The Kennewick courier. [volume] (Kennewick, Wash.) 1905-1914, 1909-11-19
we're INVESTIGATED
Government Experts in Agriculture
and Irrigation Visits Valley

Wills III 'iiC ottitdu VI E'idiIl III
dustry, connected with [. s. De-
partnent of Agriculture and s. 0.
Jayne, irrigation expert connected
with the Reclamation Service and
long acquainted with irrigation de,
velopments in the Yakima Valley
and author OF the government pull :
lication, Irrigation for Beginners"
a booklet which gave very helpful
advice to the people Of this section
at the time Of its publication, were
both here for a couple of days the
week looking into conditions and
developments here for the govern
ment. Mr.. Hunter has just COM
pleted and published for the depart
ment a 12-page bulletin Hints to
Settlers on the Umatilla Proieet".
The facts collected on this visit and
other observations made will prob
ably he Incorporated in a similar
booklet covering the territory in tie
Columbia Valley from Priest Rapids
to the Dalles.
Mr.. Hunter is in charge of the
Pacific Coast Farm Management
Investigations and has Washington
Idaho and Oregon a. his field of
operations. He was especially
looking up the plans of pumping
for irrigation and also where plants
are put in to supplement gravity
systems and furnish additional
water for hay growers. He visited
the Pratt pumping plant and Others
in the valley and pronounced them
good. He was also favorably i'm
pressed with the methods of SOW
ing nurse crops to hold sandy soils
until the alfalfa had rooted suffi-
GENTLY to hold. lie is also inves-
tigating every detail of The different
plans tor preventing damage by
frost, and desires full reports of
our efforts in that line. Some years
ago Mr.. Hunter went into the
wheat growing and farming in this
section and embodied his views in
his pamphlet Wheat Growing on
the Columbia River Uplands.
Mr.. Jayne has been a frequent
visitor to the Valley and was here
in August with Russian Engineer
and one from Argentine Rebublic
inspecting the pumping plants and
irrigation systems here. He has
just recently gone over the lands of
the proposed Klickitat Irrigation
scheme and says there are none bet.
ter it they only have water for If
rigation. 1t is his judgment that
the company will have to resort to
storage reservoirs in order to cover
the acreage contemplated |
He gave the figures of the Sunny
side Canal project which are from
actual observation and practice and
are the best obtainabie. The Sun. !
nyside appropriation from the river
is 1000 inches. About 700 inches
are Icing used and this waters land !
now in cultivation amounting to |
d.. 900 acres and the Reclamation
service intends to water $4,000
acres when the entire appropriation
is used. On this basis when you
talk about irrigating 25O, 900 to 300
600 acres of land you must have an
quantity of water, say
four times that of the Sunnyside
Canal. There is no exact data on
the flow Of the Klickitat river.
The government has only taken
a few measurements and they do
not cover a sufficiently long period
OF time to furnish a basis of calcu
lation. This question of the guam
tity of water available is a vital one
and should be gone into very care
fully by the farmers before they
enter into contract as to their lands.
The Land Owners Association are
to be most highly commended for
their work and the legal phase of
the contract IS to be considered by
competent counsel and the water
question investigated by compe-
tent engineer both in the employ
OF the Land Owners Association.