60,000 per year. He has also declined on numerous occasions to fur- nish any public statement of the manner in which this vast sum is expended. He also poses as the father of the irrigation move- ment, when in point of fact, he was a struggling lawyer in California when the first real work for national aid was being performed by men whose aims were good and whose motives were clean. He has secured the support of good business men by misrepresentation. He has regularly posed as the friend of the home- seeker when in fact he has used every effort to bring about the repeal of certain land laws which would, if carried out, benefit a few large landholders and pro- duce hardship for the great body of homeseekers. He and his employers have regularly aimed to misrepresent facts, and place the present and future generations in bondage. This association has done nothing as compared with the work of individuals of whom we hear but little, toward developing the West. The National Irrigation Association has done much to discredit the land law known as the Carey Act — a law under which many worthy private irrigation enterprises were formed and brought to fruition. This one-man organization has regularly attempted to hamper all development under private capital. It has interfered with the conduct of associations of manufacturers when it could and its leader has re- cently been censured by the Executive Committee of the National Association of Agricultural Implement and Vehicle Manufacturers for undue interference with the plans of that organization. The National Irrigation Association has been re- pudiated by the National Irrigation Congress, a worthy institution which it attempted to control and, failing, is now circulating the statement that the usefulness of the National Irrigation Congress has departed. The Irrigation Congress is a strong body and will not be injured by their statements. The next Congress at Boise will demonstrate that it is much stronger with that element eliminated. The leading spirit of the Association has recently made an arrangement at Washington with a prominent lobbyist of large corporate interests to expend a fund which aggregates a quarter of a million dollars annu- ally to educate the public mind to the corporation's way of thinking. THE IRRIGATION AGE does not attempt to say whether or not this plan is worthy, but this combination takes on a strange aspect when it is known that this individual is spending that vast sum to combat the plans of the President of the United States, whom he loves to quote where the quotations on reform subjects suit his purpose. The President will, no doubt, be surprised to learn that this man who has so assiduously courted his faror through friends in the Eeclamation Service, is in the pay of his (the President's) enemies. These and other facts innumerable are given as an excuse for our persistent effort to expose a condi- tion of hypocrisy and sham. Some day perhaps we will know how much money has been paid into the hands of this band. A remarkable feature of the situation is that such men as Thomas Walsh, of Washington, and such lesser lights as James H. Eccles permit their names to appear in printed matter as officers of this loud smelling organ- ization. The National Irrigation Association has never done anything in the way of assisting worthy projects to accomplishment nor has its close relationship with in- dividuals connected with the Reclamation Service been the means of benefiting any particular locality save that of the Salt River community in Arizona, where it is alleged a large sum of money, several millions of dollars, are being spent on a dam and reservoir which will irrigate some 200,000 acres of land owned by pri- vate parties. It is further alleged by residents of Arizona that THE IRRIGATION AGE. had this money been used on another project in that territory something near 350,000 acres of virgin land would have been opened for settlement. If this is true it may readily be seen to what extent the National Irri- gation Association is a friend of the homeseeker, the toiler, the homeless. Theodore Eoosevelt, President, it may perhaps be- come you to take on part of what you were once pleased to term "the white man's burden" and investigate some of the vague mutterings concerning the conduct of those servants of the people, the men who compose the Reclamation Service of the United States of America. You are an old plainsman, Mr. President ; put your ear to the ground and tell us what the sound indicates. EDITORIAL NOTES. BY G. L. SHUMWAY. The vivid pen picture drawn by November Talis- man, portraying President Roosevelt standing on the brink of a precipice, was calculated undoubtedly to put the fear of God (or some other Omnipotent) into his heart. It has reached discouraging limits when a mere executive will entertain independent ideas. The presumptuousness is fraught with imminent peril. Nothing should be assumed without first consulting the fountain head which dominates the Reclamation Service. We have long known that immunity from attack on the part of a layman is to possess the attribute of sycophant, or silence. Otherwise reclamation offi- cials will feel called upon to exploit the independent entity as a "disturber" and "unpopular." To set the dogs of its benignant influence lose with sinuous inu- endo and malignant fabrication. However, we had not accredited the dictator of the reclamation service with the assurance of undertaking to intimidate the President. The first intimation that anyone believed the element of fear would deter Mr. Roosevelt from executive action is in the emanation to which we refer. We believe the President will encourage liberal discussion and criticism of his policy, for that will bring out weak points, if any exist, in the alignment of his logic; that his rugged honesty will perceive, and after observation, acknowledge any imperfections in his rea- sonings; that any argument made which has not been fully analyzed will be thoroughly dissected. If the meat is there, if an available idea is manifest, he will appreciate its merits. In this particular the President and Mr. Newell are the antithesis of one another. While visions of imaginary chasms would reduce the eminent engineer to humbleness and obedience, a threat will rather awaken the combative attributes of our chief executive, and militate against the cause which Mr. Maxwell has obviously been retained to protect. We are constrained, however, to remark that we doubt the expediency at this time of any revolutionary measure affecting freight rates. Waiving the consti- tutional question, "Can Congress delegate to a created commission a purely legislative function?" what effect will its action have on the newly reclaimed areas ? The several million acres reclaimed will need a rapid influx of population; railroads which, penetrate the areas, if allowed discriminative privilege, have a faculty of in- ducing settlers by establishing attractive rates upon the products peculiar to each community, to the most available markets. If this privilege should be elimi- nated it would exercise a neutralizing influence upon settlement. The consummation desired, the maximum number of pastoral domiciles, to be established by the effects of a national irrigation act, would be manifestly delayed. Mr. Maxwell's attitude is, however, most fascinat- ing. As versatile as even he is presumed to be, many have asked how long the hippodrome performance can be successfully maintained with horses headed in oppo- site directions. A closer observation will detect, how- ever, the reclamation equine is also duly headed down the pike of favorite frenzied financiers. Best principles are violated; but the general public, being unfamiliar with irrigation, see not the motives; only the figure playing well in the limelight as a pioneer of ideas. His sympathies and dictatorial character being so mani- fest by recent emanations, the national executive may now .easily perceive the underlying cause of complaint growing out of a maladministration of the affairs of the Reclamation Service. THE IRRIGATION AGE has from to time shown rea- sons why the service should contain a business bureau, specifically referring to lack of tact and insufficient business methods of those in charge. The Lingle deal is only an example. As has been stated, Mr. Lingle offered the holdings of his company — canal, right of way, water rights, land and privileges — for $150,000 and no takers. After the execution and approval of his contract with the Government (whereby all the Government secured was a right of way through his canal, by agreeing to convey his water appropriation to his headgates for an inconsiderate sum), his hold- ings became sufficient collateral for issuance of $300,- 000 first mortgage bonds, which have been duly guar- anteed. With the reclamation leaning for support so heavily upon the shoulders of Mr. Maxwell — erstwhile booster for the railroads and erstwhile antagonist of executive policies — the President and the people need expect no reform in that department. Attitudes and attributes are inspired by philanthropic profit and one man's glory. THE IRRIGATION AGE. 73 How long it will be possible to keep up this dis- reputable affront is a question. So long as communi- cations fall by the wayside, so long as complaints fail to reach the executive, and fall into the hands of the Philistines to be duly smothered, it will endure. But when someone with sufficient courage and brains smashes through their guarded battlements and lays the matter before the President himself, then will come the carpet, rack and sifting, which will clear the de- partment of the blot on its escutcheon. OUR FRIEND ORENDORFF. That the National Irrigation Association is in- sufficient for the requirements of the times, is evidenced by the Talisman, which is recently inspired to say that "in all probability the Irrigation Congress at Portland would be the last of any importance." Why the last? Because Boothe and Maxwell are to withdraw their beneficent influence ? Do these two men opine that they are indispensable to anything labelled "Irrigation"? This old world has a peculiar attribute of jarring our sensibilities when our opinions of ourselves are unduly elevated. These gentlemen remind us in a way of Alfred Henry Lewis' pup. After Alfred had shot a bear the pup seized it viciously and violently threw its own little body from side to side, then strutted around on its toes, happy in the delusion that it had shaken the bear. The Irrigation Congress is too big a thing to be even perceptibly jarred by this interesting combina- tion. What reason is there why the future Congress should not grow in importance as the acreage and num- ber of homes under irrigation increases? Is there any reason why interest should lag even if Boothe and Maxwell were transported? Can a man or institution boast of unselfish zeal for the cause of irrigation and undertake to discredit and destroy the National Irri- gation Congress? It is the one place that delegates go without hire and inspired only by the good of the cause. And now the only men who ever received per- sonal advantage from association therewith pronounce its doom. Shall we accuse them of ingratitude and ulterior motives? Or do such suspicions arise from our own stupid, uncomprehending perversity? Had not the Congress at Portland formally re- pudiated the National Irrigation Association, the city of Boise and the State of Idaho might have had occa- sion to rebuke this wholly unnecessary affront. Under the circumstances, however, Monte Gwinn can con- gratulate his municipality and commonwealth that the Congress to be held in Boise will be free from entangling alliances, and interwoven similarity of names will not confuse us obtuse laymen as before. We are presenting herewith a half-tone portrait of Mr. U. G. Orendorff, who has recently been elected president of the Illinois' Manufacturers' Association. To those who know Mr. Orendorff no word of commen- dation is necessary. For the benefit of our readers who are not, however, acquainted with the gentleman, we will say that he is one of the best known manufacturers of agricultural implements in the United States, and is an all around good fellow, a sportsman of the cleaner sort, and