The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-09-02
Desert of Ten Years Ago Now Blossoms Like the
 Green Bay Tree
BRINGING IN WATER
 BY RIVER 240 MILES
Russians and Japanese Best Beet Growers-Thousand of Stacks of Alfalfa Now in Fields in
 Eastern Colorado
By O M. STANLEY

By O M. STANLEY
 Manzanola, Col, September 1.-(Spe- cia] )-Irrigation is wonderfully impressive to the man who has never witnessed the operations of that system of farming. It is developed to its highest efficiency sn this portion of the Arkansas river valley.
 Water has been so plentiful this year that everything is f1ouris1iing except from some damage done to various crops by the loupe fields by rust, the rust being caused, according to general belief, by too much water. .4-...i.
 One of the main irrigation ditches from the Arkansas river runs through the heart of this town. SO that 1t nearly always has plenty of water for it's crops, though Rocky Ford, a few miles further down the river, has what is known as a first water right" This means that Rocky Ford can take water out of the river as long as there is a drop available. In years when water is scarcer this is an invalu- able asset to Rocky Ford
 Bring Water 24 Miles
 Ordway, IS miles away from here, also gets its water from the Arkansas river. Ordway has the added advantage of own ing Twin Lakes, which are 240 miles away, up in the Rockies near the source of the Arkansas river. When water gets scarce ordway turns water from her lakes into the Arkansas river and 1t flows down 240 miles, where she is allowed to divert it from the river into her main ~xxs~ ever to take out more than 90 per cent of the amount she turns into the river
 From the main canal lateral ditches run Into various farming sections and from these laterals still smaller ditches carry the water to the crops. Water gates guage the amount each farmer can take out and the time of day he shall get his water and inspectors rigidly enforce rthe rules to see that no man gets more 4han his share.
 Water Distribution by Gravity
 Most of the irrigation water moves by gravitation but there are exceptions not ably in this town of Manzanola. A big water wheel which looks like the paddle wheel of big stern-wheeler steamboat, extends across the main irrigation canal The current of the water turns the wheel and large cups on the end of each paddle elevate the water about L feet and pour 1t into a smaller lateral ditch at the high CT elevation.
 The Arkansas is a fckle river and it seems a pity that the tremendous volume of water which comes down from the mountains during the spring freshets can not be conserved for use during the sum- mer, when the river sometimes gets so low that 1t is little more than knee deep and scarcely 10 feet wide.
 Since I was here F years ago the river 1,o lat. probably a quarter of a mile further from this town than it was at that time. a.rhe bridge over the river a few years s.sx6 now stands high and dry and of no use. while new one has been construct cd across the present channel
 Random Rates
 Hundreds of Russians, Japanese and Mexicans are employed on the farms in this valley.
 Russians and Japanese are said to be best at raising sugar beets. Much of the work has to be done on hands and knees in the field and native Americans will not do 1t.
 Negroes have been repeatedly tried at this kind of work but will not stick. There are few of them in the valley
 Birmingham figures in popular joke in this section on the Ford automobile. It is credited to negro coming from Birmingham to Pueblo and has been re- peated to me nearly dozen times al- ready
 Bees do we'll here and good prices for honey are expected this year because su- gar is advancing so rapidly.
 Only about 400 hives can be placed in a single bee yard because this number of bees gathers all the available honey with tn their range.
 Electric power by high tension trans mission from Pueblo covers this whole valley section.
 Alfalfa mills which mangle the hay and grind it into fibrous meal for stock feed do big business.
 Thousands of tons, however. are baled each season and shipped in this form.
 Children Cry
 FOR FLETCHER'S
 GAS TO RIA