The people's journal. (Pickens, S.C.) 1891-1903, 1899-03-09
FROM ROCKIES TO THE GULF
THE WONDERS OF IRRIGATION.

THE WONDERS OF IRRIGATION
The Indian Territory Making Grca,
Progress Under tho Lead of White
Men-The New Texas "A State O.
Promise-Cold Weather in New Or
leans.
Baltimore Sun.
| Mr.. Richard III. Edmonds, editor o
the Manufacturers Record, who Ii
travelling through tho South anC
South hwest with Mr.. 10. K. Searles
the noted New York financior, writes
from Hot Springs, Ark, TO his brother
in-law, Mr.. l. S. Field, OF Baltimore
telling of some OF their experiences
| The letter is as follows:
''Since l wrote you from Denver VIC
have had an interesting and varied cx
perience. All OF it, however, very
| pleasant. Leaving Denver, we stop.
ped while ut Colorado Springs. We
gaZed on Pixies Peak, some 14,000 feet
high, but, remembering rather forcibly
that the mercury was making love tO
zero with great deal OF earnestness-
warmth, might say, If such word
were permissible in this casC-it was
deemed little wise to defnr our trip
to the top OF the Peak to some. more
prOpitiOus seaseD.
"From Colorado Springs wo went
down to Holly, Prowers County, Col,
to investigate the greatest irrigation
enterpriee in this country, and one well
fitted to rank alongside OF govern
mental irrigation work in Egypt and
India. In that part Of Colorado gen
orally known as the arid region, agri-
culture without irrigation is practi-
cally impossible, but with good irriga-
tion the lend blossoms like tho rose
and prope' ty worth dollar Or two an
acre before the Introduction Of irriga-
an acre when once Il good and pcrma
nent system OF irrigation has been de.
veloped. TO tell you Of the yield Of
fruits and vegetable and grain on
irrigated land around Holly, even II
supported by af1idavits, might test my
reputation for veracity. Presumine
that my reputation in that direction Is
moderately fair, do not want to put
1T to the etraining point. Even though
Mark Twain declares BE good and you
will be lonely prefer to hold on to the
claim for truthfulness.
But coming back to Holly and it's
irrigation interests. Several years ago
Mr. Searles and threo New York
friends undertook tho reorganization
OF small irrigation enterprise which
had failed before It's work WAS well
under way. They bought it out and
then concluded to enlarge its scope on
d scale commensurate with the advan-
tages OF the country. What they have
done deserves to rank as one of the
greatest enterprises Of the day. They
purchased about 10000 acres Of land
In what is known as the Arkansas Val.
ley of Colorado, and though it ia really
the valley OF the Arkansas river, it
has an average elevation OF about
5000 feet above the sea level and
stretches out for miles in an almost un.
broken plain nearly as flat as the Erai-
ries Of Texas.
Realizing that the safety OF irriga-
tiOn depends upon an uniailing supply
OF water and that sometimes the river
might be too low to furnish enough to
meet the needs OF farmers, they de-
termined to introduce storage reservoir
svstem. While this Ia very costly it
insures o regular water supply, and
thus adds largely to the value OF the
land. After full investigation they
found some natural basins above their
property and, securing this land under
took to develop what is probably the
most extensive reservoir system ever
built for any private enterprise In this
now cover 1000 acres Of ground, and
In some places there Ia an extreme
treme depth Of 80 feet of water. In
the winter time the overflow from the
river and melted snow from the distant
are turned into the rescr-
voirs, thus furnishing full supply OF
water for an entire year II the river
should be low. These reservoirs will
carry reserve supply sufficient to
cover with water $50, 900 acres OF land
one foot deep. You can figure this out
In gallons If your fancy runs that way.
On the property the company has
$50 miles Of canals speedily built and
head gates and dams constructed as
though intended to last until Gabriel
blows his horn. There arc also lGO
miles Of telephone line. These figures
give you some idea OF the magnitude OF
this property, which is owned abso
lutely by MIR. Searles and three asso
ciates, and upon all Of this gigantic
undertaking there are no bonds and no
debts. The local manager at Holly is
Mr.. M. Wiley, we'll known to many
Baltimorians, as he lived In Baltimore
for como years, and numbers among his
friends many Of the leading people OF
the city.
AS you know, tho Colorado people
talk a great deal about tho cloarncss OF
their atmosphere and arc always toll
Ing OF how visitors arc deceived by
that distant mountains arc
only few milee away. One story that
illustrates this is that tenderfoot
from the East, shortly after his arrival,
AID before he had learned how dcccp-
tive are distances in that climate, an
nounced his decision at tho break fast
table to take walk to tho mountains
which he supposed to be two or three
mlles away No ono told him that they
were thirty or forty miles of. After
preak last no started, and though he
walked hour after hour the mountains
seemed to bo ever receding from him.
Late In the afternoon tiavcler met
him at the side Of a ditch q foot or two
vide busily stripping Off his clothes.
When asked what he Was doing the
said: 81 am preparing to
swim the river Swim the rlyerS"
said the traveller. "Why, that ia not a
river 1T is only o ditch q foot or two
wide, and you can stop over It," ooh,
no. said the tsnderfoot, "you can't
fool mo twice in the Same day-.-this is