we predict that the Manufacturers' Associa- tion will find that they have as well an extremely able U. G. ORENDORFF. man at their head. Mr. Orendorff has been prominent in other organizations of manufacturers, among them the National Association of Manufacturers of Agri- cultural Implements and Vehicles. His home is at Canton, 111., where the great manufacturing plant of the Parlin & Orendorff Company is also located. This house is one of the largest of its kind in the world and has branches at Kansas City, Portland, St. Louis, In- dianapolis, Dallas, Denver, Omaha, Des Moines, Minne- apolis and Winnipeg. I Send $2.50 for The Irrigation Age 1 year. and The Primer of Irrigation » I THE IBEIGATION AGE. IRRIGATION IN NEVADA. BY FRANK J. BRAMHALL. In the youthful days of even the present genera- tion there was quite a large area of dots on the western part of the map of the United States called "The Amer- ican Desert." It may have disappeared from the maps but it was nevertheless a desert ; and although Sam Davis has written beautifully and poetically of "the lure of the sage brush," the average tenderfoot insists carry out so stupendous an undertaking, and under the appropriation of $100,000 by Congress in 1888 Major Powell started surveys of reservoir sites and canal lines and the measurement of the water supply of streams. Mr. William H. Hall was supervising en- gineer of the investigations in Nevada and California, and Mr. Lyman Bridges was in immediate charge of the survey of the Truckee and Carson Eiver basins. These preliminary surveys were carried on for some years in spite of the lukewarm interest of Congress, which soon discontinued the appropriation for the pur- Section of Map with Truckee-Carson Project Irrigable Areas Marked by Short Diagonal Lines. that it is an educated taste. A great part of this des- ert area is the dried bed of the ancient lake the geolo- gists call Lahontan, but all the elements of fertility rest in those apparently barren sands. Nevada is essentially an arid region — that is, the rainfall, save in the mountains, is insufficient for cul- tivated vegetation, yet the waters of the mountains are sufficient for the irrigation of great areas of arable land of the lower plains. Maj. John W. Powell, then director of the United States Geological Survey, originated the idea of the reclamation of arid lands through irrigation by the general government, which power alone was able to pose, but in Nevada the work was energetically taken up by Mr. Francis G. Newlands, now Senator from that State. He had surveys made of some of the reser- voir sites on both the Truckee and Carson Eivers, pur- chased lands controlling several of them, and • con- structed a small dam at Donner Lake. In 1892 he employed Mr. L. H. Taylor to survey a canal line from the Truckee Eiver some twenty miles above Eeno to supply water to some 70,000 acres of land to the north and northeast. Mr. Taylor, who is now the supervis- ing engineer of the Eeclamation Service in Nevada, has therefore a most thorough and detailed acquaintance with this entire subject, and this, combined with his THE IEEIGATION AGE. 75 practical knowledge and skill, has enabled him to bring the works recently completed to a remarkably success- ful conclusion. Under the urgent persistence of Major Powell Con- gress resumed to a limited extent the annual appropria- tions for the necessary surveys and preliminary work, which in Nevada were extended from the basins of the Carson and Truckee Eivers to the Walker Eiver and their entire water sheds, including in particular Lake Tahoe, known to all experienced tourists as "the Gem of the Sierras," and the great number of smaller glacial lakes of the high Sierra that drain to the eastern slope. Gradually, as the knowledge of the subject in- creased, its great and vital importance was recognized by a larger number, and when President Eoosevelt, who possessed a larger and more intimate knowledge of the needs of the great West than any of his predecessors, took the subject in hand it was successfully crystallized deeper moment than any transformation scene upon theatrical boards. It was a grand stage, where all the world might be spectators, for along its entire front from Hazen to the summit of the Sierra ran the main line of the Southern Pacific in full view of this reclam- ation work. From the ice-cold depths of the Sierra lakes, Tahoe, Fallen Leaf, Donner and twenty others, tumbled the foamy rapids to lower levels. These sources of supply are inexhaustible, and the joyous vigor of its birth seems to give it strength for the great work of human helpfulness by the transformation of the desert sands. Near the new station of Hazen may be seen the camp of the engineers near the great dam and the heading of the canal. This was doubtless one, and a very important reason, for the straightening of the main line which left Wadsworth off to the north. The main canal is thirty-one miles in length and has a capacity of 1,400 cubic feet of water a second for Site of One of Reservoirs, Truckce-Carson Project. in the Eeclamation Law of June 17, 1902. Naturally the Truckee-Carson project, previously suggested and developed by Mr. Taylor, and which suggested certain conspicuous features, received the immediate attention of the Government and was the first to be selected for active work .as an illustration of what the Government could do in this important field. June 17 should be a red letter day, not only in the calendar of Nevada but in the calendar of the great West, for three years from the day President Eoosevelt signed the Eeclamation Law Senator New- lands and the Congressional Irrigation Committees saw the waters of the Truckee Eiver diverted by the im- mense dam into the great cement-lined ditch that car- ried it miles away to the thirsty plains awaiting, and inaugurated the first great work of irrigation reclama- tion by the United States Government. The three years that intervened saw the work go on in the canyon of the Truckee Eiver and the broader valley below — a play of more entrancing interest and the first section of six miles, at the end of which a branch crosses the Truckee Eiver by an inverted syphon, conveying 250 cubic feet a second to the reserve lands between Wadsworth and Pyramid Lake, which body of water it was feared would itself become a desert by evaporation when the waters of the Truckee were diverted. From this syphon to the Carson Eiver the main canal has a capacity of 1,200 cubic feet. These thirty-one miles of canal involve many engi- neering problems more or less novel in their character, but which were successfully solved. Excavations were deep and fills were high across intersecting canyons, where provision of course had to be made for times of flow. Three concrete-lined tunnels, one of them 1,400 feet in length, were constructed at great cost and difficulty, for unforseen obstacles are always en- countered. Professor Chandler, who has written ably on the subject in the pages of Sunset Magazine, states that: "During July. 1904, contracts were let for the construe- 76 THE IRRIGATION AGE. tion of about thirty-seven miles of main distributing canals for the diversion of eighteen cubic feet of water a second from Carson River at a point about four miles west of Lectville, Nev. This work involves about 1,500,000 cubic yards of earthwork besides the concrete diverting dam, the regulating gates, spillways, falls and weirs. The system will distribute water to mains in the Carson Sink Valley and will be supplied by the Lower Carson reservoir." The Carson River, like Tahoe, has its source in Carson Lake in the high Sierra, and it is to supple- ment the flow of this more limited stream that the waters of Truckee are diverted from Pyramid Lake to the Carson basin. This great work now supplies water to some 50,000 acres of land and when completed will thoroughly reclaim more than 200,000 acres in Churchill County at a cost of less than $3,000,000. Altogether the successful carrying out of the Truckee-Carson proj- ect means, as stated by Mr. Taylor in Progressive West, the addition of from 350,000 to 400,000 acres to the agricultural area of the State of Nevada-. This area will be divided into comparatively small farms and un- der intensive culture, which must of necessity follow irrigation, it will support a very large population. The writer hesitates an estimate of the number of souls it will sustain, but knows he is entirely conservative in placing it at a minimum of 60,000. This, of course, includes, besides the people directly on the land, those canal from that point to the Carson Sink having been constructed and the water turned in, the attention of the Reclamation Service is now being directed to the Onion Fields Near Greeley, Colo., on Union Pacific Railway. construction of the necessary laterals from the main canal penetrating the lands they are to supply and to the storage reseroirs of the Carson River that is to add so much to the water supply. The map shows the location of the lower Carson reservoir, which will have a capacity of over 280,000 acre feet. Three other reser- voirs will be constructed in the Carson Basin, adding Looking West Up Truckee Canal from Top of Tunnel. in the towns and villages that will spring up in the district. A glance at the neighboring State of Utah, by far more than half of whose nearly half a million population are sustained by less than half a million acres of land cultivated by irrigation, will convince the most skeptical that this estimate is thoroughly on the side of sarfety." The diverting dam of the Truckee and the main 250,000 acre feet more. The storage capacity of Lake Tahoe is estimated at 200,000 acre feet and six other reservoirs in the upper Truckee basin will have 90,000 acre feet more. Leaving out the Walker Lake basin an aggregate storage of 820,000 acre feet is provided for over and above the natural summer flow of the streams. This great work, with its numerous novel features, THE IRBIGATION AGE. has in the opinion of competent engineers thus far been admirably executed, remarkably free from error, and with no suspicion of either extravagance or "graft." It has been and is today an honest, faithful, economical and enduring work of high merit. It should not be forgotten that this is not a charity on the part of the general Government, but an invalu- able help and an inestimable boon to the people and the State, who repay the money expenditure in annual installments. The Government having withdrawn the public lands from ordinary entry fixes a value upon them of $36.00 per acre, which is not the value of the lands when irrigated, by any means, but is the cost of the water supply. This amount is payable in ten annual installments commencing on the first day of December of the vear in which the water shall be gives the water to the farmer and he reimburses only the expense of making it available. As rapidly as this expenditure is repaid it may be expended upon other irrigation projects. It is difficult to adequately describe what this means to the settler and to the State of Nevada. It not only reclaims a certain area of land, but makes a new com- munity and reclaims the State to social prosperity. No one can speak of this subject more intelligently than Professor Chandler, who beside his experience in the Reclamation Service is the State engineer of Nevada. He says in Sunset : "The regulation of the streams in addition to build- ing up these many homes will allow excellent facilities for the generation of electric power. Cheap power and a population increased by many tens of thousands should A Concrete-Lined Curve, Truckee-Carson Canal. delivered to the lands during the previous April. As ex- plained by Professor Chandler : "The irrigation works will be maintained and operated under the direction of the Secretary of the Interior until all payments are made for the major portion of the lands irrigated. The system will then pass to the owners of the irrigated lands and be maintained at their expense under such organization as may be acceptable to the Secretary of the Interior. The management and operation of the reservoirs and works necessary for their protection and operation must remain under the control of the Gov- ernment." A widow was the first person to file a claim