The daily morning journal and courier., 1900-04-09
THE ARKANSAS VALLEY.
SERVICE OF THE RIVER TO AGRI-
 CULTURE.
Its Course From the Mountain to the yaIIey-A Picture of Prairie Develops
ment-Irrigation Companies.


 ment-Irrigation Companies.
 'sThe American Nile'' is a favorite
 name for the Arkansas river, and in
 many respects it is apt, writes a
 Wichita correspondent of the New
 York Evening Post. The same slug
 gish movement, the same shifting
 sands, are here: but most of all, the
 wide, fertile valley, reaching for hun
 dreds of miles from the mountains to
 the Mississippi, makes it fit image of it's Egyptian model. Like the Nile,
 it furnishes sustenance to the people
 who reside along it's banks, and the
 trip alongside it's bed over the course
 of the old Santa Fe trail gives a mar
 yelous picture of western thrift and
 advancement.
 From the point where the fce-cold
 waters come rushing from the noun
 tain gulches and begin their long,
 slow journey across the plains, there
 bgins the agricultural development of
 the wide valley. The population of
 eastern Colorado is principally in the vicinity of the Arkansas The irriga-
 ting ditches begin their theft of the
 welcome waters soon after it passes busy Pueblo. At Rocky Ford are the
 watermelon and the cantoloupe farms.
 The farmers make large profits out of
 this product, as there has not yet been
 found another combination of the sun, soil and weather that will give such monopolize this district and are ex- tending their lands each year as the xH Fnr1 lY1h1OnS lD- creases. Here as in other parts of the west, was an unnecessary boom i'll the sos; and the towns show the effects of it. The lesson of steady growth had to
 be learned The ditch experiments have proved generally satisfactory, and along the river bottoms are Well-tllled farms But back of the bluffs on the unwatered prairie is blank, hopeless and homeless waste, with it's surface broken by sand dunes and odd hillocks the first outcroppings of the Rocky Mountains, whose snowy peaks are lltt- ed above the western horizon.
 Cattle and sheep are in evidence far tl1er to the eastward. The form taken by these investments is somewhat unique. The sheep farmers do not, as of old, depend on the growth of the flock or entirely on the wool. Indeed, wool is a secondary consideration, and the shepherd gives his best attention to putting on the market choice spring lambs which shall bring fancy prices. It is no uncommon thing to have the offspring pay for flock in single year when fortune favors. Then there is the wool as a resource, and always a few culls from the flock to add few dollars. The breeding is for combina- tion of mutton and wool that brings quick and generous returns. The cat tlemen also give much attention to feed ing, raising gain and "roughness" in abundance, and shipping cattle from the prairies to be fattened. The winters are generally mild cattle usually rum ming on the prairie all through the year. When the blizzards come, great loss fol- lows, but the stockmen are learning to make provisions. Long sheds may be seen alongside the ranch, houses and on the southern edges of breaks are placed shelters of hay and straw that keep out i the fierce bitterness of the north wind. | Several large cattle companies, backed | by eastern capital, are operating in this | way, and find the location an excellent | one.
 The farther one goes down the river | the less is the volume of water--a pecu- | liar condition and one of the marvels of | the Arkansas. In fact, the Arkansas is | a two-story river, one on the surface | and one oozing along far beneath amid the sands. The lower river is 8 much | discussed "underfiow." On it have | specuators based hopes, and in it's de- L,aptior, have fort11pac baop c11pLr Ia | entire body of the river disappears into the under world at times, to reappear | again few miles below. It is theory that the ditches only use the water tenn porarily, and that it finds it's way back to the bed of the stream again. Just | now one can almost walk across the bed of the stream in western Kansas or eastern Colorado. A half-mile of level sand, with the narrow ribbon of the stream winding irregularly across it, is all that lies beneath the few long bridges that span the Arkansas. Along next June, when the snow melts in the faster than the ditches can or need use it, the high water will come. a wall as of a tidal wave pushing it's way down the long course, and the riv- CT will be tossing, muddy flood from bank to bank. One Of the favOrite theO- ries of the undertow enthusiasts has been that by digging ditch far enough into the surface of the valley along side the river bed there would be secured a steady flowing supply of water sufficient for irrigating purposes It has never proved practical.
 The big irrigation companies Of west ern Kansas are nearly all in the hands of receivers. They have proved losing ventures for the eastern investors, largely because of the lack of water. The Colorado irrigators robbed the stream and only in time of freshet--usu- ally at the time water was needed least --did the ditches of the lower levels fill. Much work has been expended and all sorts of inducements have been offered to settlers, but the problem is unsolved | High winds drift the ditches full, and the tumble weeds make merry chase over the farms. Only a limited amount of land can be supplied with water, and this fact iS becoming recognized | irrigators are numerous and big jumbo mills are thickly scattered 1 ( over the surface of the valley, These { consist of a tight board fence around