The Globe-republican. [volume] (Dodge City, Kan.) 1889-1910, 1895-04-12
Irrigation which lrrigates.

Irrigation Which lrrigates.
The report Of the Kansas State Board
of Agriculture for the quarter ending
March 81, 1895, contains paper read be-
fore the State Board of Agriculture last
january by Mr.. c. D. Perry, of Englc-
wood, on ''Some Irrigation Done in Clark
County," TO begin with, the title is en-
couraging. Mr.. Perry does not discourse
on the possibilities of irrigation in Clark
county, but on irrigation actually "dOne"
there.
Clark is a Kansas county. located in rs
| '.arit!' ''belt" as any that exists. 1t is
situated on the line of the Indian terri
tory and is, in general way, directly
south of Dodge City. An old Kansas
map shows that a liberal allowance of
creeks was made by the surveyors, but
their names are not reasst,ring. They
are ''Salt'' creek, Bluff creek, sand
creek, which, being translated, means
ssDry" creek. These streams, when in
operation, constitute the headwaters of
the CimarrOn, ''sandy complicated"
stream which becomes a river in Okla
homa. This was the scene Of Mr.. Perry s
labors when something was ''done" in
the way Of irrigation.
Mr.. Perry states that, having come to
this western country from Chicago.
where he was accustomed TO ''see things
grow" he was not entirely satisfied with
the agricultural situation in extreme
Southwestern Kansas in the season of
1887, particularly rs he had lost or had
failed to secure three crops prior to that
season. 1.-Two did not terminate and the
third persisted at six inches high.' 1t
was in October, 1887, that the construc-
ton of the canal was begun from the
| CimarrOn to the ranch. a dam of sheet
piling 422 feet long was constructed
across the CimarrOn, canal or irrigatng
ditch eight miles long and thirty-twO
feet wide was made with fall of two
feet to the mile; when the ditch was fin
ished a stream six inches deep and the
width of the ditch was let in. The water
was fourteen days in travelling the eight
miles-the ground had evidently not been
thoroughly "wet down. in some time.
Mr.. Perry gives in some detail his
method of operation for which the seeker
after information is referred to the paper
itself. Mr.. Perry sums up results in a
paragraph:
''The result of application of water to
our land has been 100 bushels of wheat
to ,he acre in three years; 20 bushels of
barley per acre in one year, and last sea-
son SIS bushels of oats per acre, while our
neighbors have raised only from 3 to 10
bushels without water, and in some cases
have made an entire failure"
The Secretary of the State Board of
Agriculture, in Il note appended to Mr..
Perry's communication. says:
"Mr. Perry irrigated last year 60 acres
of corn, 40 acres of wheat, 800 acres of
alfalfa, so acres of oats, 60 acres of kaf-
fir corn, 200 acres Of barley, $50 acres for
fall seeding, besides orchards, gardens,
etc.
The last Legislature of Kansas pro-
vided for an Irrigation Commission and
made for its work Il very liberal appro-
priation. 1t should be the duty of that
Commission to find out. like Mr.. Perry,
what may be .'done' in the way of irri
CATION. The Commission should be pre-
pared to answer the question whether
what Mr.. Perry has ''dOneH in Clark
county may be profitably done by others
in Clark county and in other counties in
Southwestern Kansas. The Commission
should deal with facts, not theories. Ii
there is anything in the ''sub-irrigatiOn,'
or ''sheet water" theory, facts have al
ready demonstrated it i'm Kansas and if
there is nothing in it, that has also been
demonstrated. 1t is the business of the
Commission to discover and report the
facts in the case; for which there is ample
time before the sitting of the next Legis-
lature, and, as the public believe, ample
money proyiJed.-Kansas City Star.
First Published in The Globe. Republican
March %, 1895,
SHERIFF'S SALE.