upon these lands. Not only is no homestead allowed exceeding 160 acres of land, but that is the maximum allowed to be held by any single individual, and where there be exist- ing ownership of land exceeding that amount the owner is required to sell the surplus in similar tracts to actual settlers. The price of water furnished these lands in private ownership is the same as for the public lands — an annual payment of $2.60 an acre for ten years. This is an extremely cheap rate; but the Government justify the introduction of various lines of manufac- turing. "The mineral wealth of Nevada, despite the hun- dreds of millions that have already been taken out of her mines, is as yet unknown. The remarkable advances in metallurgy have greatly lessened the cost of work- ing ores, so that with the cheap supplies offered by the growth of both agriculture and manufacturing, mines long since closed on account of the expense of operating will become paying properties. The great extension of the irrigated area will make the life of the prospector far easier, and with more territory within the scope of his careful examination new mines will be discovered. In this way new home markets for farm supplies will constantly be springing up until the Nevada irrigator will become independent of the outside world. "Thus the lonely Sage-brush State will awaken from her slumber to listen to the gladsome shouts of youth in field and orchard, to the clatter of the stamp mill and the roll of ore cars, to the whirl of busy fac- tory machinery, to the unknown sounds of city life. 78 THE IRRIGATION AGE. THE SUPPLEMENTAL VALUE OF IRRIGATION. DR. JOHN A. WIDTSOE, Director Department of Agriculture, B. Y. University, Provo, Utah. THE TWO PHASES OF IRRIGATION DEVELOPMENT. There are two distinct phases to the work of re- claiming our desert lands by irrigation. The impound- ing and distribution of the waters by mighty dams and canals form the first; and the proper and economical use of the water on the farms, the second. The former of necessity precedes the latter, but when the labor ex- pended on the vast irrigated areas, and the possible resulting crops, are stated in dollars and cents, it can not be denied that the proper use of the irrigation water is, financially, superior to the money invested in crops can not be produced profitably on our western deserts without irrigation. It is only within the last few years that this idea has been shown to rest on un- reliable foundation. Rain and snow fell upon the western deserts. Along tbe edges of the Great Basin, for example, the annual precipitation varies from twelve to eighteen inches, and it seldom falls lower than eight inches at any place in the Basin region. Over a large district surrounding the Navajo Indian Eeservation, including portions of Utah, Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona, that ordinarily are looked upon as being hope- lessly desert, the rainfall during the last twelve months was a little more than eighteen inches — the average there is perhaps fourteen inches. Over large portions of Wyoming, Idaho and Montana, the annual average precipitation is even higher. More water is needed in arid than in humid regions to produce one pound of Tunnel Showing Sage Brush Country in Nevada. the construction of the dams and canals. The accumu- lated effect of errors in the use of water, in one year, may easily equal a large proportion of the total cost of the works under which the lands lie. At the present time much is said about the reser- voirs and canals to be built; unfortunately, much .less is said about the relation of water to soils and crops. The extension of our knowledge of the farmer's side of irrigation should go hand in hand with the engi- neer's work. If this be not done much loss will in- evitably follow. It is not true that all is known of the proper use of irrigation water that needs be known. The prin- ciples of the practice of irrigation are not well devel- oped ; many are not at all known ; the science of irri- gation is yet to be built. This paper is a contribution to the farmer's side of irrigation. THE VALUE OF THE NATURAL PRECIPITATION. Especially in the far East, but also among our own western people, the myth has become current that dry matter. The amount of water represented by an annual precipitation of eight to eighteen inches, if properly conserved, is sufficient to produce profitable crops of many of the useful plants. To illustrate: If 750 pounds of water are required to produce one pound of dry matter, a little less than four-tenths of an acre inch would be sufficient to produce one bushel of wheat per acre. With a precipitation of twelve inches a little more than thirty bushels of wheat per acre should be produced, if all the water that falls soaks into the soil. Naturally, this is far from being true, and the crop producing power of the natural pre- cipitation is correspondingly decreased. Yet, by proper methods of soil treatment one-half to three-fourths of the precipitation should easily be stored in soil and be kept there until required by plants. Demonstrations in Utah and Colorado have shown that it is possible, with proper methods of cultivation to produce as high as thirty-five bushels of wheat every other year with an annual rainfall of about fourteen inches. Keeping in mind this rather high crop-producing THE IEEIGATION AGE. power of the natural precipitation, it is certainly proper to assert that the first consideration of the irrigation farmer should be the conservation of the rain and snow- fall on his farm. With six to twelve acre inches of water in the soil in the spring the irrigation farmer does not need very much more water to mature any HOW TO CONSERVE THE NATURAL PRECIPITATION. To conserve the natural precipitation the western farmers must practice fall plowing, and in the spring the top soil must be carefully stirred and smoothed to prevent the evaporation of soil water. Moreover, since land is plentiful and water is scarce, it would be well Opening Flood Gate of Truckee Irrigation Canal In Nevada June 17, 1905. ordinary crop. On such a soil irrigation should be applied only at the critical periods in mid- and late summer. In short, irrigation should be supplemental only to the natural precipitation. Where the rainfall is high the duty of waier should be correspondingly high; where it is low, the duty of water should like- wise be low. The failure to appreciate this principle has led to to let a portion of land lie fallow every year, for the purpose of gathering two years' precipitation for the use of one corp. Were the annual crops of the West planted on fall plowed fallow soils, there would be gen- eral need of irrigation water only at the late critical periods. The arguments against fallowing, urged in the East, do not hold in the West. In the East soils are fallowed for fertility; in the West for water. An Irrigated Wheat Field in Dawson County, Neb., on Union Pacific Railway, much disaster on the irrigated farms. In the interest of economical, rational irrigation, every farmer should be taught that the irrigation stream is only supple- mental to rain and snowfall. FALL AND SPRING IRRIGATION. The best water reservoir yet found is a deep, uni- form soil, such as occurs over a large portion of the West. In many places much of the fall water goes to 80 THE IRRIGATION AGE. waste. It should always be stored in soils that are to be cropped the following year. The early spring wat- ers should, likewise, be run on the land and made to do duty in producing crops. As before remarked, soils well stocked with water in the spring usually are able to carry crops through the season without much irri- gation; the irrigation of such fields is valuable chiefly in increasing the yield, and making the plant safe dur- ing the critical heated periods. It does not matter so much when the water enters the soil. The chief thing is to get sufficient moisture into it. If the wasted waters of fall and spring were used on the fields, the duty of the irrigation stream would again be materially increased. to May 4th the total precipitation was in fact 11.5 inches. A little more than 82.6 per cent of the total precipitation was thus shown to have entered the soil, and to be stored there at the beginning of the active growing season. Such observations have been made on other soils, with practically identical results. Of course, in every case, where such results have been obtained, the soils were plowed in the fall and carefully harrowed in early spring. Similar soils plowed in the spring seldom gathered more than one-third of the natural precipita- tion. The land above described, was planted to wheat in the spring, and varying amounts of water were ap- Divertlng the Truckee River Into the Flume, Truckee-Carson Project. It is a crime against the interests of the arid West to let either fall or spring water run to waste. AN EXPERIMENT ON THE VALUE OF THE NATURAL PRECIPITATION. On a typical great basin soil, classed as a medium loam, observations have been made for the purpose of determining how much of the natural precipitation may be retained in the soil. In the fall, about the middle of August, after the wheat harvest, the soil was found to contain 9 per cent of moisture to a depth of eight feet. It is an interesting fact that, on similar soils, it appears that wheat can not reduce the soil moisture below 9 per cent. On May 4th of the follow- ing spring the soil was again examined and found to contain an average of 17 per cent of water to a depth of eight feet. Seventeen per cent of water is nearly equivalent to 20 acre inches of water. Deduct from this depth 10.5 acre inches, the equivalent of the water found in the soil in the fall, and there remain 9.5 inches, which must have been added to the soil as rain and snow. During the period from August 15th plied to the different plots into which the field had been divided. The results follow : Depth of Irriga- tion Water Ap- plied During Season. (Acre Inches.) 2.5 5.0 7.5 10.0 15.0 54.0 Depth of Irrigation Water Applied, plus the Moisture Stored During the Fall and Winter. (Acre Inches.) 12.0 14.5 17.0 19.5 24.5 63.5 Yield of Bushels of Wheat per Acre. 35 38 39 42 47 43 Even a glance at this table shows that the water stored in the spring must have been active in produc- ing the crop. The first 2.5 inches applied produced thirty-five bushels, while the next five inches produced only four bushels more. If the irrigation is considered as alone having value in crop production, the above table would give the first 2.5 inches a value of four- teen bushels per inch, while the following five inches would have an inch value of only .8 bushel. Such a THE IKRIGATION AGE. 81 tremendous difference within such narrow limits seems unreasonable. If, however, moisture stored in the soil above the limit to which wheat can exhaust soil, be taken into consideration, the value per inch of the first 2.5 inches of irrigation, plus the soil moisture, was a little less than three bushels, while the corresponding inch value when five more inches of irrigation water were added, was about 2.3 bushels. Such a gradual decrease is, of course, more reasonable. As more irrigation water is added, the bushel yield per inch steadily decreases, thus showing that, inch for inch, the water stored in the soil in the spring is of higher crop producing value than any irrigation water applied. Certainly, in considering the effect of any depth of irrigation upon crop production, the optimum amonsit in this paper, but simply to call attention to the fact that in the case of all annual crops, the supply of moisture must be most available from early youth to the time of flowering. Especially does the demand rise just before and during early flowering time. When the flowers are once well pro- duced, the crop needs much less water for its life proc- esses, and then the soil moisture may be allowed to fall. If this be so, we have another argument in favor of the largest possible amount of capillary water in the soil in early spring. Thus, also, the supplementary nature of irrigation is emphasized. CONCLUSION. The limits of this paper do not permit the develop- ment of this subject. The barest notice must suffice An Irrigation Scene on Union Pacific Railway — In the