St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1889-08-02
So Prominent Farmers Tell
the Senate Committee ?
on Irrigation.
Artesian Well Systems Ably
Argued and Advocated
by Them.
They Are Encouraged When
Congress Asks Farmers {
for Advice.

tee mas 1nauSuraGeQ It's nrSC ana IOfmal
step toward the accomplishment of the
great work which it has in hand. A
large representation from Dakota and
Minnesota greeted Senators Stewart
and Reagan and Maj. Powell, as they
sat in the chamber of commerce yester-
day morning, to hear the plea for
water" SO ably and earnestly deliv-
cred by the agriculturists of the twin
Dakotas. The grandest problem which
should justly agitate the mind of every
man, and which is now being solved by
congress, was thus incepted, as E. V.
Smalley, for President Bishop. concen-
trated order by speech Of welcome and
reception. He felt delightful pride
over the fact that the committee should
hold its first meeting in st. Paul, where
he hoped it would begin a work
which would unfold itself to
untold good to the Northwest and
the entire country. He rendered them
the use of the chamber, assured them Of
the sympathy Minnesota felt in their
project and sped them to success. He
said Minnesota was not so much in need
of water as Dakota, which depended
largely upon its irrigation by an arti-
fetal system. West of Dakota, and
upon that vast broken plain stretching
out to the borders of Washington. he
said, needed practical performance of
the work before the committee to re-
claim vast acreage from utter worth
lessness to blooming fields, rich with
the staples for which that section in
part is noted. st. Paul, he said, was
deeply interested in the undertaking,
and when the good results of irrigation
were realized in the West, st. Panl
would certainly experience parallel
sense in her commercial profit and pros
perity. go
Maj. F. F. b. Coffin, chairman of the
Dakota committee, took the floor as Mr..
Smalley left it. ''When the United
States senate" he said, twill
ASK THE FARMER
what he wants, we feel encouraged, and
we feel grateful to you for this encour.
agement." He then introduced the
Hon. A. w. Burke, of Beadle county, in
which the city of Huron is located. Mr..
Burke spoke of the most promising fea-
perfection of the artesian we'll system
now extensively employed in and about
the counties of BeadIe and Hand. m
his opinion the artesian we'll was the
great instrument of arid land redemp-
ton in Dakota. The drouth in his sec
ton has been gradually coming on since.
1881, until now crops are mere contin7
gency, and only prosper to certain,
stages to be burned to crisp. But a
system of artesian wells would do away
with the dangers of the drouth, if Scien-
tifcally applied. h..
John r. Wilson, Of DeadWood, dis
cussed with enthusiasm the feasibility
Of irrigating the Belle Force valley
lands, containing in area 10000 or DO, ZOO.
acres. He thought the Cheyenne river,
running through Butte and Lawrence
counties, could not be made available
to irrigation, because it lay deep within
its banks and at very low level. The
subStratum of the soil through that
section, however, was clay,, impervlous
to soak. and doing much to keep the
moisture in the lands of the surface.
June, would fail in nouriShment, and
the drouth would lay its crops as
waste as
MORE FURIOUS DISASTER.
Mr.. Wilson read several affidavits
from residents in that country. He
urged and favored the use of arteslan
wells. He very forcihly said, that
speaking from an experience of twelve
years in Western Dakota, he was salts
fed that unless relief was afforded at
once much of the land would remain
unsettled, and much now occupied
would be deserted. He was anxious
that the government should do some
thing besides making surveys and es-
Inmates. He appreciated the fact that
in his mind, there was nothing before
the government which was OF such uni
versal and general Importance as the
proper care and preservation of that
region to which the country looks for
it's cereals. If there is not something
done for Dakota and its future, the
horde of humanity which now strug-
giles there will soon be in deplorabls
state of helpless dependency, and the
cry will not be raised for water" but
it will be howl for "help."
j. J. Gushing, of Sphinx county, South
Dakota, was the next speaker to address
the committee, which was becoming
deeply interested in the speakers. NEr.
Cushing thought the loss in Dakota by
failure of crops amounted to S25, 000, 600.
From observation it was found that the
precipitation was 22.35 inches. This
is not water enough pouring from,
the heavens upon a terribly dry,
parched and baked soil. Dakota people
felt confident that beneath the crust in
which their crops were allowed to dry
to ruin there was an abundance of
water. This was proved in the grand
success and boon the arteSian wells
now in use were. All of them are
great help, and no farmer has ever
attempted to fiud water in Sphinx county
but who has been gratified with the re-
suits and benefits of his effort. He said
they did not need surface irrigation as
much as what he might call sub-irriga-
ton, to counterfeit the effect of the
almost impervious subSoil or clay. The
government should establish artesian
wells at different points in the James
river valley, and from them reinforce
the old water-courseS and supply reser-
voirs.
Emerson Eager, of huron, S. D., then
took up the subject and shook the mug
gets of thought out in good and elo-
0uent style. Huron lies in the heart of
Beadle county and is the terminal point
of the Manitoba road. Mr.. Eager'S crop
this year was fair, but five miles from
his farm, the crops were not worth the
ripening- they were total failures. He
could not understand why the people of
James river valley
DID NOT EMPLOY IRRIGATION.
In Colorado, the farmers, who ten
years ago, could not get loans of 81 on
their farms of 160 to $50 acres, by per-
feet system of irrigation and improve
ment were now able to raise abundant
crops, and secure loans of thousands of
dollars on them. The persons who
loan such sums now, declare that they
are the best of loans, and having re-
petltive confidence that good yield
will follow years work, the MORTGAGE
worries very little about his pay. The
farmer, too, prospers and thrives, and
not he alone is benefited, but all these
upon whom he depends and those who
look to him for crop. Irrigation will
make farms OF lands which are
IN f,a