The Glenwood post., 1905-04-22
IRRIGATION IN
STATE OF TEXAS
Interesting Information About Diff
ferent Places That Have
Been Benefited by
Reservoirs
PUMPING PLANTS GREAT FACTOR

Texas has at present about 800. 4, 0
acres of irrigated land, of which -, 900
ac. es are planted in the ordinary crops
and 300, uUU i'll rice. For years stockrais-
ing has been the only industry of the
ARID snd semi arid portion of the state,
hut the homesteaders of the last decade
nave cut up the great ranches into
small farms aud created a demand
water with which to make it pro
ductive. Cotton fields are pushing
their way now into western Texas
The rice fields are confined for the
most part to the coast country, but
the belt of irrigated land where gen.
eral fam products flourish extends
from FL paso to the Guadalupe, and
from the Rio Grande to the Red river
ON the north. Irrigation is, however,
no new thing in Texas. 1t must not
be forgotten that the Lone Star state
is commonwealth with the romantic
history that betits border state.
Long before it became republic the
Indians irrigated along the Rio
Grande. Afterward the Franciscan
friars who came with the early Span
ish conquistadors carried on irrigation
for the cultivation of the fields in the
southwestern part of what is now the
state of Texas. In the northern and
central parts of the state irrigation
development in the Pecos and Rio
Grande valleys has been retarded by
the lack of water supply which the
heavy demand on those rivers in New
Mexico and Colorado occasions. There
are many places, however, in the
trans Pecos country, where impound
ing dams might be constructed across
narrow canons or gorges to form res
ervoirs for the storage of waters
In the Pecos valley and along the
Concho in Tom Green county, the
water for irrigation is taken from
flowing streams, Big springs supply
irrigation systems along Toyah and
Comanche creeks in the trans Pecos
country and along the San Felipe and
San Antonio river. Some of the best
results in the state are produced by
irrigation from artesian wells near
San Antonio and in the Rio Grande
country from Corpus Christi to
Brownsville. About 200 good artesian
wells have been sunk in this neigh
borhood in the last few years Water
from artesan wells is in high repute
in this locality for irrigation pur-
poses.
Gravity systems, pumping plants
and artesian wells are all utilized by
farmers who live in the valleys of the
Colorado and San Antonio rivers, the
most important of the Gulf streams.
Agriculturists realize moIe fully each
year the advantages to be derived in
years of deficient rainfall from sys-
TEN of irrigation. Many of the truck
farms in southern Texas are supplied
from surface wells the water of which
is pumped into small reservoirs of
from 1000 to 5000 cubic feet capacity.
over 300 such wells are in use at
present. 1t is stinated that seventy
five per cent of the irrigation in Texas
during 1904 was accomplished by
means of pumping plants, and seventy
per cent of the area supplied by pumps
was cultivated in rice. The use of
impounding reservoirs has not entered
largely into the irrigation economy of
the state, but as the demand for water
grows attention is turned to this source
of supply, and the storage reservoir at
Wichita Falls will soon be duplicated
at scores of other points in Texas
In San Saba valley, and above the
town of San Saba, is one of the most
fertile sections in the world, and def
mite plans have been made for the
construction of dam across the
streams about eighteen miles above
the town form an immense reservoir
from which water can be conducted to
the valley below. This canon is about
fifty miles in length, and by means of
series OF dams and canals it is believ-
ed that about 40, 900 acres above and
below the town of San Saba can be
brought under ditch. Irrigators along
this stream from the head of the canon
to the springs already take practically
the entire normal flow of the stream.
making any system in the lower San
Saba dependent largely ON storage
water. The Llanor river in Kimble
county supports at present many small
irrigation plants, but large systems