South Platte Valley. amount of moisture in the soil must always be taken into consideration. ANOTHER VALUE OF EARLY SOIL MOISTURE. Plants do not possess the power of regulating the amount of moisture that may be taken from the soil. From a moist soil much more water is taken per day or week than from a drier soil. If the soil is kept very dry, much of the energy of the plant is lost in over- coming the attraction between the soil particles and the thin water film. If the soil is kept very moist, much of the energy is consumed in evaporating immense quantities of water into the air. In either of the above cases, the lost energy means a reduction in the yield of dry matter per acre. It should be the aim of the wise irrigator to keep the soil supplied with the best amount of water at all times, that is, the propor- tion of soil moisture that will furnish the amount necessary for thrifty plant growth in the most econom- ical manner. It is not the purpose to discuss this at this time. All plants are like wheat in the manner in which they appreciate the start given them by an abundance of moisture, stored in the soil in early spring. When it shall be understood by irrigator and canal manager, that over a large portion of the irri- gated area, irrigation should be supplemental to the natural precipitation, very little irrigation will be given wheat and the other grains, and correspond- ingly less water will be given sugar beets, potatoes and other longer growing crops. As a consequence, the water at the disposal of the farmer, will he made to cover more acres; more crops will be obtained per acre inch of water, and the wealth of the irrigated area will be increased. We are yet in the beginning of irrigation knowl- edge. There is a vast undiscovered field covering the relation of crops and soils to water under the climatic conditions of the Western United States. The sup- plemental value of irrigation will not be the least important branch of that coming study. THE IRRIGATION AGE. WESTERN NEBRASKA. G. L. SHUMWAY. THE IRRIGATION AGE has indexed to the land hun- gering world many localities of promise, and inspired by the belief that the sun-land of western Nebraska is possessed of charms individual to its location and physi- cal features, a brief sketch of its past, present and fu- ture will be of interest. The particular portion described will be the North Wheat Field In Western Nebraska, near Platte Valley, just now a special object of interest because of the Harriman-Hill antagonism which is con- testing for its territory. Indications point out that probably, ultimately, two trunk lines will traverse the fertile portion of this valley. Six years ago settlers traveled forty or fifty miles to the nearest railroad. Unimportant villages were here and there located on star routes. The acreage irrigated was small and no market except the home. Today over 100,000 acres are under irrigation; and this year's product is an unexpected surprise to the Bur- lington, which is now the only railroad. For the last several weeks an average of four freight trains a day each way has found much difficulty in handling the traffic on the ninety-five miles between Guernsey and Bridgeport. In the heart of this section stands Scottsbluff, the metropolis of the valley, five years old and 1,200 people. It contains a high school erected at a cost of $10,000, having eleven grades and 300 scholars. The village has no saloons and has four churches, the largest of which cost $5,000. Gering, the old town and county seat, is two and a half miles distant. It has about 800 inhabitants. The population of the valley is approximately 7,000. Up to date the most profitable crops grown have been oats, yielding fifty to 140 bushels to the acre, wheat, twenty to forty-five bushels; potatoes, 150 to 400 bushels; alfalfa, three cuttings or _six tons per year; and wheat grass hay. The year 1905 was the first experiment with sugar beets; 2,000 acres were planted, yielding from fifteen to thirty tons per acre, at $5.00, on track. The two best fields made a gross product of $140.00 and $150.00 per acre with an ex- pense of about $30.00 per acre. Tests have shown ex- ceeding richness. Heyward G. Leavitt, president of the Tri-State Land Company, is operating here on a large scale. His company is at work constructing a canal 100 miles long, forty feet wide at bottom, and twelve feet deep. It owns about 40,000 acres of splendid land, and as- sociates have also controlling interests in another canal covering some 10,000 acres. This company, or another, with, which Mr. Leavitt is associated, will put in a million-dollar sugar factory in the near future. The United States Reclamation Service is doing a vast amount of work in this vicinity. The North Platte project finds its greatest acreage in Nebraska near here. The Pathfinder Dam, near Alcova, Wyo., will cost a half million dollars, and will conserve the entire flood waters of the North Platte and Sweet Water Rivers. Its capacity is sufficient to irrigate all available areas>, which is about 300,000 acres, and water to spare. Canal construction is in progress; contracts have been let for forty-six miles, May 8th, and fifty-five miles November 8th, at a total approximate cost of one million dollars. The first portion will furnish water for 1906 and the second for 1907. Probably 150 miles more of main canal will be constructed in the next few years. When completed this will be the largest contiguous irrigated area in the world, and will support 100,000 population. Future productive capacities are enormous to contem- plate. Lands now furnishing only scant pasturage will, by the magic touch of water, intensified farming, and fruit culture, produce millions of dollars in value annu- ally. The locality is well adapted to fruit, especially berries, cherries and plums, which begin bearing very Potato Field, Western Nebraska, Near Scottsbluff. young, and are prolific, and the fruit is of exquisite flavor. PAYS ADVERTISERS. In order that our readers may understand more about the benefit to be derived from advertising in the columns of the IRRIGATION AGE, we quote the following paragraph from a letter recently received from Mr. C. D. Butchard, manufacturer of the Northwestern head gates, Denver, Colo. : "You will doubtless be pleased to hear that the small space I am using in the IRRIGATION AGE is pro- ducing excellent results." A suggestion to»the wise is sufficient. THE IRRIGATION AGE. 83 CANADIAN IRRIGATION. BY J. M. P. Co-incident with the marvelous strides in irriga- tion development in the United States our Canadian friends have been developing irrigation projects in Western Canada of no small proportions. In the prov- ince of Alberta, one of the new provinces of Western Canada, there has been more or less irrigation for the last eight or ten years. The results have been uniformly satisfactory. While Alberta is not an arid or even a semi-arid coun- try, yet the average rainfall is comparatively small. It has long been a settled conviction in the minds of the officials of the Canadian Pacific Railway that wher- ever irrigation could be introduced in Western Canada, and especially in Alberta, it would not only be a wise thing to do, but most profitable. Our Canadian friends American continent. The area eventually to be placed "under ditch" is a million and a half acres. This tract has been divided into three sections, and a part of the first or western section of these canals has been completed during the summer and fall of this year, 1905. The main canal in this system is sixteen miles long, fifty-four feet wide at the bottom, eighty-five feet wide at the water line, and carries ten feet of water. Something like 100 miles of secondary canals has already been constructed, and about 100,000 acres of this tract are to be brought under water in the spring of 1906. The water for this irrigation is taken from the Bow River at the city of Calgary. The Bow is sc noble stream flowing out of the Rocky Mountains, eighty miles west of Calgary. By the government gauges it is learned that at low water mark there is sufficient water in this river to irrigate twice the acreage the Canadian Pacific Railway proposes to place "under Lateral of Canadian Pacific Colonization Company's Canal Near Calgary, Alberta, Canada. believe, as we Americans are coming to believe, that irrigation is profitable wherever possible. Our Canadian friends, however, are conservative and have moved in the matter of irrigation, as in other matters, with the greatest caution. Several years ago the Canadian Pacific Railway set about a thorough investigation of a large tract of their lands lying east of Calgary with a view to putting it "under ditch." Among other experts who were invited to look over the proposition was that greatest of all American ex- perts, Dr. Elwood Mead. The unanimous verdict of these irrigation experts was that here was a tract of land that was most admirably and peculiarly adapted, both as to soil and climate, to the purpose of irriga- tion. The same experts have pronounced the Canadian water right law as unequaled in America. After taking these preliminary precautions the Canadian Pacific Railway Company set about to build a system of main and secondary canals which would bring "under ditch" a tract of land, which, consid- ered from the point of acreage to be irrigated, is doubt- less the largest single irrigation undertaking on the ditch." The Canadian irrigation law, not a Provincial but a Dominion law, or, as we would call it in the States, a Federal law, fixes the "duty of water." Any company undertaking to irrigate a district must supply water according to the rule laid down by the irrigation law of Canada. It is claimed with pride by our Can- adian friends that there has never been any litigation over water rights in Canada. As the law is framed and administered it is difficult to see how it is possible that there ever should be any litigation along these lines. While the railroad companies in the United States have done much to promote irrigation in order to settle the country adjacent to their various roads, yet it is not within the knowledge of the writer that any of these roads has ever undertaken with its own funds, and as a part of its corporate activities, to construct and main- tain an irrigation system. The Canadian Pacific Rail- way is unique in this matter as it has not only con- structed this irrigation system at an expense of mil- lions of dollars, but it guarantees the water to the settler according to the "duty of water" as prescribed THE IRKIGATION AGE. by the Canadian irrigation law, but also guarantees forever to maintain the system of canals and to deliver water to each quarter section of land brought "under ditch." This particular section of Western Canada has, within the past few years, attracted almost world wide attention by its tremendous yields of the smaller grains, especially winter wheat. By the introduction of irri- gation these great yields of wheat and other small grains will be assured every year and in addition thereto the raising of alfalfa and sugar beets will be rendered not only possible but most profitable. Alberta has been, and is, a great stock raising country. The native grasses on these prairies are prob- ably unequaled anywhere else. So much is this true that Alberta has been appropriately called the "Sirloin of Canada." With the introduction of alfalfa it is known that the raising of stock will become still more extensive and more profitable. Sugar beets have been raised and there is already a beet-sugar factory in South- ern Alberta. The long days of sunshine common to The climate of Alberta is also an attractive feature. Many people think because it is far north and far west it must be as cold, or even colder, than Manitoba, which is known to be a rather cold country. The fact is that Alberta comes under the influence of the Chinook winds from the Pacific, and the climate of Alberta is more to be compared with the climate of Colorado or certain parts of Montana than it is to be compared with that of Manitoba. For a northern clime it prob- ably has no superior on the continent. The vastncss of this undertaking and the favorable conditions as to climate and soil and water, together with the fact that the great