The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1906-03-11
IRRIGATION WORK
IN UTAH REVIEWED
important Conference of Ex-
pertS Held and Situation
CanyaSSed.
PLANS FOR WORK FOR
COMING SEASON GONE OVER
ElwOOd Mead, Chief of lnyeSti
cations of Experiment Sta
tons, Present.

A conference was held in Salt Lake
Friday between a number &C prominent
representatives of the Department OF Ag-
rlculture at which was reviewed the irTi-
CATION work done last year In Utah.
and plans were laid for continuing the
work the coming season. Al the meet
ing there were present Elwood Mead
chief OF irrigation Investigations at eX-
pertinent stations under the Department
of Agriculture OF Washington. d. c, and
Profs Yoder and Mclaughlin OF tho
Agricultural college at Logan.
What Work Includes.
The work Of the department includes
Investigations in two directions, That OF
determining the greatest possible results
10 be obtained from a minimum amount
of water and ground the results always
varying as TO the character of the soil
and the kind of crops grown. ana that
OF draining certain swamp lands with The
object OF restoring them for farming
purposes.
Cover Vast Areas.
These swamp lands are both artificial
md natural and cover vast areas In the
southern parts of the State. Last year
drainage systems were Installed at Hunt
ngton and at ST. George, where there
exists swamps as the result OF lrrlea-
tlon The tracts lie mostly below the
canals before the water has been turned
onto the irrigated areas and are caused
by seepagc from these canals.
Alkali Accommodations.
The situation is made more complex
by reason OF the accumulation OF aikail
from the lands above and through Whlch
the water has passed. They are also
formed below irrigated tracts where
more than the necessary water has been
used. These stations at Huntington and
St George were operated only last year
but a series OF years are necessary 10
bring results as the moving Of the alkali
is slow process.
Thousands Acres to Be Reclaimed.
Mr.. c s Brown OF Salt Lake will
represent the department and look over
these stations this year and VIII start
for the south within the coming week
OF this character OF marsh OF swamp
ground there are many thousands or
acres along the Sewer river which IL
is believed can be reclaimed and made
To produce abundant crops in almost end
less variety.
AS to Experiments.
The part of the experiments for deter
mining the greatest utility OF water on a
given area OF ground Will be conducted
on the several experiment farms In the
State the largest areas being confined TO
Logan Vicinity and In the Weber and
Bear River valleys.
Wonderful Results.
The results obtained from this re
SlTlclc1 water use gave "piuti iui
suits and established figures that Will
be tried by many farmers all over Utah
this year The work this wear Will be
for the purpose of verifying last year 9
results and establishing new records.
This department Of the work relates TO
the economy OF water and In this connec- |
ton Mr.. Mead states that an early step |
to be taken will be to ascertain the best |
msthods OF preventing seepage from dams |
and canals. as from 80 to 90 per cent of |
the water taken from the natural streams |
is loA by seepage before IT finds Its way
onto the irrigated tracts.
Oil in bitches.
In India the British Government has |
had good results by putting crude petro- |
leum in the bottom Of the bitches and |
the oil is allowed TO dry before tho water |
is turned In. In Italy cement is used |
and TO protect II from freezing the ce-
mcnt is placed deep enough to allow IT |
10 be covered with about one foot of |
earth and over this the water Is allowed
10 run.
Pioneer of Irrigation.
Speaking OF the result OF experiments
from different quantities of water used
per acre Mr.. Mead said that in places
but a comparatively small variation or
the amount of water actually required
made a difference in the crops In the |
ratio of 8 TO l. Mr.. Mead is one of the
pioneers OF Irrigation from a ecentiflc
basis, in the United States. He spent
several years al this work In Colorado
and afterward was State Engineer in
Wyoming before entering the service OF
the general Government