Arizona republican., 1902-09-23
SOME COSTLY IRRIGATION.
Saving Water by Pipes and Fumes of
 Redwood and Cement.


 Redwood and Cement.
 Half a century ago the 0ioreers near the Great Salt Lake led the mountain waters to irrigate their parched fields through fumes built of native lumber spanning ravines and crossing places where earthen canals Were impracti- cable. Since that time the construc- tfon of wooden fumes in the Rocky mountain states has steadily increased until the cost of those in use at pres ent would aggregate many millions of dollars.
 The vast extent of the arid land of the west-fuuy third oi the area of the whole country-includes some of the richest agricultural land on the globe. In the west where water for irrigation is worth far more than the land, the latter being valueless without the former. an economical transmission of this water is ! very serious problem. especially where it has to travel long distance. In such cases evaporation and seepage are important factors. The network of ditches and canals which thread the cultivated portions of arid America varies in size from the furrow Of the individual irrigator to the large canal of the corporation, car rying respectively fifty gallons and several hundred thcusand gallons a minute.
 All sorts of condui:s are in use 10 transmit this water. The cheapest and simplest means is the open dirt ditch or canal similar to the canals of the east used fo: transportation purposes. But the problems of operating and keeping supplied with water the old Chesapeake and Ohio canal, for in stance, and the Kings river canals of California, are entirely different ones. Should the former be found tC leak or it's water be leaking through it's walls. the matter would net be serious one except perhaps as it might damage other property The water supply would be abundant. On the other hand should the canals obtaining their sup plies from Kings river be found to waste their water or to lose much of 1t by evaporation the loss would be a direct one and grea- for it would be irretrievabie. In some instances such losses have been found to be excessive, amounting, where the water was transported in open channels for alcng distance, to more than one-half the original supply, and causing great hardship to the farmers depending up on it. To obviate this loss, where water is wealth, expensive pipes and fumes are constructed. Cement lined ditches. wooden troughs or fumes. slave pipes of redwood, steel pipes and even iron cast pipes, such as are laid for sewers, are used, this being the most expensive, but the most lasting type.
 The redwood pipe is one Of the best fumes and most picturesque conduits Of the west. II can be laid down into canyons and Up hills like Q tape line, and it is superseding the old trestle and Hume heretofore used fer carrying water across faviles. In some cases these great pipes are entirely buried, as the wood lasts longer if several feet underground. They are constructed from the Sempivirens redwood, which is a slightly smaller cousin of the "big tree" of California. The use 0: wood en CT iron pipes prevents practically all operation, which in the hot south west is excessive. Tn Hawaii, where the water used for irrigation is mostly pumped, iron and steel ripcS are used.
 California companies are lining a good many of their ditches with ce- mCnt. It seems cSpeclally 1OltunaJe that whereas imported cement is ex- pensive on the Pacific, coast, an excel lent native products is available from the clay, limestone and calc-spar of the San Bernardino mountains of southern California. Cement can thus be man ufactured and sold for about three fourths of the cost of the foreign ar ticle.
 Water is carried by Hume in some instances for many miles. One Of the most interesting Instances is seen in the irrigation Of the orange groves Of Corona, Calf. The water for these groves is pumped by the Temeacal Water company into cement fumes and pipes forty miles away, and dur ing it's transit less than per cent is lost.
 Prescott describes wonderful con- duits Of the Peruvian Incas; in one instance water was brought ont of the mountain reservoirs of the Andes to the coast lands by an aGueduct ever 150 miles in length. Tn New Mexico today can be seen canals cut through the liV- ing rock and tunnels made through mountains-all testimony to the value oi water for irrigation in all ages Guy F. Mitchell in Kansas City Star.