Shoshone journal. [volume] (Shoshone, Idaho) 1884-1931, 1911-01-06
LECTURES FROM
INDUSTRIAL TRAIN
THE ECONOMICAL DISTRICT
rION or IRRIGATION WATER
BY l.. NJ. wnsor. Utah Agricultural
College

By L. NJ Wiusor, Utah Agricultural
College
Oregon Short Line Railroad, De-
cember 1911. Demonstration Train
According to many historians, r.
rigati0n Is one Of the oldest applied
arts: one writer even claims that
il Is mace a distinctive feature of
the middle status Of barbarism. An
cient Egypt became the granary of
fhe world as a result Of natural ir-
rigation through the overfiowing OF
the Nile: through irrigation ChaI-
dea, Assyria and Babylonia. locat-
I'd as they were in practically
rainless country along the valley
Of the Tigris and Euphrates rose
q enviable prominence and domln-
le Chinese. the Romans and
Noors. alb made use Of irriga-
his country we find evidence
IS practiced by the ancient
ants of this continent and
IN the gardens OF the old Mis-
Fatners of southern California.
Numerous other examples to prove
the Importance of irrigation as a
factor in nation building might be
cited: but to the Anglo Saxon race
the art had its birth but little more
than half century ago. This
seems doubly strange when We
look into history and find that at
this time over l3S,0OO000 acres Of
land had been reclaimed by irriga-
tion in different parts OF the world
Perhaps this can be explained on
the theory hat the Germapic pee
pies nave always written history
much faster than they have read IT.
HowevJ his may be, the first
aitaftJf hS the AngIo-saxons to
Naim thel ARID wastes Of land was
nlasIe il tlif sulNsner q fsi7 10
the Sail Lake vslley by little
band Of Mormon pioneers. To
them we owe the bisth of Che mod I
efn art OF irrigation. land TIE work /
ing out Of the eo-uperat'Ve system +
as we have il in practice today
The irrigation c9ntaeion soon
spread and became not only The
governing factor in the establish
ing of Mormon towns but in the
colonizing Of the entire arid West.
Irrigation as an art Tails into tvo
divisions: 1st irrigation as a pri-
mary art. and 2nd Irrigation as
secondary ART.
By the first We mean the using
OF irrigation to take the place of
cultivation. fertilization. and 50 on.
and by the second we mean the u.s.
ing OF irrigation water merely to
supplement the natural precipita-
ton. lne latter IS the correct use
of irrigation. If a farmer uses dry
farm methods along with his prac
lice of irrigation he cannot go far
wrong
tine of the grave mistakes made
by our early irrigators was the
indiscriminale use Of water, with |
the result that thousands OF acres
of once productive land have been ;
rendered into yeritable SwampS and
alkali beds. me lamentable fea-
iure of THIS question is the fact '
that with our sixty odd years of {
experience many OF cur farmers :
are still following these erroneous
methods. and are running not only
their own farms but those of their ,
unfortunate neighbors, by a too lib /
eral and careless application of wa '
ter. Tltis is especially true in some {
of The newer sections where mora ;
or less heavy application is needed
for the first few years. The trou- :
bic is that they do not set the
brakes" until il is too late. once /
new soil has been moistened be- Z
low the e-of the plant roots II
nessis "A great deal less water than )
il required to begin with. the ac- :
fua amount for The maturing ii Ia
any certain crop will vary only
With Tile seasons, cultivation, and L
SO ON being the same. This being c
tne case ii is possible TO make an p
ECONOMICAL DESTRUCTION OF =
IslE WAFER Fl
Hklisposal and use il IN a
Mill not be detrimental e
Apd in way to result 4
~ returns to those b