The La Jara chronicle. (La Jara, Conejos County, Colo.) 1896-19??, 1911-04-21
DRAINAGE, THE GREAT, OVtRSHADOwNG NECESSITY
Practical Solution of the Agricultural Problems Now
Confronting the Valley-A Great Empire Nay be
Speedily Reclaimed.

storage alone more than one
half million acres. Thus, with
drainage and the completion of
the reservoirs, we should have
within the next five years
more than one million acres
of thoroughly irrigated and in
tensely farmed land within the
San Luis Valley. Farm land
against which not one word of
criticism can truthfully be ut
tered; land that will pay 20 per
cent. net on a valuation OF 800
per acre, or a total net profit of
twenty million dollars annually
to the farmers of this valley.
To us it seems the greatest re-
turns for the investment required
is to be secured by the drainage
of the land in the flatter or more
level portions of the valley. OF
course the drainage of this seep-
age land will require additional
water supply, but the reservoirs
now completed and which will be
completed by the time the drain
age bitches are in, will more than
furnish the consequent demands.
We believe further, that the reser-
voirs will find their most profit
able use in supplying this extra
water needed in the drained dis
tricts. A little history here may
be of value: In several local
tiles of this valley there was once
raised as fine crops of grain as
are now grown anywhere in the
valley, but as settlement brought
in additional acreage on higher
lands nearer the foot hills, the
seepage water from irrigation of
these higher lands, together
with the added flow of artesian
wells, reduced the earlier farm
ing lands to an alkaline and water
logged condition which absolute
ly untitled them for the growing
of crops. Each additional acre
age of mesa land irrigated higher
up and nearer the foot hills has
resulted in rendering a proper
tional acreage o. lower lands UNI
fit for cultivation. Drainage of
these lower lands will overcome
this condition and the lowest
lands of the valley may be irri-
gated with drainage water de
velope | on the higher wet lands.
The meauow land along the low
er Rio Grande and other streams
Of the valley, may thus be
thoroughly taken care of with the
seepage water, while the direct
flow water they are now u.s.
ing could be diverted to higher
lands, thus substantially increas-
ing the irrigated area by sup
plying the extra water needed
on drained lands.
Already more than ten thous-
and acres Of the worst alkaline
and seepage lands of the valley
have been drained. The pioneer
in this enterprise was the Parma
Land Co., which drained 5000
acres near Parma. The first
year after drainage, these lands
produced an average crop, the
second year more than an aver
age, and last year a first class
crop, demonstrating that within
three years after drainage the
surplus o. mineral can be suf-
ficiently removed to put the
lands in a better producing ca
pacity than the undrained or nat
urally drain l tracts. On this
land they are now successfully
growing alfalfa, which can only
be grown where the water table
is several feet below the surface.
AT present, only a few districts,
where the bench lands and lands
along the streams where natural
drainage has existed, have been
suitable for alfalfa as the plant
dies out after a year or two if
the tap roots are in water con
tinually. Drainage with bitches
six or more feet deep will make
the growing of alfalfa possible
over the entire irrigated area OF