The river press. [volume] (Fort Benton, Mont.) 1880-current, 1906-08-15
IRRlCATINC BY PUMPS
Government Scheme to Reclaim
Arid Lands In Kansas.
ELECTRICITY TO BE THE POWER

Dr.. Newell Of the Reclamation Serv-
ice Plans q series Of Wells to Fur-
nish the Water For Eight Thou
sapd Acres Of CrOps-f'rOpOses to
Tap q subterranean Reservoir.
The reclamation service is carrying
out an entirely new irrigation PROPOSE.
ton in Kansas for the purpose Of
pumping up from the earth enough wa
ter to irrigate 5000 acres. writes Viii
liam Il. Curtis. the Chicago Record
Herald's Washington correspondent.
There is a pump operated by "A wind
mill upon almost every farm west Of
the Missouri river, and each individual
farmer gets his water supply that way.
1t Is neither Il new nor a novel under.
taking, but the government engineers
propose for the first time to apply the
same principles upon a large scale to
irrigate a tract Of semiarid land ON the
edge Of the arid regions near Garden
City, In southwestern Kansas. The
people in that section have tried dry
xAIluluS Nuu udVC k0SOCO AuII CIOU0 VI
sorghum and macaronl wheat when
there has been twenty inches Of rain
in a season. But the clouds are un-
reliable. They cannot be depended up
on. The farmers have also tried irri-
CATION from the Arkansas river, but
they claim that they cannot get water
enough: that the entire supply il alb
sorbed by the farmers west Of them
in Kansas and Colorado. For this rea-
o an irrigation company In which
Rochester parties have Invested two
Dr. three million dollars has gone out Of
business. They claim that the river
fails them at critical times: hence the
government proposes to help them out
with pumps driven by electric power,
and DR.. Newell. chief Of the reclama-
ton service. expects to get sufficient
water to irrigate 5000 acres Of sugar
beets. DR.. Newell proposes to erect a
central pump ut Garden City and a Sc
ries of others at intervals Of from two
to Ave miles. crossing the Arkansas
valley diagonally. and operate them
by electricity from a central power
plant. The water will be pumped d.
rectly into the bitches Of the irrigation
company.
The failure Of the irrigation plant to
sufficient water Is II Of the
principal grounds for the suit Of the
state of Kansas against the state Of
Colorado to prohibit the farmers in the
state from consuming the water
Of the Arkansas river. This suit Is now
in the supreme court OF the
States. More than 5000 pages
Of testimony has been taken by com
missioners appointed for that purpose.
voluminous briefs have been filed by
the attorneys Of the two states and
the federal government. and arguments
neXt fall. Millions of dollars and in
deed the entire agricultural and fruit
of southeastern Colorado de-
pend upon the decision Of the court.
The Arkansas river. which rises In the
mountains somewhere near
I.eadville. furnishes water for the fruit
orchards. farms. five beet sugar mills
and other important industries along
the Arkansas valley. and several mil
lions Of dollars have been invested in
Irrigation plants. The people Of Kan
sas assert that during the summer sea-
son the water in the river is all absorb
ed before it reaches the Colorado
boundary and that their crops die Of
thirst. They complain that they are de-
of their just and legal rights
AMI THEREFORE ask the supreme rourt to
protect them and prohibit the Colorado
Arkansas by their irrigation bitches.
II the court does this sOutheaster Col
orado will relapse into Il desert.
The federal government has inter
vened IN the ground that Kansas and
Colorado are auarreling over what does
not belong to either OF them. that the
general government has control OF in
terstate streams and that the waters
are being lawfully used by persons to
whom it has sold land. The general
government is still further Interested.
being the owner OF large Of va
cant land which Is dependent upon the
Arkansas river for irrigation, and
hem. has rights that must be cOnSid-
ere
t. '-r!aInation people are prepared
u s-.-.. III. question in Il practical
-a--*- without troubling the court.
TG.*y ..-ei able to supply the farmers Of
western Kansas all the water they will
ever need for irrigation without inter
fering with the farmers Of Colorado.
A considerable portion Of the Arkansas
valley in Kansas Is underlaid by what
some people have called a subterrane
an river. although 1t can be &C
curately described as a vast natura
reservoir. covering an area ten mile:
wide by a hundred miles long. fillet
with loose gravel carrying large guam
titles of water which never fail. Thi.
reservoir ia fed by the rainfall and BY
the seepage. the surface drainage anl
the water that %percolates through the
soil. 1t has no direct connection Will
the Arkansas river and Is not depend