Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1894-10-04
WRTER MEHNS WEHLTH.
AND WE WILL SOON HAVE BOTH.
The Barton County Irrigation Association
Witnesses Test of the Water Supply,
Hears Some Good Doctrine. and
Gets Thoroughly Aroused.

A little over year ago, L. Baldwin
began TO noise about "a scheme to trans
form the Cheyenne bottoms into a vast
lake for irrigation, telling the people
that he would get the waLer from
Mother Earth in sufficient quantity.
Some laughed; others didn't, and there
began growing faith that this country
was all right, if we were only acquaint-
ed with it. The agitation grew and on
August 18th, 1898, a little irrigation
meeting was held in the court house.
a few enthusiasts from abroad ad-
dressed it. More facts were gathered,
and the wet" movement gained more
momentum, and spread beyond the
confines of Barton county. But the
people at home were aroused and last
Saturday showed the result of thirteen
months education.
The day opened cold and windy.
Had it not been for this, a large crowd
would have gone to E. B Cowgill's
farm, four miles east of town, and
spent the day in the country. AS it
was, quite crowd was there in the
smorning despite the bad weather.
The only test made was that of a
four inch Wonder" rotary pump, run
by a Weber gasoline engine. Before
GUO crown IHtuIuCu 10 COWu, Guc
was throwing 800 gallons of water per
minute into the reservoir. The lift
was thirty four feet. After the pump
started, the level of the water lowered
about two feet, but remained, there
during six hours continuous pumping
les, 900 gallons being taken out.
The speeches were made after din
ner in the court house, which was
pack ed full. The ladies were on hand
in good numbers. which means that q
mans gallantry must now include a
devotion To the irrigation clause. Pres
idenr SowardS filled the chair in his
usual felicitous style.
Judge Emery OF Lawrence was the
first speaker. He said it had been his
privilege thirteen months ago to stand
in the same place and address a little
meeting, the fruits of which were man
ifest far beyond the limits of Barton
county. He made an inspiring plea
for irrigation. Among the many
thoughts given by him were: "Of our
65 million population, only about fouI
million live in arid America'-that
portionw est of the 9th meridian.
Two million young people attain their
majority every year; these must find
their homes in the irrigated West.... :,
SK6pClcS say we cduHOI lIIlSdCO ONCi
10 per cent. of Kansas; California reaps
her magnificent result from only pei
cent. irrigated" He argned for lndl-
viduaI irrigation, no matter how small
the beginning.
H. r. Hilton of Topeka then made q
talk on ''Soil and Irrigation" p" illustrat-
ing with soil taken from Mr.. Cowgirl 5
farm. Every farmer in the country
should have been there. 1t was applied
science all through. His experiments
in glass tubes showed that water perco-
lated more freely and extensively in pull
verized soil than in coarse. and In moist
soil better than dry. OF course farm
with pulverized soil would soon find
itself in another county, but Prof
Hilton was arguing for sub-soiling
which when properly understood and
handled will solve one Of the tough