The Roswell daily record. [volume] (Roswell, N.M.) 1903-current, 1907-09-19
THE DUTY OF WATER
BY ]. J. HAGERMAN

4
seems to be uppermost in the minds
of many people hereabouts nowadays,
and few words on THE DUTY OF
WATER" for irrigation may be inter
esting to your readers.
| When the Pecos Irrigation & Inn
provement Co. built the Northern
Canal in 1889 and 1890, and the ca
nails in the vicinity of Carlsbad, for
the purpose of supplying water to
land owned by farmers, it issued wa
ter contracts, agreeing to perpetually
furnish enough water annually to COW
er an acre of ground one foot deep,
for $1.25 an acre. 1t was assumed by
ter in addition to the rainfall would
be sufficient to- produce good average
crops with skillful irrigation and
cultivation
At first there was more water than
the land irrigated required, as the
farmers were few and but little land
was cultivated. Therefore no system
of measurement of water was put in
operation, and neither the farmers
nor the Company knew how much
| water per acre per annum was Deing
used. Like most inexperienced irri
eating farmers, those under the canals
had a notion that the main thing re-
quired to raise good crops was to
| food the land with water. This alb
surd notion, with the fact that they
had to pay no more for the water,
| whether they used little Or much,
caused an enormous waste, and the
| result of trying to raise crops by this
| method was disastrous.
On the failure of the P. 1. & /. Co.
in 1898, 1 bought the Northern Canal
| from the receiver, as we'll as all the
! lands belonging to the Company un-
der the canal. At that time between
two and three thousand acres of land
were irrigated. The canal was in a
wretcned condition physically, but
repaired and improved it, aid put it
in perfect condition at a large ex
pense. / knew it could never pay
expenses, and that the few remaining
farmers would all go broke unless
water was used economically, and Il
put into operation a system by which
the exact amount of water used by
eveny farmer could be measured.
When l did this, the farmers came
to me and complained that one acre
foot of water per annum was not
enough to raise crops, no matter how
well they worked their land. l agreed
with them, and after much discussion
| and a comparison of information on
the duty of water. | agreed to give
them two and a half feet deep per
acre per annum, "or so much thereof
as might be necessary to raise good
average crops with skillful irrigation
and cultivation, and with clean ditch
es in good order" without additional
charge, stipulating that if a farmer
used more than two and a half feet
| (or thirty inches) per acre per an
mum, he should pay for the excess.
1t took US some time to get the sys-
| tenn of measurement in good working
order, and at first there was a. good
deal of kicking about it; but at last
| it was perfected and acquiesced in to
the satisfaction of both parties. At
the beginning of the season every far
mer was given a card showing how
many cubic feet of water he would
be entitled to for the season. When
| ever a farmer used water, he was Civ
en- card showing how much ne had
used, and how much he would be en-
| I4l 20 ind rSf hn
season. This worked like a charm.
Every farmer knew just how much he
could expect, and became careful.
Most of them had learned by sad ex-
perience that good crops could not
be raised by simply flooding them
with water, and that cultivation is
even more necessary under irrigation
than it is where moisture depends on
rainfall The grand result of this sys-
tenn was that better crops were rails
ed in the Hagerman-Felix region than
ever before, or than they had ever
dreamed of. The farmers became
prosperous, the value of land rose
enormously, and the canal for the
first time in its history began to pay
profit to its owner.
When this system of measurement
was put in complete operation, the
superintendent of the canal was re-
quired to send to my office tabulat-
ed statement showing now much wa
ter each farmer had used during the
month, and at the end of the year a
complete statement showing how
much eacn farmer had used during
the eight months of the irrigating
season, and here give you the rec
ord for the four years ending with
1906:
1908. "a 7-1o inches.
1904. % $40 inches; 500 acres new
land put in cultivation.
1905, 27A inches; 1000 acres new
land put IN cultivation.
1906. 271z inches.
The water was measured as near
3the land Irrigated as possible. usually
lat the head Of lateral ditch which
served several farms
4 rcor