The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1895-02-01
IRRIGATION MATTER,
II Man with Ten Acres.

- AOA ~ UAS : III # NA4NS IA y
above heading. Commissioners Erion
says:
IAN old Roman orator says: He is
aot to be accounted as a good citizen
who cannot content himself with seven
acres Of land
The time is past in this country when
the ownership and operation Of thous-
ands Of acres in one farm are vested
In a single individual.
AS the public domain slowly decreases
and our population increases, there
will of necessity be fewer large hold
ings.
The present time is a veritable golden
opportunity for the man of small means.
Ten acres of irrigated landin Wyoming,
Idaho, Utah or Nebraska. producing
fruit and vegetables, will afford a. liv.-
ing and an income for a man and his
family. In the old countries, notably
in Ireland, it is amazing to see how
small a piece of land will support a
family. In China and Japan appears
the same condition. In either of these
countries a family of four people get
along comfortably OF an acre of ground
and this is done in Ireland at an ex-
pense of not more than two months
labor in the year.
Irrigation, more than Inv other de-
vice of which we can avail ourselves,
does away with the element of chance.
BY making the crop larger and more
certain it reduces the number of acres
that the farmer must cultivate. This
enables him to give better cultivation
to that land. which fact, in turn. again
operates toward better crops.
The man who finds himself fully &C.
cupied with and gaining a satisfactory
remuneration from the cultivation of a
few acres. is very nea to the attain
ment, of the highest degree of agricul-
tural.success.
This is the best outcome of the prac-
tical operation of irrigation" 1t her
aids the era of the small farmer, who
secures from a few acres all that is
needed to make and maintain a COM
Portable home and the surplus from
which and the gain in value-that is
as certain to come as the land is to
remain-that will make a satisfactory
provision Tor his old age.
y x X X y
The low average rainfall during the
years 1890, 1898 and 1894 has forced the
question of overcoming the losses in
Cured by these drouths upon the peo-
pie of our state, and the subject of
irrigation has been very generally
discussed. Nebraskans as a rule have
never, to any extent, up to the years
given, attempted to discuss this ques-
ton.
Irrigation is not by any means a new
question. The art of applying water
to growing crops by artificial methods
far antedates written history of any
character. Biblical writer's frequently
refer to the question in a brief and
terse manner, showing thatthe art was
SO general that it did not require any
explanation. 1t can be truthfully as
serted that great empires of the past,
in both Asia and Africa, owed their
greatness and power directly to irri-
cation, enabling them to sustain a
dense and compact population with an
immense annual food supply, irrespec-
tive of rainfall or accidental conditions
of any character.
The question as to how far Nebraska
can be benefited by taking up this
question is not difficult, in d general
way, to answer
Admitting that all portions of the
state can be generally irrigated, the
first and most important quest on is as
to what is our present available water
supply.
The extreme western portions of the
state lie directly within the arid por-
tions of America as per the y. S. Senate
report for 1889 on irrigation and the
reclamation of the arid and sub-arid
lands of the United States. This re-
port divides the state int three divis-
ions, arid, sub-ar.d and humid. The
line dividing the arid from the sub-arid
passes through Cheyenne county at a
point about tive miles west of Sidney
Neb.. or the 1O3d meridian. West OF
this line the mean annual rainfall does
not exceed fourteen inches per annum,
about the same amount that falls in the
Salt Lake valley, Utah, and also in the
vicinity of Greeley and Denver. Colo.
The sub-arid or partially dry and
partially humid region lies within the
lines Of the 1Osd and . til meridians,
the 10 ID running west of Sidney. The
9th meridian passes through the
eastern portion of jefferson county on
the south, through Colfax in the imme-
date vicinity Of Schuyler inthc Platte
valley, and through Cellar county In
the northeastern portion of the state.
All that portion of Nebraska included
within these lines would be benefited
by irrigation. In the western portion
of this tarritOrv. IRRIGATION becomes for