corporation, the Canadian Pacific Railway, is forever to maintain the system, has attracted the attention of experts in agriculture the world over. It is predicted by our American irriga- tion experts that there will be a vast tide of emigra- tion from the irrigated and non-irrigated States of the Union into the territory acquired by this new project. The tide of emigration from the States to Western Canada has been increasing for the past five years at Section of Main Canal, Canadian Pacific Colonization Company's Project, Calgary, Alberta, Canada. this north country have proven peculiarly suitable to the raising of sugar beets. The soil is rich and a large tonnage is always secured in sugaV beets, and the per- centage of pure sugar averages higher than in the United States. It is believed that Alberta along the line of this vast irrigation project, will become a- great producer of beet sugar. It will be of interest to our readers to know that in this great irrigation undertaking there is not a single tunnel or flume. Nature seems to have perfectly adapted the contour of this section of land to the arti- ficial application of water. Partly because the cost per acre of getting the water upon the land is compara- tively small, although the aggregate cost of this tract is great, and partly because the Canadian Pacific Rail- way was more desirous of building up a great agricul- tural community than of making an immense profit by the sale of the land, these lands are to be placed upon the market with a perpetual water right at a merely nominal price as compared with the prices of irrigated lands in the States, and the maintenance charge is to be less than that attached to any irrigation projected conducted by a corporation in the States. a marvelous rate. The American farmers in Western Canada have been so uniformly, and in many cases, so marvelously, successful that the desire to possess some of this Canadian land has become almost a craze in the Western States, and while the price of lands in Western Canada has advanced rapidly within the past few years, the opportunities for profitable investment are just as great today as ever, and while it is not our business to advocate the advantages of a foreign country over and above those of our own country, yet it is our business and privilege, wherever the facts are so apparent as they are in the case of Western Canada, and especially in Alberta, to call the attention of our American friends and patrons to the superior advantages offered across the border. We do not and can not forget that for years the young blood and the vigorous blood of Canada has been pouring into the United States, and now that the door of opportunity has opened wide in Western Canada, we feel as a matter of even-handed justice that we are only in part re-pay- ing our Canadian friends a just debt and sending back to them a part of that which belongs to them. THE IRRIGATION AGE. RECLAMATION NOTES. A resume of the work performed by the Reclama- tion Service to date shows that seventy-seven miles of main caanl, fifty-four miles of distributing system and 186 miles of ditches have been constructed, includ- ing dams, headworks, etc. Tunnels, having a total length of three and one-half miles, have been driven, including more than a mile of the great Gunnison tun- nel. More than 250 miles of telephone lines have been installed and are in operation ; 126 miles of wagon road, many miles of which were cut out of solid rock in almost inaccessible canyons, 147 bridges and fifty office and other buildings have been constructed. The works above mentioned have called for the excavation of 9,350,000 cubic yards of rock and earth, the laying of 70,000 cubic yards of concrete, 12,000 cubic yards of rip rap, 190,000 square feet of paving, 150,000 linear feet of sheet piling and 10,000 feet of bearing piles have been driven. There have been pur- chased 130,000 pounds of railroad iron, 250,000 pounds GRAFT AND WATER The natural irrigation fund has several fingers of graft mixed up inside of it and Oregon and Washington projects in consequence are held up pending the elimi- nation of the pap tubes through which the leakage is running. It is refreshing to know that the graft has been discovered before the many millions of the fund disappeared entirely, and it is further a source of no little gratification to feel that perhaps the great great grandchildren of the present generation may possibly receive a little benefit from the fund if it holds out that long. With the graft and red tape of govern- ment irrigation projects eliminated, something might be done, but it begins to look as if there would be mighty few rose tinted skies to beam on those who, in the midst of immense desert regions, fertility undis- puted, are watching and waiting for Uncle Sam's jack pot of many millions to be amicably divided among the long fingers at present dabbling with it. — Journal, Pine- ville, Ore. Bow River and Intake of Canadian Pacific Colonization Company's Canal near Calgary, Canada. of structural steel, 600,000 pounds of cast iron, 1,750,- 000 feet B. M. of lumber, and 78,000 barrels of cement. The Government has erected a cement mill at a cost more than $100,000, which has already turned out 15,000 barrels of cement, and is now furnishing about 300 barrels a day. The saw mills operated by Uncle Sam have cut 2,880,000 feet, B. M., of lumber from the Government reserves. The United States Reclamation Service was organ- ized in 1902, immediately after the passage of the Reclamation Act. As soon as possible after a discussion of preliminary plans in Washington, investigations were begun in the thirteen States and three territories which are beneficiaries under this act. By utilizing the data gathered in previous years by the hydrographic branch of the Geological Survey, the service was enabled to concentrate its efforts upon several projects and plans for their construction were soon prepared for the con- sideration of the secretary of the Interior. Up to the present time eleven of these projects have been approved and are under actual construction. Their estimated cost is nearly $30,000,000. AN IMPROVEMENT. Years ago water gates made of rough boards were considered all that was necessary, but with the settle- ment of the West the need arose for an inexpensive, durable and water-tight headgate — one that would en- able a farmer to exactly regulate and economize his water supply. The headgates made by C. D. Butchart, of Denver, Colo., were designed to supply this need. These headgates — the Northwestern — are made entirely of iron and steel, and for connecting to vitrified, clay tile or to iron pipe. A glance at Mr. Butcharf s cata- logue will show you that Northwestern headgates are simplicity itself, so that they can not get out of order, and considering their great durability and other advan- tages their cost is very low. -- - Will pay for the IRRIGATION AGE 2.50 one year and the PRIMER OF IRRIGATION. 86 THE IRRIGATION AGE. BILLINGS, MONTANA. BY W. T. CLARK. (Read before the Commercial Club of Billings.) For the benefit of our friends throughout the country, I have been asked to prepare a paper on what we have done at Billings during the past year and how it was done. Billings, as a good many of you know, has done a great work during the last twelve months. She has become known not only to her own citizens and to the people of Montana, but her fame has gone to the East and t-"» the West, reaching localities where even the name of Montana was hardly known. In the minds of the people of the East whom we have gone amongst to spread the gospel of Billings and the Yellowstone Val- ley, Montana, during at least half the year, is a frozen However, this, is not telling you what Billings has done, or, rather, what has come to Billings by reason of the efforts of the people of Billings. Being the man- ager of the Billings Land & Irrigation Company, it is perfectly natural for me to put that company and its work first among the good things that have come to Billings. As a matter of fact, it was the first good thing to come to Billings for many a year and following in its wake came next a creamery capable of working up the milk of a thousand cows, and next along the line of agriculture a beet sugar factory capable of slicing a thousand tons of beets every twenty-four hours and costing a million dollars. Other things have followed but these three things are by far the greatest. Now, the question, I presume, that our visitors are interested in is, How was it done? The most of them know that we have these things, that Billings has be- come known far and wide and is recognized today as Stacking Alfalfa Near Billings, Mont. zone and the occupation of the people consists entirely of mining, stock raising and taking an occasional shot at each other. Now, as a matter of fact, Montana has little more, if any, colder weather than the great agricultural states of the Middle West, the climate of the Yellowstone Valley in particular excelling any portion of the great Mississippi Valley; her agricultural possibilities, espe- cially where water can be put on the land, greater than any portion of the Mississippi Valley. The problem for us was to make them believe what we had to say in regard to the Yellowstone Valley and Montana and to make them believe the evidence of their own eyes when shown the exhibits of grains and vege- tables. In the language of the cowboy, so well known in Montana, we had to corral them, lasso them and brand them; in other words, by furnishing them free transportation and bringing them out and showing them the country we induced a number to locate with us. As this process was continued it became easier until now we have a large number stopping here with- out solicitation. one of the brightest cities in all Montana, and they want to know how they can go ahead and do likewise. The answer is very simple. Find out what you want in your numerous localities, then put your shoulder to the wheel and push and keep pushing, and then push again, and you have my word for it, good results will follow. Coming back to the first good thing : After it was decided it was a good thing for us to put this canal in and all arrangements made to finance and construct it, it was found necessary to obtain a great deal larger price for lands than had prevailed heretofore in this country or the enterprise could not be made a financial success. The problem of selling raw lauds in a country where partly improved lands under old and tried canals were selling for less money than the new lands could possibly be sold for, was a hard one. It called for something extraordinary and out of the regular line of an irrigation company's work. It called for the lifting of values over the entire district tributary to this system. Much money had been spent in advertising Billings THE IRRIGATION AGE. and the Yellowstone Valley with only moderate success. One of the irrigation company's agents, having drifted into Colorado in his efforts to induce settlers to come here, saw the effects of the beet sugar factories on land values and one the people themeslves and wrote us about it. This country, being capable of producing all of the products of the temperate zone, including sugar beets, the idea suggested itself that a beet sugar factory would very likely bring about the desired results. Sugar beets having been grown here for a series of years, prin- cipally through the efforts of United States Senator W. A. Clark, sufficient evidence to satisfy beet sugar men was easily procurable, but the problem of inducing out- side capital to the extent of a million dollars to come to Billings confronted us. This was put before the Commercial Club as was also the other fact mentioned, that is, until better prices could be secured our country must practically remain at a standstill. The response was immediate and strong and it was decided to make every effort to secure the sugar factory and to that end a subscription paper was immediately started for the purpose of secur- ing the funds for the promotion of the work. Inside of forty-eight hours $10,000 was subscribed for that purpose. Correspondence had for some time been passing between a successful promoter of sugar factories in Colorado with the result that he was on