The herald., 1895-01-01
LAND ART|HCJALLY .NATEREl.
Statistics of Cost of Irrigation
Facilities.
The Comparative Prod uctlveness o.
California Lands.
Necessity for Storage Reservoirs and the
Action of tho Government
Relative Thereto.

California has between 13. 900 and a..
600 irrigators, who cultivate about
100000 acres OF land. or per cent Of
the entire land surface Of the state.
The average value of her products per
acre is higher than that Of any other
state in the Union in which irrigation IL
practiced.
Orange county ranks the highest in
the state in the percentage of area irri-
gated, Tulsre county being next.
The average value OF all the irrigated
land is $3.50 per acre, and the average
value OF the products per acre il
about $40.
The cost of water rights per aero In
this state will average $l3. The average
annual cost OF water per acre il $1.60,
and the first cost OF preparation for cul-
tivstion is $3.50 per acre.
The first cost of the irrigation systems
of the state lie $13 0OQ. 1000. which are now
valued at $40. 0Oc, 900. The frat cost OF the
irrigated lands, including water rights,
is $32, 00O, 900, and their present value is
$151, 100000. The cost OF irrigation
canals and bitches has been { fellows:
Under five feet in width, 1886 per mile
five to ten feet in width. Sc. 900 per mile
ten feet and over in width, SIS, 500 per
mile.
Water has been made to do higher
duty in this state than in any other.
The duty of water" is the term used to
express the relation between the quan.
tity OF water used in irrigation and the
area upon which it 10 employed. A.
cubic foot of water per second amounts
to 646.272 gallons in "a hours. and il
represented by q stream foot wide and
foot deep flowing at the average veloc-
| ity OF foot per second. A cubic foot
per second will irrigate from 200 to 500
acres, which is accomplished in the case
of orchards where water 10 conducted BY
pipes to each tree.
The one factor which forces irrigation
into such prominence in California 10 ito
vital importance to fruit growing in
many sections. The state. as Q whole,
can not be said to be arid. in fact the
greater part of its broad valleys possess
mean annual rainfall sufficient for
maturing small grains, but the necessity
for irrigation lies mainly in the fact that
the greater part of the rainfall occurs
during winter and early spring. and that
for months during summer and autumn
little or no rain falls.
During the dry season. when no rain
falls. the greatest demand comes for
water, and it is then that the stream
carry least. To overcome this difficulty,
storage reservoirs have been construct
ed, which conserve the food waters that
would otherwise escape, and hold them
until required. The best known in the
state, and for that matter in the United
States, are the Sweetwater, Cuyamscs
and Helmet valley, in San Diego county I;
Bear VALLEY in San Bernardino county,
and Lake Yosemite in MERGED county.
The national government. recognizing
the value of properly storing water. has
set aside large tracts OF land in the
noun famous districts of this and other
states for storage reservoir sites. The
land thus apportioned cannot be pre-
empted, but is to remain in . state Of
nature, thus preserving the forests and
shrubbery, which in themselves are
natural reservoirs, inasmuch "a they
retain the snow and rainfall, and only
give out the moisture by degrees, thus
feeding the mountain streams during
the year. II the mountains were de-
nuded, the water would flow off about
as quickly as it fell. and there would re-
main nothing for the streams to draw
upon during the period of no rains.