Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1915-03-10
Farming II Southern Cali orriG

Times Republican,:
I have seen the celebrated Imperial
Valley in southern California and the
Yuma Irrigation project containing the
Laguna dam across the Colorado river
built by Uncle Sam and to be turned
over to landowners on the twenty
payment plan. only wish that every
Iowa farmer could see them before he
decides to sell out and move away.
No man can gaze upon the Aladdin
like rise Of Los Angeles to q city az
large as ST. Louis without asking OF
every Californian, where 10 your
country? What have you back OF you
to support a city like thisM" And the
answer invariably IL you haven't seen
the Imperial Valley yet. That u the
greatest irrigated country in the
world" And the more I asked about
it. the more wanted to see 1t. II some
body had told me that 1t was larger IN
area than the state Of Iowa, ] would
not have been surprised for there Is as
much noise made about 1t in California
as there would be about the whole
state OF Minnesota In Minneapolis. San
Diego claimms it as her back country.
too, altho she has no railroad to It az
yet. but Spreckels. the man who made
San Diego, Is building one. Imagine
then my surprise to find that the FAM
Gus Imperial Valley was not much
larger than Marshall county when
measured in acres Of land. We crossed
it in an automobile in about an hour.
And then the Yuma project con-
tanned another surprise for 1 pictured
an empire in my mind when I read
that the United States government had
invested 100000 in dams and bitches
and would invest more. ! found 1t d.
vided into four parts. one given over
to the Indians and almost worthless as
food supply for Los Angeles as vet,
the second now under water, for white
farmers. and the other two not yet de-
veloped The whole project In four
units will hardly approximate one-half
of an average county In Iowa In ex-
tent.
Twelve Months Growing Season.
However, limited as these irrigated
lands are in area, they unquestionably
have productive value beyond an Iowa
farmers capacity to comprehend. In
the first place. the soil Is an almost
bottomless silt, deposited as was the
land Of the Nile valley, by ages OF
river overflow and the water from the
Colorado river is so muddy with new
silt that 1t Is thick and has to be
strained before it will run thru the ir-
rigating bitches without clogging them
with mud The sun Of Arizona and
of southern California down here with
in twenty miles Of the Mexican line.
makes every month in the year a
growing season.
Today early In March. the man IN
the shirt waist is abroad on the streets
OF Yuma. The Indian and small boy
are barefoot and the average farm
house Is a tent house with cots on the
porch. Seven crops OF alfalfa cutting
ten tons to the acre and two and half
tons OF cotton to the acre have been
harvested firm improved farms. Cattle
in the Imperial and Yuma valleys stand
knee deep In the alfalfa and are 30
thick in the pastures that ono would
think there was a roundup in pro-
press. Hogs are turned out to grass
and the Holstein COW has just begun
to appear.
I am q tenderfoot on irrigated soil
but any man with eyes can zee aakAli
or salt standing on top of the ground
and / have been told that II b settinS
worse in the Imperial Valley because
the elevation Of that land II below sea
level and 1t has poor under drainage.
Be that AZ 1t may the Yuma valley Ii
above sea level and has natural water
underneath almost everywhere ct .
depth OF twenty feet. In Yuma 1t is
admitted that there Is grave danger OF
the Imperial country going back and
I did not stop long enough In Imperial
to find out what were the principal
dangers in the Yuma country but
Yuma has this advantage that the
government is back OF It while the I'm
perial project is private enterprise.
There Are Thorns Also.
There are problems in this country
to be met. It costs as much to clear
the wild land of brush and dwarf trees
and to grade 1t into level basins for
irrigating as 1t does to buy 1t and
when II is ready for water and seed it
represents an investment OF $3.50 per
acre and upwards and then the owner
has only his equity for the cost OF the
governments work Is first mort
gage upon the land to be pro rated and
assessed to all the farms. Nobody
knows what the assessment will be
but II must run from $50 to SIS pe.
acre.
And then there Is the heat II men
are in shirt waists in January. how
much can they wear in July! The
temperature rises to 10 in summer and
the alfalfa grows 30 fast It must be
cut every six weeks. Farmers work