The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-03-07
KANSAS CANALS.
Some Ideas Of Irrigation Farm
ing i'm Hamilton County.
Crops Grown and the Prepare
ton of the Land.
ALFALFA is KING.
Kansas Flood Water Ditch Gov
ers $500 Acres.
Owned by Farmers Who Have
Land Under 1t.

syracuse. Kan, March 7.-Kansas as
a whole is considered a well Watereo
state, and likewise Hamilton county j.
considered the same.
Hamilton county is being thlckly set
tied, and a new and stable growth mas
begun. These settlers, too, understand
the conservation of the moisture the
principle Of dry land farming But this
is not what we want to bring out AT
this time. We want to tell of the lrrl-
gated land and the irrigation principles
of Hamilton county.
The products grown on the irrigated
land are alfalfa, sugar beets, wheat
oats, barley, rye, corn, cane, kaInr
corn, etc.
Alfalfa is the principal crop under
Irrigation and is the one crop too much
praise cannot be given; it yields three
crops and sometimes four each year,
with an annual tonnage of four 10
eight tons per acre. A good portion IS
fed TO fhe local stock, some shipped to
the alfalfa meal mills in the eastern
part of the state where it is ground
into meal and sent farther east INTO
different states demanding good prices.
Alfalfa alone is not raised with irr1ga-
ton. but much, very much, is grown
without irrigation On the shallow wa
ter lands along the river bottoms II
does exceptionally well without 1rrlga-
Whatever.
which have been seeded many years
ago under which the sheet water lies
at a shallow depth. They have never
been irrigated nor have they ever been
reseeded and are yet producing COCA
crops each year. Some of the very
finest seed comes from these fields and
this seed in nearly every case it VIII be
noticed tops the market in price,
The sugar beet industry, while not so
large in the county at present, as i'll
the counties east and in Colorado on
the west, do very well and the coming
season offers better conditions for a
much larger acreage than ever before.
Wheat oats, barley, rye. corn, cane
and kaf1r corn to a great extent are
grown in the irrigated districts And
as the water is not available for all the
land in the county the last named
grains are the varieties selected for the
uplandS because they are droutn re-
Sistant.
The following is a brief description
OF the irrigation enterprises which di-
vert water from the Arkansas river
and irrigate the large area IN the
county:
The Frontier ditch heads on the north
side of the river 1.5 miles west Of the
Kansas state line in Colorado 1t is
seven miles long, eight feet wide on the
bottom, and was constructed IN 1889,
and irrigates 1900 to 1000 acres 1t is
owned by five men, who own the land
which lies under it, Charges for water
are $3.50 per acre each year.
The South Side ditch divertS water
from the south side of the river about
Is miles west of the western boundary
of Kansas, and was built in 1884 1t is
four feet wide on the bottom and is
supposed to carry enough water to irri-
gate 1000 acres. The ditch is owned
and operated by two individuals.
The Western Kansas Flood Water
ditch is taken out on the south side Of
the river in section 80, township %,
range ~, in Hamilton county, and was
completed during he summer of 1908.
The ditch is eight feet wide and viii
cover $500 acres. 1t is owned by the
farmers who have land under it.
The Almo Irrigation, canal was con-
structed some years ago and will irri-
gate approximately 1000 acres. The wa
ter is diverted on the north side Of the
river about nine miles above Syracuse.
The Fort Aubrey Irrigation canal is