the ground at the time our decision was made and engaged to work at once for Billings along those lines. The committee appointed by the Commercial Club to handle this work went at it with enthusiasm and was ready at all times to stand back of the efforts of our agent. How success- ful this effort has been you all know. The news having gone abroad that Billings was doing things and had raised this large sum of money for promotion purposes, had evidently created the im- pression that we had money to burn. At any rate about this time a creamery man appeared upon the scene -with a proposition to put in a creamery. This proposition was met and accepted with the same prompt- ness and enthusiasm displayed in the work of securing the beet sugar factory, and within fifteen days subscrip- tions from farmers and business men to the amount of $6,000 had been obtained and the machinery for the creamery ordered. It is now in successful working order and having no trouble in disposing of all the butter it can produce and is having a splendid effect in inducing farmers to purchase milch cows. In a short time we anticipate the milk business will become one of the greatest of our agricultural resources. The members of the Commercial Committee having this work in hand had by this time acquired the habit of doing things, and, better still, of seeking something to do for the good of. the Valley. It was called to the attention of the Commercial Committee that the Government proposed building innumerable works in and around Billings, that the headquarters of the Reclamation Service for the North- west was at Denver; also that the great work the Gov- ernment was undertaking at Big Horn basin and at Glendive and on the Crow Reservation was more directly tributary to Billings than to Denver, the idea of mak- ing Billings the headquarters of the Reclamation Service was presented and immediately followed by prompt ac- tion. We not only took the matter up with the Reclama- tion Service Department itself, but wrote our Congress- man, Joseph M. Dixon, soliciting his aid ; also to the heads of the Northern Pacific and the Burlington Railways, all of whom very promptly and kindly put themselves on record in favor of Billings. The result : Billings is the northwestern headquarters of the Recla- mation Service and has already received immense bene- fits from its location. Attention having been called to the Government work, different ideas rapidly presented themselves, amongst which was the subject of the area of a Govern- ment homestead under irrigation. Our contention being that eighty acres was sufficient, correspondence imme- diately followed and I am glad to say that the Govern- ment had adopted the eighty-acre basis on the Crow Reservation instead of the 160 basis, thus doubling the population tributary to Billings. In this work we also asked the railroads to assist, which they did gladly. Right here I wish to say the railroads are the greatest factors in the upbuilding of any district. Good trans- portation is absolutely essential to good results in fann- ing, manufacturing or any other business, and, on the other hand, the success of the railroads depends upon the successful cultivation of the soil and the successful carrying on of every other line of business. We should, therefore, feel free to ask of the railroads their full co-operation in any scheme for the benefit of the State in the way of settlement. This is practically the sum total of the achieve- ments of the city of Billings and the Billings people during the last twelve months. Hav:ng done so much, the question naturally arises, Has it paid? Dollars and cents being the basis upon, which all things earthly seem to rest, we will venture this statement, that the increase of values in this city and in the country immediately tributary to it has been not less than two millions of dollars in the last twelve months. Nor is this the only benefit. The ma- terial welfare of the people has been greatly increased, each and every man in Billings feels the effect. We are all boosters and all sanguine of the success of our city and country. We have been born again and we believe that we are in the possession of the finest agricultural valley the sun shines on. We had by this time hit a pretty good pace; from all directions were coming people with schemes of all kinds, evidently having heard that Billings was easy. It caused us to take a recast of what had been done and the cost of doing it and we were all but dismayed to find the large amount of money that we had actually parted with. However, this did not determine us to stop and rest or to quit paying out, but it did cause us to look about for proper means of economizing our expenditures. The different real estate and land firms in the towns were doing lots of advertising; business houses were doing considerable, and in the aggregate a large sum of money was being spent, apparently with little result. This suggested another idea; you will note that Billings is full of ideas, and am glad to see that the Billings idea has taken effect — our new idea was a centralization of all our expenditures into one man's hands or into a bureau organized for that purpose. Here was born the Boosters' Club, and because of the Boosters' Club you are all here today to grasp the Billings idea. I have not been asked to say anything about the duties of this convention or to suggest any line of 88 THE IRRIGATION AGE. action. I have been asked merely to tell what we of Billings have done. So I will pass that for the con- vention to discuss and to determine. We want to say of Billings that she has only begun; that in casting a horoscope of her future, we see a motor system spread- ing out in all directions with Billings as a center. The coming of the beet sugar factory will cause a dividing up of the great holdings of the cattle and the sheep men so that in a few years the average holdings in this valley will not exceed forty acres. With a family on every forty acres the motor system will be successful, and I want to say right here that we will have it. With the advent of the motor line land values will rise in every direction. It will give us courage for new ventures and new possibilities will arise until in the years to come we expect to see the hills surrounding this beautiful valley dotted with homes. Nor is this all. The people of this great valley with consequent increase of values, will bring about a development of the other resources necessary to supply the growing population with their daily needs. New coal mines will be opened ; the immense water power now running to waste will be developed, the clays and shales will be turned into brick and stucco work and more than likely the manu- facturing of many different, things we do not now know of, will take place. One more reference to Billings and its resources and I will be done. Not many of you know that there is tributary to Billings over one million acres of land susceptible to irrigation and that at the present rate of going this immense area will be supplied with water and ready for the settler within ten years. What this means for Billings I will leave you to decide. Now then, what is true of Billings, is true of any other district in this State. We have no monopoly of the good things of Mother Earth ; in fact, I know other districts in this State claim that they are better. Be that as it may, I only know this, it will take push and energy and lots of it and lots of study and then some money to put your claims before the people and so surely as you do so the results will be more than satisfactory. Being a land man I naturally suggest to you to look to the lands. I believe one farmer is of more value to the State of Montana than two men of any other occupation. If we will put forth our efforts toward the settlement of the lands, in a few years the agri- cultural wealth of Montana will far exceed all others and as to the welfare of the people there will be no comparison. One of the objects of this meeting, I believe, is to consider plans whereby we can get the farmer. We want him, the railroads want him, and in his wake all other things follow. NOTES ABOUT BILLINGS. Among the many prosperous citizens of Billings, Mont., is Mr. W. F. Snyder, who moved from Midland County, Michigan. During Mr. Snyder's early career he was a strug- ling farm hand in Michigan, subsequently buying a forty-acre woodland tract. He worked in the lumber woods of his native State during the winter and worked at clearing his land and farming during the summer months. He had started with nothing, consequently had nothing to lose and it took the better part of two years' hard labor on the part of himself and wife to get their "forty" in shape to do anything. They had accu- mulated during that time not only a fine girl baby, but a cow, one brood sow and eleven bushels of wheat as well. The above was all that their place in Michigan would do for them with the addition of a moderate living dur- ing that time. At the end of about twenty years' hard work in Michigan Mr. Snyder had secured title to 160 acres of land on which was a mortgage of $600. About this time he decided to visit Montana, where relatives had preceded him, and spent the winter of 1893-4 in that State near Billings. He subsequently returned to Michigan, but was dissatisfied there after having investi- gated the opportunities of Montana, and later on took up his permanent residence in the latter State. He worked for a time for I. D. O'Donnell, the well-known ranchman, who was one of the pioneers of the Billings country. Mr. Snyder first worked as a farm hand and later became foreman for Mr. O'Donnell. In 1900 Mr. Snyder purchased 160 acres on credit. He subsequently sold his Michigan holdings, on which he secured $1,000 clear and with that amount, as part payment, purchased an additional 240 acres partly im- proved. He continued to prosper, erected farm buildings, and the land meanwhile rapidly increased in value; in other words the money earned from the land was ex- pended in improvements until it finally reached the value of and sold for $14,000. Mr. Snyder is now at work improving his original purchase of 160 acres and is at present living comfort- ably in the city of Billings. His family have, meanwhile, received all the bene- fits of a good school system and he may be classed as one of the properous citizens of that community. The above facts are given so that those in the Cen- tral States who may contemplate moving to Montana, may know what can be accomplished by a man who has small means and is willing to work. Mr. Snyder is probably worth $25,000 today. A CHEAP FARM LEVEL. We could scarcely have gotten along this season in opening up a large ranch to irrigation cultivation with- out the use of a farm level, the cost of which is $10, but which we are satisfied has saved us hundreds of dollars through the additional land brought under ditch by it. In one instance we found by running some pre- liminary levels that we were enabled to bring fifteen acres of fine bench land under water which we supposed by cursory glance of the eye was so far above the water grade as to remain forever high and dry. This patch is now in full bloom with a good crop of spuds coming on and we consider ourselves just that much ahead of the game. Quite a number of these instru- ments have been sold in Colorado this year and others will be wanted when their merits are better known. They are manufactured by the Bostrom-Brady Com- pany, of Atlanta, Ga., a perfectly reliable concern, which will express a farm level upon receipt of $10. — Field and Farm. Send $2.50 for The Irrigation Age 1 yea.r, a. ml the Primer of Irrigation THE IRRIGATION AGE. 89 AN ATTRACTIVE GIFT. POCKET KNIFE TOOL KIT FREE. We are showing herewith an all around tool which would be serviceable in any household. By examination of the illustration it will be seen that this tool discloses twelve different combinations as follows: Hatchet, hammer, wire cutter, wire splicer, pinch- ers, alligator wrench, leather punch, corkscrew, nail claw, hunter's knife, can opener and screwdriver; all of which are convenient and practical tools ever ready at hand for immediate use in any emergency, in which event they are especially valuable. This aggregation of