The Washington times., 1901-10-07
IRRIGATION AND DROUGHT.
Western Experts who Reject the
Theory That One Causes the Other.

/ LINCOLN, Neb. Oct. Ga recent article
/ attributinE last summers drought in the
I trans-Missouri States to the effects of ir-
| riEauon. has not maGe many converts ir1
the West, especially among scientific
and practical men.
Secretary Dobson OF the State Board OF
Irrigation says that as a scientific theory
| what the statement says may have some
basis. but it doesn't fit the facts The
fact is that I'm the West ii is only the
appearance of occasional dry years that
gives irrigation a boom Seven years
elapsed between the last two droughts
In Nebraska. Immediately after 1891.
when the State was badly burned and
thousands of farmers were compelled tc
abandon their holdings, the movement for
irrigation received its greatest impetus
Hut as year after year passed and crops
We're abundant. the farmers began to
think that irrigation was unnecessary and
they began TO drop it,
Ihere was smaller number of acres
under irrigation last year than ever be-
fore. This year there was more irrfga-
ton. because when the drought became
imminent there was a rush for water. All
of the demands upon the riy ers could not
be supplied, and it is fact that the ir-
rigatiug bitches went dry long before the
hot wave ended in Nebraska
Tne crop reporter, Mr.. Loveland. who
is also section director for the State in
the weather Bureau service, takes direct
issue with the theory. He says that the
entire scientific staff of the bureau con-
demns the theory as untenable and not
based on known METEOROLOGICAL laws Mr.
LcveIand says:
That the theory is wrong in its pre-
hnlhary diagnosis We have conclusiveiy
shown by actual experiment. About the
time of tho great drought of 1894 the con-
u ntlon was put forth that the irrigating
bitches and the drinking ponds on al
most every quarter section of the State
would materially affect the humidity OF
the air and consequently the rainfall So
nluch was said about it that Prof.
Sweezey. professor Of meteorology in the
state University here. investigated it's
possibility The humidity was tested on
both the leeward and the windward side
of a body of water much larger than any
pond OF RESERVOIR of an irrigation sys-
TEN. There was no perceptible difference
III the humidity of the air before and
after it passed over the body of water.
and after carefully considering the evil
dehce IN the case Prof. Sweezey decided
tndt tneSe ponds were such a small por-
ton OF the surface .lat they would have
no appreciable effect on the humidity of
the arr The same would be true in the
regions.
But if the theory is true. and the COM
paratively small area irrigated in that
part of the country has caused the
changes in the atmosphere asserted. sure
ly a substantial increase in the area irri-
gated, with a course of proportional
change in the atmosphere would result
in a sufficiently energetic area of low
pressure to move and cause ideal conGi-
tions in the semi-arid Western districts
OF course. this is absurd No slight
change in the conditions on the surface
of the earth can cause such an extensive
change in atmospheric conditions.
The only true test of a theory is ex-
pertinent and observation. Some yes rs
ago the belief was quite generally he'd
here in Nebraska that the increase in the
rainfall was due to the change of the
earth's surface by the settling up of the
country and the cultivation of the land.
II this were true 1t naturally followed /
that the more settlers that came and the |
greater the amount of land placed under :
cultivation the more nearly IDEAL would
be the weather. D.
Two great droughts and several dry Z
uctant abandonment of this theory The /
he theories which are based on the new +
surface changes. No one knows what I
.auses these occasional droughts and ex- I
.essive heated terms. The period of time 4
covered by Weather Bureau observations +
las as yet been too short to give the
necessary data upon which to base {
working hypothesis. We only know now +
hat the causes are not to be found in
lnything that man does on the earth, or 4
With its surface, but that they are hid [
len in the atmosphere.