The Meeker herald., 1888-05-05
IRRIGATING LANDS.
DESCRIPTION OF THE BIG DlTcHss
OUT IN COLORADO.
Conjunction Of Canals for Irrigation.
Tapping til" FLYER or Cr.ck-Tlooding
the Crop. In n DRY s.a-on-sarpri.ing
Ee,uit.-pron,..


The great system Gf lrrlsaiing lands In
| .iry sections for crops T. as yet in its in
fancy, but wherever tried II has done
well, and lrrigating ditoh.s have yielded u
! large return 10 the Investors In them.
Most OF the lhrscs, ditches nrc In Col
orndO, where ., GOO 600 acres uf land are
subject to Irrigation, OF this vast body
lees lhan 10000 acres have been ir-
riGatci, leaving 100000 io be wa
tered yet, The canals In cnurs. of
construction viii water about ,2Ul, 600
of the :, 800 coo acres. This i enormous
when We consider that the whole
system of irrigation las grown up almost
within the past tly. years. The san I.nul,
Park canal, watering 400, 900 Hcrt-: state
Land canal, iiU OD1n 1nerus; C!Ilsrns' canal,
ilo, OOO acres, aud Del Mort. nnd -ucunehe
canal, ljOpOp acres, may be mentioned MS
among IN" most successful Colorado
bitches, These ihrrc canals cover lou, 600
acres II government land, 2ODDuD acres ~
patented land, aud 10000 acre, nf state
land. They viii furnish hnmcs for bc-
tween ., GO hnd I,cOp farmer The winter
for the canals i taken from the Rio
.rand- river near the town of del Nori..
The largest canal l. la0 feet wide at il
head and gradually nnrruws down to
twelve feet. It, depth varies from two To
six feet. II hts when full n capacity for
vi trfsie 100 go aerc- of lnni.
ooSlTgUrTlSC = cAyAL
How do they make iFriRntins canais'
Easy enough and quite mrilly. FifsI is
thc construction uf the main canal. The
water Is taken from u river nr creek, III.
supply being regulated hy a head gate.
The ernsl may be ten, twenty "r ilny Zee,
wide and one, five or ten feet deep. re
euftlin. To the volume of water desired.
.yncr,lly the canals rr- wide nn. shallow
like creek indcci. they are merely
artificial creeks, Hnd when grass grown
and planted with trees along their banks
arr hard to tell from the natural streams
\ favorable piao- for tapping the river or
creek having Lcen found, the canal i
carried forward to the high grounds, II
10 generally given about half the fall Of
ia" river or creek. - II rnnn reaches an
elevation far ahIyr the natural strram
and has the inuta hUtwvvu " and the
strvam below IT, wat-r-. Ai ilirryHl, as
needed small canals nro taken 1ut hnd
carried iu The farms i.rrh lateral has n
head gate huI ngasurIs Tor the water. The
iairrnls are built ~ as ip cover the greatest
number II farms ~ cyriain distance,
sublhicrais aFv taken out fnoin the main
ln,-rHi-, aHi these subiaicTals too have
head gate, and wafer m-hsHr,s. The sub.
iai-rals Hnc used by Individual iarmcrs.
II before plnwing time th-fv hA, l--n raln
enough, to soften the srpund tho farmer
dee, not resort TO his ditch. hut, II III.
season I, dry he oi-n. hi. h-ad.s,. and
Asiura'cs the ground. The t-cdine Is
then done Ten acre. Is ab1u; the allow
hnrr of land that can H. Irrigated In one
day r~r msH, lnl-.- water u very rl-u,i.
ful farmrEr arr limited to eighty HrE,, each
to H. Irrigated ia one season, 6u, this do~a
no; Include sgsss lauis
After the rsuIa come up they nrc irri.
sa,ul or simply fo-sIei The quantity Il
water put oh Is about cqunl io what would
fall Ia ihrrc days steady rain. whrn the
crop Is half grown IL !, Irrigated Hsaiu.
Two irrl:ailuus HTc euusidsTcti enough for
crop Ia n season. urlcs. ,hc weather i
very ho, hnh dry ani then ,hrr- irris:n-
liii,-.1.NS n HtSf'aiai'lS' H., hS;tgh EshIs
the mean, ~ mailn. crop VIXEN he has
ifriEstinE: bitches
iNrGNsg or IRRIGATION.
Root crops can always - irp; moist.
and require nVc or ten time, R- much
water IA cereals. The -sl-usr Of iTTisa-
ton. when compared with tho hCn,f1t,
derived 1, very slight. Irrigation ai,ou,
,oubics crops. hni the ooei II the water 10
never over I. rsE Berc, Aud often a. low
NJ sixty cents iscr srsr, per auuuin. Forty
aud htty bushels nf wiva, per rorr nTc
often fpissi under irrigation. Pn,nins.
frequently grow Ia i've pounds. and Yield
80 to go bushels pa Rrrv. Other run,
rtup. Yield equally well, nuh barley will
Yield fofty bushels p-r acrc and ua's often
ii.iy aud sixty bushels. ! have seen sew
-ni, seven bushels Of oats Gu: on an acr.
II irrigated lAat. Hai HysClf measured
80 bushels II vh-a; cut from q ten acre
n-li Ia Colorado. near iIou!dcr. Wild
hay. when well irrigated. Will cut two
tons per acre, and alfalfa four 10 siS tons.
All kinds Of byTr..=. such as s,raw bcrrics.
ra.p,rsslcs. hlaclbcrTics. guoscbcftics,
curtnu,. and such fruits, grow prolific
ally under irrigation. and .illd nearly u
,loub.c crop. From t;rp TO eiDD IL often
taken from aa acre for small fruits.
Diichins machines have Le-n male for
digging irrientins canals, hut never saw
ono that wurkrd satisfactorily. The best
ditching IA. ,h.Ec - nh lgshmnn anj n
wh.clbarruw or piuw and sctapcr. a
ditch ten feet wide AMI two or three feet
deep can ordinarily II, made NJ - cost Of
81 900 rcr mile. The income from the
water In such ditch In pnrd locality IL
about 81 per cent. per nuunin uu the COS,
Of making ~ Il will br seen diichinr Ia
profitable. The little companies Inst
llrinc,i In Colorado had great difficulty in
placing their stock, hut they thtovc ninaz-
iugly and soon mon Of capital lcgnu to
look into the matter. The Colorado Loan
aud Trust company wns formed by Mr..
r. Z. Henry for the purpose 81 irrira'inG
lands, aud soou large ditchc- were under
way. This company now controls many
ditchcs and irrigates nearly .uJn,ulo nctcs
Of land. There are many other cumpa-
uic-, and believe NIL rrr making money.
-Gcu. james =. Brisblu iu New York