twelve different tools as shown in illustration, if bought separately in any retail hard- ware store would cost in the neighborhood of $7.00. We will be glad to furnish these tools to any of our readers for $3.50 charges prepaid, or we will send one of these tools, charges prepaid, to our readers sending us a club of ten new subscribers to the IRRIGATION AGE at $1.00. It will be seen that by securing ten subscriptions to the IRRIGATION AGE and remitting same to us that you may secure a combination of twelve tools which could not be purchased for less than six or seven dollars. We will guarantee this tool to be of best workman- ship and will replace any that show defects. ASHLAND COUNTY THE MANUFACTURING CENTER OF THE UNITED STATES. The United States now stands at the head of the nations of the world in manufacturing. The center of population as well as the center of manufacturing activity have been gradually creeping westward ever since the Colonies declared their independence and separated from the mother country. Ashland County now enjoys the unique distinction of being the center of manufacturing activity in the United States. Mr. F. E. Myers' attention was called to this last week in Chicago by the secretary of the National Association of Exporters who informed Mr. Myers that the United States Census, Department of Manufactures, volume I, page 171, locates the center of manufacturing activity three miles southeast of Loudon- ville, Hanover Township, Ashland County, Ohio. In 1850 the center was near Mifflintown, Pa. In 1860 near Indiana, Pa. ; in 1870 near Kittanning, Pa. ; in 1880 near Butler, Pa., and in 1890 near Canton, Ohio. The census of 1900 places the center of manu- facturing activity in Ashland County as above re- ferred to. We are showing herewith the "Napanoch" pocket knife tool kit, the latest thing in a serviceable novelty which we have been able to secure, and it will be noted may be firmly attached to the pocket knife as indicated by arrow in one second by a simple backward wrist movement and is quickly removed by a forward wrist movement. This tool kit is more useful than any other pocket knife combination ever made. It is made by skilled workmen and of the best material and is sold with an unlimited warrantee. The cut shows: No. 1 — A fine leather pocketbook, 4^ inches long by 3% inches wide, % inch thick, containing all of the tools illustrated, making a convenient case easily carried in the pocket. No. 2 — Pocket knife, length 3% inches. No. 3 — Reamer, length 3% inches. No. 4 — Pile, 4 inches. No. 5 — Saw, 4 inches. No. 6 — Chisel, 3% inches. No. 7 — Screw driver, 3% inches. This is a very serviceable tool for a boy or young man and is a handy tool about the house and can be handled by any one. The selling price of this tool is $2.25 each, but in order to give the young members of the family of the readers of the IRRIGATION AGE an opportunity to secure this without cost to them we offer it for six new subscribers to THE AGE. This tool will be sent to any one free of charge, postage prepaid, who will send us in six subscriptions at $1.00 each. $X&4&<&<$>^^H&<$X$X$>^*&3>^^X&<$>3X&^®^^<&<$*&$*&<$X THE IRRIGATION AGE, 1 year $1.00 THE PRIMER OF IRRIGATION, a finely illustrated 300-page book 2.00 II both are ordered send .... 2.50 Address, IRRIGATION AGE, 112 Dearborn Street, Chicago. 90 THE IEEIGATION AGE. THE U. S. RECLAMATION DEPARTMENT MUST ANSWER THIS QUESTION. BURLEY (IDAHO) BULLETIN. The citizen locators on the south side of Snake Eiver, in the Minidoka reclamation project, Cassia County, Idaho, are praying for an answer to a very civil question. In the name of humanity, this is a righteous one and demands an answer, and soon: When will the settlers on the south side receive water? This question is asked in a respectful and courteous manner. If the Eeclamation Service does not answer, it is unfair and brutal treatment of 500 Amer- ican citizens who with their wives and babies are doing time on arid homesteads, hoping against hope. Are they not entitled to an answer to this question, which is bread and butter to them? If some of these govern- ment officials who are living on the fat of the land had to spend a month on one of these arid ranches, and be kept on the rack as to when water would be given them, and when they wanted a drink of water had to go miles for it, their howls would make a coyote ashamed of himself. The Boise-Payette project is hanging fire, condemnation proceedings are talked of. In the writer's opinion this is a bluff. The Beclama- oitn Department will be chary of such procedure. If matters are not shaped up right by the time Congress convenes there will be stunts doing. What is the mat- ter with returning to the Minidoka project the $1,300,- 000 diverted from said project and carrying out the original Minidoka project in its entirety and do busi- ness, while the Eeclamation Department and the citi- zens of the Payette-Boise project are scrapping? Was it not the intent of the Government Eeclama- tion Act to reclaim desert government lands and not desert lands in private ownership ? If the Eeclamation Department does not intend to reclaim the lands on the south side of the Minidoka project within a rea- sonable time; if it will surrender the south side and give a strong company the right to construct the south side system, giving said company the water located by the Eeclamation Department, this company will pay its proportion of all expenses and do business on its own account. In pain words, if the reclamation department does not intend hatching all the eggs in the Minidoka pro- ject's nest, if it will abandon the south side eggs a new nest will be built and a new hen go on. The Eeclama- tion Service is again requested to answer the question : When will the settlers on the south side receive water? THREE QUESTIONS ANSWERED. Many a farmer has been put in the way to success along nursery and seed planting lines by asking ques- tions and getting definite, practical answers. Thousands of people have been writing the Sioux City Seed & Nursery Company asking questions about seeds, trees, nursery stock in general. Because of these inquiries this company has pre- pared a carefully worded booklet answering these ques- tions for all comers. The Sioux City Seed & Nursery Company offers this book free to our readers. They are perfectly capable of giving expert help along seed and nursery lines be- cause of their varied experience of twenty-one years in one line. They sell only to the planter, that is-, the farmer. They have no agents. All orders are han- dled direct with the home office and every article guar- anteed true to name and bound to grow under right con- ditions. One of their peculiar successes has been their ability to acclimate and render hardy many plants, trees, etc., otherwise unsuitable for transplanting in the Northwest. Every farmer ought to have at his elbow one of these new 48-page books. It tells how to plant, prune and care for trees, plants, etc. It bubbles over with horticultural information. They will send it promptly. Address them at Sioux City, Iowa. If You Like The Irrigation Age Why Not Send It to a Friend FOR. ONE YEAR? Cannot fail to please any man and will please him lor twelve months Fill in address and mail with One Dollar at our risk If you wish to send "PRIMER OF IRRIGATION" also, send $2.50 THE IRRIGATION AGE, 112 Dearborn Street, Chicago Send your Magazine one year, commencing with the month of.. NAME STREET _ CITY - STATE and notify party named above that the subscription has been paid for and is sent with the compliments of •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••I $2.50 will secure for you one year's subscription to THE IRRIGATION AQE and a finely bound volume of the Primer of Irrigation which will be sent postpaid in a few months, when volume is completed. The Primer of Irrigation will be finely Illustrated and will contain about 300 pages. Send post office or express money order for $1.50 and secure copy of first edition. THE NORTHERN HOTEL, Billings, Montana The leading hotel St the Queen City of the Yellowstone Country. Steam heated, electric lighted; headquarters for tourists, irrigation men and all who enjoy good service. A. F. McNABB, Manager. THE IRRIGATION AGE. 91 SEEDS FOR ARID SOIL Should be selected from sections best adapted to reproduce strong, vigorous siock. For irrigated or dry farms, the seeds sold by the Missouri Seed Company will fulfill all expectations as to growth and crop :: :: Missouri Seed Company's Seeds are selected expressly for arid sections and include the choicest of the flower field, and garden varieties. They invariably produce bumper crops. Large stock of Alfalfa, Millet, Cane, Kaffir Corn, Potato and Melon Seeds. We also handle Planet, Jr., Garden Tools, Seed Sowers, etc. :: :: :: :: :: WRITE FOR COMPLETE CATALOG MISSOURI SEED COMPANY J442 St. Louis Ave., :: KANSAS CITY, MO. BEFORE YOU BUY A LEVEL Write for descriptive circulars of the BOSTROM IMPROVED FARM AND BUILDERS' LEVELS Practical up-to-date instruments that anyone can use. Recommend- ed by professional men of repute and by the most progressive far- mers of the country for irrigation, drainage and building purposes. Prices : $ I Q.OO and S2O.CO including Telescope, Tripod and Rod. BOSTROM-BRADY MFC. CO. 55 W. Alabama St. - - ATLANTA, CA. TEN CENTS A YEAR We will send the Farmers Magazine a whole year for ten cents and will give a beautiful four-piece embroidery outfit to each person sending us a subscription Select any of the following designs : American Beauty Rose, Wild Rose, Violet, Holly, Carnation and Forget- Me-Not. THE FARMERS MAGAZINE, 59 Washington St., Chicago "The basis ol my business is absolute and unvarying integrity."— Samuel S. Thorpe. Opportunity When combined with virgin soil, splendidly adapted to the products which yield the greatest profit, you have a superior climate, excellent water and abundance of it, unsurpassed railroad facilities, good smooth roads and all the advantages of civilization, you have an opportunity that it is difficult to equal in this country today, especially so when you can purchase good land close to an enterprising city of 8,000 for from $10 per acre upwards on easy terms. While it is true that we are making great progress in this part of Michigan, do not get the idea that there is a "boom" on — our present head- way is simply the natural result of our actual advantages, the possibilities of which are just becoming to be recognized. I could fill up several pages telling you facts about these lands I have for sale. I am enthusiastic because I know what this country will do for the industrious man. I believe in it because I know it and can prove every statement that I make. Besides thousands of acres that I have sold the past year, the first year these lands were ever offered, I have 20,000 Acres at $5 per Acre and Upwards from one-half to six miles from the City of Cadillac which I will sell on reasonable terms to actual settlers who will help me to develop them. I have an illustrated booklet and map giving complete and accurate infor- mation which I will be glad to send you free if you will write me. Write me to-day, it will pay you. SAMUEL S. THORPE Room 8. Webber-McMulIen Building. CADILLAC. MICHIGAN Real Estate Dealers and Agents: I want you to co-operate with me. I can make it worth your while to represent me. I pay liberal commissions. A postal card will bring you full particulars in regard to same and my methods of doing business. 