Fergus County argus. [volume] (Lewistown, Mont.) 1886-1946, 1903-07-08
TO RECLAIM
ALKALI LAND
An Expert Of Drainage From the U.
s. Department Of Agriculture
Making Some Tests.
SOME OF METHODS SUGGESTED
Several Good Ways to Rid the Land
Of the Injurious Salt, But They
Are All Too Expensive.

Elliott. expert in drainage of the Office
of experiment stations Of the United
States department Of agriculture, has
arrived In Bozeman TO consult with
Professor j. s. Baker of the college
about some local problems. Profess
scr Elliott is on his way back from
a drainage convention in Crookston.
Mimi. to Yakima, Wash. the scene
OF his labors this season.
TIE special problem on which Prof.
Elliott has been directed by Prof.
Mead to call here and consult is the
alkali lands OF the Yellowstone val
ley. AS everyone knows this Is one
of the chief and growing problems Of
eastern Montana agriculture. Immense
areas of land supposed n few years
ago to be valuable are being abandon
ed because, as a result of irrigation.
the alkali has ruined them.
The local experiment station has for
years been called upon to offer sug-
gestions, and other states-Colorado
and California, for instance-have had
similar problems. This year under
the direction of Prof. Fortier, Profess
sor Baker has secured a tract OF al
kali land about a mile west of Bill
ings and is investigating the condi-
tons. He has taken samples of soil
each foot for a depth of six feet in
ten different places on the tract and
proposes to find out whether the al
kali increases or diminishes with in
creasing depth. Besides this he has
sunk twenty small wells on the tract
and will try to keep track of the wa
ter line over the area to see if 1t var
les from week to week and determine
the cause. There is reason to sus-
pect that the difficulty in this case
Is due to seepage from the canal I'M
der which the land lies. In order to
determine how much is lost from the
canal by seepage opposite this field,
Professor Baker will the
amount of water in the canal near
each end OF the field and determine
the loss in transit.
Professor Elliott thinks that the al
kali condition of the soil in such places
Is due not to an excess of the al
kali in the soil, but to its being con-
stantly washed to the surface by the
water forced up through the soil after
the seepage from the canal above.
If the constant seepage can be avoid
ed, the alkali can be either washed
OF the soil or back into it-preferably
the latter. Professor Elliott thinks
for he fears that with the washing off
OF the alkali valuable elements might
also be removed from the soil.
Such reclamation of the soil Is ex-
pensive, and since in any case the
forcing up of the water must be STOP
ped, Professor Elliott would direct his
attention chiefly to preventing seep-
age or preventing the seepage water
from reaching valuable land. OF
course. any canal car be rendered wa
ter tight If enough money is spent on
1t, but 1t does not always pay, and
even IL 1t does pay the ditch company
s0hhot oiNayo bt W bOt IT, lHt
simplest and most effective plan Is
for the land owner whose land is
threatened to construct an intercept
ton drain, open Of closed, as the con-
dillon of the soil makes preferable;
and SO to carry off the seepage water
and prevent its saturating valuable
land. Such drains have bee n effect
lively used in Colorado and California,
and Professor Elliott Is now expert.
menting with them in Washington.
These interception drains or ditch
es are useful. not only to intercept
seepage water from canals, but to in
tercept and carry off the superiuous
water that tends to ~saturate and rem
der useless the low lands lying below
higher irrigated lands.
Professor Elliott's main thesis Is
that all alkaline soil is the result of
an abnormal process of moisture sup
ply which, instead of coming from
above in rainfall or the flow from ir-
rigating bitches, is forced up from
below and brings with 1t the injurious
proportion of alkali. Restore the nor
NAL condition of the water supply,
carry OF the superfluous water from
the saturated subsoil before it reaches
the surface, and the problem is well
along toward solution, he declares.
Az a preventive method drainage is
more valuable because much cheap.
er than when 1t is used as a cure.
Professor Elliott. and evidently, too,
the department which sends him out,
thinks that the question of drainage
for irrigated lands is one that will
force itself forward as more and more