The Opelousas courier., 1901-01-12
Great ~Irrigating Canal.
A PROJECT TO BRING A LARGE AREA OF
PRAIRIE LAND INTO CULTIVATION.

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Mr.. Welman Bradford Of Crowley, La.
parish surveyor of Acadia parish. aciyll
engineer of fine ability, and an a%uthori..
ty in his section on the Irrigation OF
rice fields, is in the city and is quarteIed
at the Commercial. Mr.. Bradford has
mapped out and has now under way the
most ambitious irrigating plant ever
contemplated in Louisiana. For years
he has been studying the plans and fig
uring out excavation work, pumpage,
ETC., and now has the r~ight-of-Way OF
a stretch of land $50 feet wide and tit-
ty-four miles long, from Washington.
on the Bayou Courtableau, through
Grand Prairie and Prairie Mamon. On
this right. of-way Mr.. Bradford pro-
poses to build an irrigating and navi-
gable canal 200 feet wide and with i've
feet depth of water. capable OF lrriga-
ting 300, 900 acres of land. The canal
will follow a dividing ridge, and will
control the land on both sides. 1t is
the key to the situation in that section,
and its lateral branches will in the end.
it is believed, lead to the flooding OF
900, 900 acres of rice land in st. Landry ,
Acadia. Lafayette and Caicasieu par
ishee. The canal will be nayigable for
light-draft steamboats,, which will i'm
sure the&carrying OF rice to market ut
low transportation charges. The estl-
mated cost. of the canal including
bridges, pumps, etc, is $4,000 600. The
capacity of the pumps is fixed at 49,
900 acres, &C nsiderably less than that of
the canal, with IL view of increasing the
pumps, as new fields como into cultiva-
ton. 1t ia. believed confidently that
the canal will pay for itself in one year.
This opinion is based on the sOundest
reasons. Other canals have paid out in
a single season in Southwest Louisiana.
The cost of irvigatiDg an acre of land is
$fper season.. The pay received by the
canal companies is based on the yield
per acre. Experience shows that their
taH will average three sacks of rice OF
800 pounds to the sack. At ego pounds
of rice per acre 100000 acres of rice
will give Il revenue Of GIG, O00, 900
pounds. which, after ~deducting the cost
of operation, will more than pay for the
construction of the canal in a single
SEASON..
There is no irrigating canal in the
State comparable to the one in
contemplation. The Hunter canal at
Able Vile il being improved, aud il TO
bs made navigable. 1t will he 1856 feet
wide and twenty miles long. Western
capital is building this lrrIgatlng work.
There is no more promising section
of the State than that through which
Mr.. Bradford has projected his canal.
It is believed To be superior in produc-
ing power to tho Calcasieu and Acadia
lands, which now sell Mt SS335 TO $50 an
acre, and return handsome yields to the
farmer. Tie soil of Grand and Mam0u
prairies produce n harder grain and
command n higher price for that tra
ssn. fhis superiority il due ta The
fact that Il hard grain can be- pro-
dncpd only M lands from which the
water can lie drained during the pro
cess of ~iippning. The land can be-
drained nj PLEASURE III these prairies.
which, are pierced Ivy in~nunleTable In
yous and dry CATCHES, which, give Il
splendid natural drainage to they sonti,-
Wnrti. 9