92 THE IKKIGATION AGE. DON'T BUY GASOLINE ENGINES all one-cylinder engines ; revolutionizing gas power. Costs Less to Buy and Less to Run. Quickly, easily started. No vibration. Can b« mounted on any wagon at small cost-portable, stv Sonaryor traction. Mention this paper. SBND FOR CATALOGUE. THE TEMPLE PCMP CO., Mir*., Me*(her & 15th St., Chicago. THIS ISOUR FIFTY-SECOND YEAR. UNTIL YOU INVESTICATC "THE MASTER WORKMAN." a two-cylinder gasoline engine superior to on any -* " - THIS Baby Rambler RQSES Ever- ' mmm^^ ^•r blooming dwarf. Blooms 365 days In the year, indoors. Out of doors from May until November. Hardier than the Crimson Rambler. Free from insects and fungus. No rose will produce as much bloom. Our nursery cata- log tells how to jret it FREE, and describes Trees, Shrubs, Roses, Vines and Perennials, hardy in the Northwest. Write. Sioux City Seed & Nursery Co.. 21:7 Clark St.. Sioux City. la. Trees. Plants & Seeds Bes ers, Stump and Tree Pullers Self-anchoring and Stump- anchored. Something new. Full an ordinary stump in 1% minutes. ItoS acres at a set- ting. Different sizes to suit all kinds of < clearings. For Illustrated catalog address Powerful, Handy, Low Priced. Milne Mfg. Co, Ninth St.. Monmouth, lit. Canadian Pacific Railway Irrigated Lands now ready for sale. This is the greatest irrigation project in America. Prices and terms reasonable. For particulars apply or write Canadian Pacific Irrigation Colonization Co.. Ltd. J. M. PATTERSON. General Agent Calgary, Alberta. Canada Does YOUR Wooden Headgate Leak? Most wooden gates do. Isn't it possible that next season you may need the water that is now leaking away ? Isn't it possible that leak may undermine your wood gate and cause it to wash out. leaving you with- out a water supply ? It will pay you to put in a strong, reliable, water-tight headgate. A Northwestern Reservoir Headgate is strong because made of iron and steel; it will not leak be- cause the slide and frame are planed to an absolutely water-tight bearing. The value of the water you lose this winter on account of a leaky, wooden gate would more than equal the cost of a Northwestern Headgate. I shall be pleasedto send you my CATALOGUE. C. D. BUTCHART, - Denver, Col. Ten Tourist Lines to Pacific Coast Divided between two superb routes. Via El Paso through New Mexico. Via Colorado through the Rockies. Rock Island through tourist cars both ways. From Chicago, St. Louis, Kansas City, Omaha, Des Moines, Cedar Rapids, St. Paul and Minneapolis and hundreds of other points. "From Everywhere East to Anywhere West." The Rock Island red folder "Across the Continent in a Tourist Sleep- ing Car" tells all about it. Full details regarding rates and the service via both routes, promptly upon request. Rock Island System JOHN SEBASTIAN, P. T. M. ROCK ISLAND SYSTEM, CHICAGO. THE IRRIGATION AGE. 93 GaJva^nized Steel Irrigation Flumes AND WATER. TR.OUGHS Galvanized steel is rapidly taking the place of wood for fluming purposes and with The Maginnis Patent splice fluminp is made easy Any boy can put the Maginnis Steel Flume together or take it apart. Steel flumes and troughs "Ship Knock down" Third Class freight. Let me figure on your flume. All flumes guaranteed. Write for Testimonials and Particulars to P. Maginnis, Mfr. Kimball, Nebraska The Idan=Ha, Boise Th» Leading Hotel in Idaho Modern and up-to-date in every particular. Political, Commercial and Social Headquarters of Idaho. E. W. Schubert, Manager The COLORADO MIDLAND RAILWAY :( 1VIIDLA.ND ROUTE): Penetrates the Heart of Colorado, pass- ing thro' the Grandest Mountain Scenery, reaching CRIPPLE CREEK, GLEN- WOOD SPRINGS, LEADVILLE and the irrigated lands of the Grand Valley. Observation Library Cars Denver to Ogden :: :: :: Pullman Tourist Cars Chicago and St. Louis to California via Great Salt Lake :: :: :: :: :: :: MCTUTE FOR OUR LITERATURE AND RATES H. C. BUSH, C. H. SPEERS, Traffic Mgr., Denver, Colo. Gen. Pass. Agt., Denver, Colo. H. W. JACKSON, Gen. Agt.. Chicago. THE FARMER IN THE SOUTHWEST PROSPERS Because he pays from $8 to §15 an acre for land that produces as good crops as land in Illinois and Indiana which sells for $75 to $100 an acre. The mild climate gives him earlier crops and the short winter makes stock-raising less ex- pensive. Yo\l have the same chance to prosper that is being taken by hundreds of the northern and eastern farmers. Write for free copies of our illustrated books on Texas and Oklahoma. Low rates to all points in the Southwest on the first and third Tuesdays of each month, via FRISCO Chicago & Eastern Illinois R. R. W. H. RICHARDSON. G. P. A.. Chicago. 111. 94 THE IRRIGATION AGE. The Wizard1 Engine With Pump ENtlNH ARE USED BY THE U. S. GOVERNMENT In sending out their last specifications forl J gasoline engines for West Point, the U.S.* War Department required them "to be Olds Engines or equal." They excel all others or the U. S. Government would not de- mand them. The horizontal type, 2 to 10Q H. P., and are so simply and perfectly made that it requires no experience to run them, and Repairs Practically Cost Nothing. Send for a catalogue of our Wizard Engine, 2 to 8 H. P. (jump-spark ignition, the same as in the famous Olasmobne). The most economical smalljggwer engine m a d e j fitted with either pump-jack or di- Lrect-connected pump. Or, our general catalogue, showing all sizes. Olds Gasoline Engine Works. ^ Lansing, Mich. '•d'7 Motsinger Anto-Spaito Starts and Rona Gas Engines Without Batteries ) other machine can do It succss- ully for lack of original patents owned by us. No twist motion In our drive. No belt or switch necessary. No batteries what- ever, for make and break or lump-spark. Water and dust- proof. Fully guaranteed. CO. "1 M«INST.,PCNDLETON,IND.IU. *.A. 15,000 Newspapers and Periodicals every week 'hinkers Students Writers Public Men Business Men and ANYONE wishing to collect clippings on any subject, — business pointers, material for lectures, sermons or debates, — should read our booklet, "The Uses of Press Clippings." Sent to any address ou receipt of stamps. Consolidated Press Clipping Co. 1*7 W abash Ave.. CHICAGO SPIREA - THE BEAUTIFUL Spirea Areuta blooms in April, before the Tulips. Hardy as an Ash. Catalog tells about TREE SPIREA flowers, white changing to yellow, and the Spirea Scorbifolio, rich in foliage, late bloomer. Finest list of Paeonies, Perennials. Shrubs, Baby Rambler Roses, etc. Write before tomorrow for FREE catalog. SIOUX CITY SEED & NURSERY CO. 2117 Clark St., Sioux City, la. One Method Take Your Power to Where It is Most Needed Fairbanks-Morse Mechanical Irrigation Machinery Will often increase value of Arid Land from $1.00 to $100, or even $500 per acre IT'S A SIMPLE PROBLEM LET US PROVE IT FOR YOU Send for Bulletin No. 65O. I. R. Fairbanks, Morse & Co. Irrigation Department CHICAGO - . ILLINOIS Iff • . !• Gasoline Best For Irrigation. WHEN it comes to pumping water for irrigation purposes the "I. H. C." Gasoline Engines will be found the simplest, safest and the most durable and economical. They can be attached to any kind of pump, in any position, for raising water from deep or shallow wells, reservoirs, canals or running streams. They excel in full, regular and long sustained power. They can also be used for a general pur- pose engine for sawing wood, churn- ing, cream separating, feed grind- ing, etc. They give the maximum of power at the minimum cost. No expert knowledge or trained engineer necessary to operate them. They are unequaled for power of all kinds. Made in a variety of sizes and in two styles. Horizontal or Portable 6. 8. 10. 12, 15 Horse Power. Verti- cal. 2. 3, 5 Horse Power. Call on local agent and examine these engines or write nearest general agency for illustrated catalog showing how they will save you money. WESTERN Denver. Col.. Portland, Ore., Salt Lake City, Utah. GENERAL AGENCIES: Helena, Mont., Spokane, Wash., San Francisco, Cal. INTERNATIONAL HARVESTER COMPANY OF AMERICA. CHICAGO. ILL. (INCORPORATED.) THE IERIGATION AGE. 95 UNION PACIFIC ffiMI SUGAR-BEET INDUSTRY IN NEBRASKA AND COLORADO is attracting* the attention of capitalists and farmers along1 the UNION PACIFIC From beets averag-ing- IS to 25 tons to the acre, the factory can extract 14 per cent, granulated sugar, or 280 pounds to the ton of beets. For full information about the Famous Platte Valley, Its entire leng-th traversed by the Union Pacific. E. L. LOMAX General Fuienfer and Ticket Agent OMAHA. NEB. BOOKS ON i: Irrigation and Drainage THE IRRIGATION AGE has established a book department for the benefit of its readers. Any of the following named books on Irrigation and Drainage will be forwarded postpaid on receipt of price: Irrigation Institutions, Elwood Mead *1.25 Irrigation in the United States, F. H. Newell 2.00 Irrigation Engineering, Herbert M. Wilson 4.00 Irrigation and Drainage, F. H. King 1.50 Irrigation for Farm and Garden, Stewart 1.00 Irrigating the Farm, Wilcox 2.00 The Primer of Irrigation, cloth, 300 pages 2.00 Practical Farm Drainage, Charles G. Elliott 1.00 Drainage for Profit and Health, Waring 1 00 Farm Drainage, French 1.00 Land Drainage, Miles 1.00 Tile Drainage, Chamberlain 40 Address THE D. H. ANDERSON PUBLISHING CO. 112 Dearborn Street, CHICAGO, ILL. Renew your subscription of the IRRIGATION AGE for 1905 Send us in Post Office or Express money order for $1.00 With Primer of Irrigation $2.50 ABOUT THE SOUTH •About theSouth"ls the name of a 64-page illustrated pamphlet Issued by the Passenger Dept. ol the ILLINOIS CENTRAL R. R. CO. in which important questions are tersely answered in brief articles about Southern Farm Lands, Mississippi Valley Cotton Lands, Truck Farming, Fruit Growing, Stock Raising, Dairying, Grasses and Forage, Soils, Market Facilities and Southern Immigration along the lines of the Illinois Central and Yazoo & Mississippi Valley railroads, in the States of Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi and Louisiana, including the famous :: :: :: YAZOO VALLEY OF M.SS.SS.PP. Send for a free copy to J. F. Merry, A. G. P. A., I. C. R. R., Dubuque, Iowa. Information concerning rates and train service to the South via the Illinois Central can be had of agents of connecting lines, or by addrc ssing A. H. HANSON, G. P. A., Chicago. III. 96 THE IRRIGATION AGE. The Fertile Lands of Colorado - are best reached by the DENVER & RIO GRANDE R. R. "Scenic Line of the World" Colorado has fertile valleys surpassed by no other land under the sun and by means of irrigation the farmer is absolutely insured against crop failure. Write for free booklet and all information. S. K. HOOPER, General Passenger and Ticket Agent. DENVER. COLO. R. C. NICHOL. General Agent. 242 Clark St.. CHICAGO, ILL. NEW SEMI-WEEKLY SOLID, VESTIBULED SPECIAL TRAIN BETWEEN St. Louis and City of Mexico Vl* — IRON MOUNTAIN ROUTE Texas & Pacific, I nternational & Great Northern and the National Lines of Mexico LEAVE ST. LOUIS, 9.OO A. M. TUESDAYS AND FRIDAYS ARRIVE MEXICO CITY, 8.3O P. M. THURSDAYS AND SUNDAYS INITIAL TRAIN, JANUARY 16™ COMPOSITE STATEROOM OBSERVATION. DINING AND STANDARD SLEEPING CARS H. C. TOWNSEND SAINT LOUIS TEXAS «• LOUISIANA NO TROUBLE TO ANSWER QUESTIONS. Through Tourist and Standard Sleepers between Chicago and California without change. Close connection at El Paso. New Dining Cars (meals a la cartt) bet-wten Texas and St. Louis. Write for new book on Texas. FREE. E. P.TURNER, General Passenger Agent, Dal las, Texas Several thousand acres of good, un- I Improved Wisconsin land for sale by the "OMAHA ROAD" at low prices and on easy terms. This land Is ad- jacent to the I 'ABOUT LAND railroad and good markets are but a short distance away. New Extensions recently built . gives transportation facilities to a 1 section of Northern Wisconsin, re- I markable for Its resources. Excursion rates will be made for homeseekers. If you are Interested write for our new j | pamphlet giving particulars. T. W. TEASOALC | General Passenger Agent, ST. PAUL, HIKN. I Renew your subscription of the IRRIGATION AGE for 1905. Send us \ ' in Post Office or Express money ' ' order for $1.00. Festiva Maxima - Queen of Paeo- nles, great size and wondrous beauty, a glorious form of purest D • CilH V white, flecked In center with crim- I HkUII I son blotches. Seems to have •^•^•••H reached perfection. Onr nursery catalog tells all abont it and other Paeonies and hundreds of other kinds of Per- ennials, Shrnbs, Roses, Vines and all kinds of trees. The finest catalog Issued in the West. Worth »1. Write before tomorrow. siouT city Seed & Mursery Co., 8117 Clark St. Sioux City, la. GRUB and STUMP MACHINES THE HAWK EYE Two Sizes. The old reliable. Clears two acres at a sitting. Light to handle. Rapid, efficient and one that lasts. Thousands in use. The standard the world over. THE TWO-HORSE HAWKEYE A giant among its fellows for heavy work, R. R. contractors, leveemen, etc. THE IRON GIANT A powerful all-iron machine. THE I. X. L a cheap and rapid machine for light work. Write tor handsome catalogue, etc. Largest establishment of the kind in the world. MILNE MANUFACTURING CO., 99