The Black Hills union and western stock review. [volume] (Rapid City, S.D.) 1904-19??, 1910-04-15
DRAINAGE IS NEEDED
Some Irrigated Fields Easily Be-
come Swamps, Running Soil.
Experiments and Investigations Have
Brought Out Some Useful Facts
About Seeped Lands and
Their Restoration.

Among the most important investi-
cations in drainage are those which
are conducted upon irrigated lands.
For years 1t has been known that
some irrigated fields easily become
swamps, while the productiveness OF
others is ruined by the accumulation
of injurious alkali. The lands which
are most easily irrigated by water
from the mountain streams, and
which are surprisingly productive
when first reclaimed from desert
condition. not infrequently become
noisome bogs or alkaline wastes after
few years Of cultivation under copi.
GUS irrigation. says Secretary of Agri-
culture James Wilson in his annual
report. This is true of portion of
every irrigated valley in the west.
Utah contains not less than 100000
acres Of such land; Colorado, $4,000;
California. 100000: Nevada. 100000;
Wyoming, $4,000: Montana. 10000;
Idaho. 10000. all having been once
cultivated and still having valuable
water rights. These are conservative
estimates. showing the gravity of the
situation. and when considered from
the point of the owners particularly
emphasize the Importance of using
preventive as well as curative meas
ures in the treatment of saturated
lands which are under irrigation.
While an injudicious use of water
| and faulty distribution system
hasten the formation of scope land,
1t is acknowledged by good irrigators
that In ordinary farming practice
there Is waste OF water which can
not well be avoided. Where there is
not good drainage, the surplus water
accumulates until evil results appear.
Experiments and examinations have
brought out some useful as we'll as en-.
| couraging facts about seeped lands
and the methods of restoring them to
productiveness. The changing of
productive soil into bog or alkali
waste Is process hidden from view,
and. like an insidious disease, is often
not discovered until disastrous results
are manifest. The lower lands begin
to fill water at varying depths from
the surface, the level rising gradually
until 1t reaches the surface. The
| movement of the soil water is modi-
fled by hardpan gravel and shale, for.
nations. as well as by other less pro-
aounced physical characteristics. The
effects manifest themselves by the
utter failure of crops in spots. which
o,vvV
becomes barren and often so soft that
1t cannot be crossed by teams. The
! injury extends from farm to farm un-
til the larger part Of an irrigated val
ley becomes covered with salt grass.
alkali weeds, or. in many instances,
becomes barren alkali waste.
The restoration of such land, as de-
termined by investigations and ex-
periments conducted by this depart
ment. may be accomplished by suitable
drains located in accordance with a
few simple laws which are found to
govern the behavior of water, par
ticularly the underflow in irrigated
soils. These laws are briefly as fol-
lows:
The source of the surplus water is
the leakage from canals, but more
especially the waste water from irri-
gated lands which occupy the higher
levels.
Soil water is frequently DETECTED in
Its course. as it percolates through the
tsoil. by layers of hardpan. Water
which finally reaches the lower lands
Is arrested in its downward percola-
ton by comparatively impervious
earth. and then rises year by year un-
til the surface is saturated
Water dissolves considerable
quantity of the salts which are pres
ent in the SOIL When evaporation
takes place at the surface the salts,
many of them being injurious to
plants, accumulate rapidly.