The Wichita city eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1872-1883, 1880-11-25

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q 900 acres. The Calusa canal cost a.
500 per mile; in this statement Of ito
cost, however, there appears to be In
Guided that Of lfty-nine bridges, twen-
ty-six aqueducts and two tunnels. In
the cost of the Kansas canal, 800 per
mile, NO account is taken Of and such
accessories. The future may develope
the necessity of bringing some Of these
things into the estimates.
In the Arkansas Valley, too, the labor
of irrigation, Of attending tho fields
and conducting the water upon crops,
must be far less than in hilly districts.
Owing to the hatness Of the land large
areas can be much more quickly and
completely flooded than where the land
is more sloping.
The area Of land irrigated or rath-
er partially irrigated in Sc
quoyah County the present $est I'D
not exceed 100 acres. There are several
thousand acres DOW plOwed and ready
for irrigation within the reach of the
ditcheswhich will afford water early next
spring the price of water fixed by the
irrigation companies is one dollar per
acre for the year, the water to be
brought by the ditch owners to the
farms of those to be furnished with it.
The Spring rise in the Arkansas be-
gins from the first to the middle of May.
The river keeps up high until Septem-
Der or October. 1t is lowest through
tine winter and early in the spring. 1t
is the observation ofthosc who have be-
come interested in these irrigation cx-
perimcnts, that there is seldom less than
five hundred cubic feet of water in the
channel and within reach Of the irriga-
ton canals in the upper counties in the
Arkansas Valley in Kansas. Last April
ut Garden City, for four or five days,
there vas less than that volume, owing
to a strong south wind prevailing for
that time. But through the season of
irrigation much larger volume of wat
er flows through that portion Of the riv-
cr.
At some distance below Sequoyih
County the water sometimes disappears,
and is not seen at all above the sandy
bed of the river. This occurred last
Spring, as far up as below Garden City
Bnt last Spring being time Of general
drOuth in Colorado and New Mexico,
the Arkansas River was unusually low.
YetNH may well be supposed that no
very correct observation or calculations
have been made as to the amount of
water the Arkansas River will afford
for irrigation. The great breadth of
channel and usually shallow current
will render correct estimation of the
quantity of water flowing within a
given time quite difficult.
That there is large area of land, in
these upper counties. within compare
lively easy reach of the water of the Ar
kansas River, there is now NO question.
Mr.. Jones, whose opinion is worthy Of
great credit estimates the area in Sc
quoyah county alone to be 256, 600 acres.
This area under irrigation and cultiva-
ton would afford sustenaDce to q very
large population; especially taking into
account the facilities for manufacturing
which will at the same time be afforded.
Should there be any question as to the
fertility of the soil to be irrigated in the
Arkansas Valley that is at once set at
rest BY the fact that the waters with
which the fields are to be flooded con-
tain the highest elements Of fertility.
They are charged with the washings Of
a thousand hill and mountain sides, and
are thick with vegetable sediments:
from that which, settled upon the land,
makes a sli,ay paste.tO the decaying ..nd
crumbling twig of the mountain pine as
large as the little finger. Such depOsites
are now strcwn over hundred acres Of
land in Seqdoyaii county. No one can
make ali examination of the irrigation
begun there without bringing some of
it away on his boots.
Abiding again to irrigation in other
in the billy region Of Peid-
mont not less than $500 cubic feet of
water per second are rendered available
for irrigation and the extent watered is
1870 900 acres. The whole irrigated re-
gion of Piedmont is SOC, 900 acres; the
amount of cultivated land is 800, 454
acres hc'total of actually irrigated land
is 3O6, elsa
The total quantity of water utilized
IN Piedmont is $3.50 cubic feet per Sec
ond and the area is covered by q net
work of canals more than Zoo miles
long.
The CavO Morocco canal in LOmbardy
is $50 miles long and its cost was 90, 900
per mile The total superficial irrigated
region here is 900 square miles or l.
75O. 900 acres. The slopes range from
about five to twelve feet u mile. More
than q 900 cubic feet of water are dis
charged per second. The irrigating
season commences in March and termin- |
ates in September. The months when |
The water is in the greatest demand
are May, June, july, and August. The
average annual fall Of rain is given rs
twenty EIGHT inches fall during the sew
en- irrigating months.
The sum of the statemet Of irrigation |
for Lombardy. is total area Of s, 500 900 |
,cres in the irrigated district, of which |
here are irrigated in summer, 1861 ,292 |
acres, in Winter, 1887 acres; in all, L.
)74,129 acres, or about onc-sixth of the |
whole, or onc-fifth of the productive |
lrea. The great Government canals in |
Lombardy are 1873 miles long. Besides
he main lines there are S6S branches,
md probably network Os $3.50 miles.
East of the AIDA they reach 700 or 600
niles, thus making the entire length Of
he canals of Lombardy 800 miles. The
discharge Of water amounts to 1918
,ubic feet per second, while the whole
ImOnnt of the discharge Of rivers, &C.,
S $4,000 feet per second. In the entire
Ialley of the Po, Piedmont and Lom-
# 600. 900 acres, or nearly $4,000 cubic
Get per second. This view of the ca
lals Of Piedmont aud Lombardy will
ervc to show to whet wide extent ir-
'igation is carried on in Italy.
Irrigation is nowhere conducted on
% grand n scale as in British India.
some of the canals are like mighty riv-
RS, and vast extent of country re-
elves the benefit of their waters for ag-
'icultural purposes. The first canal
latcs back to the fourteenth century.
The principal canals in India are those
IN the river Jumna west, Of the Eastern
Iumna, of the Sublej, and of the Gan
res. The whole length Of the main line
# the Western Sumna canal is AS
niles. The total area of, the country
is &. 7S4, 3S5 acres. OF this the
portion is S29 ,9O2 acres. The
Eastern Jumna has q system Of dist rib
ltion canals measuring 500 miles. The
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