Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1919-12-20


the armistice was signed. time m'
hsavy on our hands, for we were wait.
ing our turn to go home, and most OF
us wanted to try some other line Oh
money making. Someone suggested
taking up claims and applying the TIME
spent In the army as homesteadins'
Cook Kenton had spent several sum
mors on, the Shoshone irrigation pro-
Ject at Powell, Wyo., and was very
enthusiastic about Its possibilities
From his highly colored descriptions
we were led to believe that man
could go out there with few hundred
dollars and In three or four years own
n good farm. Another chap told the
same story about Idaho. ana sun an
other had a father who wanted MN
to go to the Imperial Valley In Sa'i-
fornia.
About two weeks after l recei'eu
INV discharge from the army, ! start
Cd west. After investigating FOR three
weeks around Los Angeles, 1t seeHeu
that with the original high price tU
the land and the heavy annual expense
of water, water assessments ana taAee'
some other location would offer petter
opportunities. Hog ranches pay there
nrettv well. but land costs from S4oo
TO $500 per acre, with an annual water
and tax expense OF from ~ 10 az per
acre. Three to four sows, with their
offspring, can be pastured on Alfalfa
for ten months, and the other Two
months on the growing barley. Each
sow raises two Htters year, ana they
have large filters when given sooo
care. The barley fs harvested early
and the ground planted to karir corn.
The barley runs from forty to Sixty
buahels ner acre and the kafir corn
not so good. The fattened hogs sen
for about 81 per hundred below tine
Chicago market.
From Los Angeles I went to the I'M
per!al Valley. There most OF the farms
are larger than in Iowa. In the nortn-
srn part Of the valley more gram IL
grown than other crops, but IN the
central and southern part cotton ana
alfalfa are also grown. Wheat runs
from as low as sixteen bushels Per
acre to as high as sixty five. and par
lev from thirty to eighty ousheis.
Grain Is harvested with combined
harvester. and then the ground 10
thoroughly disked and planted to kaiir
corn. All grain that goes to outside
markets brings a little less than our
Iowa grain. for the wheat Is SOFT ana
the demand for barley Is not great
enough to bring the price quite up 10
ours.
Land sells for from 500 to 5000 per
acre and is the only place on my Trip
where land didn't have an fnfiateo
value. The annual expense per acre
for taxes. water and water assess
ments runs from 81 to SO. The ditch
es are large, and one man can irri-
gate forty acres a day easily. Grain
REQUIRES an irrigation every seven to
ten DAYS, and alfalfa every twelve
to fourteen days. There II % mucn
sediment In the water that the ditches
have to be cleaned three times q year.
Much of the drinking water 10 taken
from the bitches. They have to filter
and cool the water TO drink II. There
are some artesian wells about 1000
feet deep. but the water from these u
uncoufortably warm and alkaline.
One hos to be careful in the valley
not to get n farm, with alkah on II.
In most places drainage bitches are
put in the lowest parts Of the farm.
to prevent water standing on the land
and thus causing alkali to come to the
surface. Another thing one must look
out for ia not to be too close to the
main bitches. FOR they sometimes
break. causing great damage to crops.
Then II you are at the end OF the
bitches, your water supply Is so small
that you can not supply more than
twenty five or thirty acres a day with
water.
From the Imperial Valley went to
Tulare county, about half way between
Los Angeles and San Francisco. and
looked at land from Ptyley to Fresno.
In the lower part of the county, grain
and alfalfa are raised, some grain be-
ing raised by dry farming. but that
never produces 80 well. Where irriga-
ton is used, they have their own
pumping plants, which run continu-
ously for seven months. During the
other five months they have an aver
age OF about eight inches Of rainfall.
enough to start the different crops on
their way.
Land values range from $3.50 to $500