Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1914-09-26
ARKANSAS IRRIGATION WELL

per minute is what the state of Kan
sas will have to irrigate its demon
stration farm in Wallace county. The
state board of irrigation last week
| brought in this kind of we'll. The
we'll is decided success in every
particular and opens up new era of
| irrigation in the northwestern part
of the state. 1t is one of the finest
wells in all of Western Kansas. The
land owned by the state at the Wal
lace county demonstration farm con-
sists of $50 acres. The land is treeless
and unimproved. 1t will be sown to
a variety of crops and irrigated from
this we'll. Already considerable al
falfa has been sown and irrigated
once. The well will easily handle
the 160 acres. 1t is estimated that
eight hundred gallons a minute will
! take care of $50 acres of land. The
state, however, will install machinery
that will throw much more water.
The capacity of this new we'll will be
better understood when it is stated
that it will be capable of putting an
inch of water on an acre of land
every thirty minutes. The state
board of irrigation will at once in
stall the permanent machinery and
build house and other buildings on
| the farm.
The depth of this well is PA feet.
1t is log feet to the water level. The
well is thirty inches in diameter and
cased with 24-inch casing. The
present pump in the well is a temp
orary fifteen stage centrifugal. 1t
was installed to pump out the sand
and clear. up the well. 1t is capable
of throwing about eight hundred gal
| Ions of water minute. This pump
was run at its full speed several
hours. The best it could do was to
lower the water thirty feet That
! left reserve of ninety feet in the
| well. The last thirty feet of water
is always estimated to yield at least
| four times as much as the first thirty.
Last December the state board of
irrigation advertised for bids for put
ting down this well and equipping
| the plant with a pump and engines
| The bid for the well alone, with no
machinery other than the casing was
| $4,000. By the time the state had
| paid freight bills and other necessary
bills the well would have cost s11, 900.
| The engine and pump, according to
! the bids submitted would have run
the cost of the plant up to $4,000.
| And this included no buildings,
storage tanks for oil, tools, etc. The
board Of irrigation at once rejected
| all bids and proceeded on another
course. A modern well drill Second
| nandD was bought for 81 200. A trac-
5ion engine Second hand) was secured
for l,10o A few hundred dollars
more was spent for equipment such |
as tank wagon, cook shack, cables. |
etc. The board then secured the |
services of an expert well man and |
started to put down its own wells. |
The experts who had bid on the job |
said it was beyond the power of the |
board to successfully put, down such |
wells. The board went ahead, |
steadily overcoming all obstacles ana /
was finally rewarded by the advent |
of the finest we'll in Kansas. 1t cost |
the state of Kansas about 81 800 for |
this well, as saving of about SO, 1000 |
over the cost as submitted by bidders. |
The state Kansas could easily have
afforded to pay the eleven thousand
| for the well, but the cause of irriga-
tion could not stand it. The well
drill, engine and other equipment is
today worth 100 cents on the dollar
| of what it cost the state. In addi-
ton the drill was used to sink the six
smaller wells in Hamilton County
and will be used at other places. 1t
will next be sent to Tribune, Leoti
and Dighton to sink additional wells
at the plants there. These latter
| plants are all windmill propositions.
The power in Wallace county will be
furnished by 1OO-power oil burning
engine.
The entire cost of equipping the
Wallace county plant will be in the
neighborhood of $1,000. 1t will trans
form ray prairie land used now only
for grazing, into productive fields of
alfalfa and other forage feed The
raw land is worth 80 an acre. With
the land under the big well and culti-
vated it will jump to something like
800 an acre. The proposition of lift
ing water 16O feet in Western Kansas
is an experiment. Engineers doubt
if it will be profitable. But engineers
have been mistaken before The gov