The Idaho Republican., 1912-02-02
ECONOMICAL DISTRIBUTION OF
IRRIGATION WATER

BY L. M. Winsor, Utah Agricultural
college.
According to many historians, ir-
rigation is one of the oldest applied
arts; one writer even claims that it
is made distinctive feature of the
middle status of barbarism. Anc-
lent Egypt became the granary of
the world as result of natural ir-
rigation through the overflowing of
the Nile; through irrigation Chal-
dea, Assyria, and Babylonia, located
as they were in practically rainless
country along the valley of the Tt
girls and Euphrates, rose to enviable
prominence and dominion.
The Chinese, the Romans and the
Moors, all made use of irrigation.
In this country we find evidence
of it as practiced by the ancient in
habitants of this continent and later
in the gardens of the old Mission
Fathers of southern California. Num-
erous other examples to prove the
Importance of irrigation as factor
in nation-building might be cited;
but to the Anglo-Saxon race the art
had it's birth but little more than
half century ago. This seems
doubly strange when we look into
history and find that at this time
over 138,000,000 acres of land had
been reclaimed by irrigation in diff
ferent parts of the world. Perhaps
this can be explained on the theory
that the Germanic peoples have al
ways written history much faster
than they have read it.
However this may be, the first at
tempt by the Anglo-Saxons to reclaim
the arid wastes of. land was made in
the summer of 1847, in the Salt Lake
valley by a little band of Mormon
pioneers. To them We owe the birth
of the modern art of irrigation, and
the working out of the cooperative
system as we lave it in practice to-
day.
The irrigation contagion soon
spread and became not only the gov
erning factor in the establishing of
Mormon towns but in the colonizing
of the entire arid west.
Irrigation as an art falls into two
divisions:
First. Irrigation as primary art,
and
Second. Irrigation as secondary
art.
By the first We mean the using of
irrigation to take the place of culti-
vation, fertilization, and SO on; and
by the second we mean the using of
irriOo finn VIZ ranra1yy 70
ment the natural precipitation. The
latter is the correct use of irriga-
tion. If farmer uses dry farm
methods along with his practice of
irrigation he cannot go far wrong.
One of the grave mistakes made by
our early irrigators was the indis-
criminative use of water, with the re-
suit that thousands of acres of once
productive land have been rendered
into veritable swamps, and alkali
beds. The lamentable feature of this
question Is the fact that with our
sixty odd years of experience some
of our farmers are still following
these erroneous methods, and are
running not only their own farms
but those of their unfortunate neigh
bors, by too liberal and careless
application of water. This is espec-
tally true in some of the newer Sec
tions where more or less heavy
application is needed for the first few
years. The trouble is that they do
not set the brakes" until it is too
late. Once a new soil has been
moistened below the range of the
plant roots it needs a great deal less
water than it required to begin with,
the actl al amount for the maturing
of any certain crop will vary only
with the seas ms, cultivation, and so
on being the same. This being the
case it is possible to make an
Economical Distribution of Water
at ones disposal and use it in way
which will not be detrimental to the
soil and in a way to result in the
greatest returns to those concerned.
This question is one of prime impor-
tance to the farmers in this arid re-
gion and too much stress cannot be
laid upon it.
Situated as we are in section
where the rain and snowfall is very
low, we are dependent almost abso-
lutely upon irrigation water to in
crease our agricultural possibilities.
The farming lands are almost unlim-
tied within the borders of our states
but there is a decided limit to the
water supply. The question then, is
not how much land have we? but
how much water have we at our dis
posal.
The state of Utah represents an
area of over $4,000 square miles, of
which only 1900 square miles are
cultivated and less than 1000 square
miles or slightly under LIS per cent
OF the total are actually irrigated.
(Idaho is in a similar condition.
What we need then most of all is a
distribution of the water in such a
way that the greatest possible re-
turns can be obtained. The prob
lem is not difficult of solution If vel
will only apply ourselves to a study
Of conditions as we find them and
to the information available. In the |
short time at my disposal / hope to
open up line Of thought which will
help some OF you In your work; for,
after all, each Of your individual
,,~<h1nv.c yros,ct ho cn1ved hy yOur-