Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1922-04-30

completed, the entire distribution .sys-
tenn was paper located on these
! maps. Every turnout box, bridge cul-
vert, siphon tunnel and every structure
of every kind and description was To-
Gated and it's cost figured. Out of
the $4,000 acres examined. 2O7 .00D
acres were chosen as being suitable
for irrigation at a reasonable cost.
The cost of the entire project is esti-
mated at S1O.OO0,O0O. or at the rate
of $50 an acre.
The outstanding engineering features
that the examination disclosed outside
of the dams. were :34,24S linear feet
of pipe line, 10 feet in diameter, and
1862 linear feet of tunnel.
Fixing Water Duty
One of the p%erplexing questions that
needed solving was what WAS to be
the water duty on this project. In
other words, how much water would
be required to produce a profitable
crop? 1t is, of course, apparent to
anyone that no general statement can
be made as to water duty which will
cover the entire state or nation. The
composition of the soil. elevation above
sea level. crops TO be grown and eli
matte characteristics are the factors
which govern the amount of water
which can be used beneficially on an
irrigation project. 1t has been found
bv experiment on different projects IN
The Tinted States that different guam
tities of water will give different crop
Yields. but that the increase in yield
is not in direct proportion to the in
crease in quantity of water applied and
for some crops, at least. there is a
total depth of water which will give
a maximum yield and any quantity in
excess of this is not only wasted but
decreases the yield.
e With all crops, well before this
maximum yield water requirement is
obtained. the increase in yield is small
in proportion to the increased use of
In the proposed Toole county
irrigation district there is much more
land than water can be obtained fer. as
water is comparatively scarce. The
of conducting the water is com
paratively cheap. Under these condi-
lions, the project was designed not so
much 10 get the maximum production
per acre as to get a maximum produc-
ton per unit of water. in other words,
to efficiently irrigate the maximum
amount of land with the minimum
amount of water
Production Goal Set.
In order to arrive at the probable
r production. the results obtained
on five federal irrigation projects were
and it was determined that the
crops raised and the average amount
produced per acre would be as follows:
s tons: alfalfa seed, 10 BUSH
els: barley, 40 bushels; beans, 10 bush
els: flint corn, 40 bushels; corn fodder, /
8 tons: flax. 10 bushels: native hay. 2
tons; oats, so bushels; potatoes, 200
wheat, 80 bushels; sugar
Deets, IL tons. This is a larger yield
han the average for the different prof
.cts, but is a yield that has been OBJ
.ained on some project in ome year.
Water was provided sufficient to OBJ
ain these yields on the suppOsition
hat 43 per cent of the area would be
n what might be termed hay crops: As
Der cent in grains and II per cent in
cultivated crops-this being the ratio
IN the reclamation service projects. To
make possible this production, the cal
showed that it would have
a net water supply of O.S2
lcre feet an acre for the season of
.919. The Milk River project used
|.S acre feet that year. The losses
n operation and transportation must
added to this which brings the cal
gross water duty to 1.29 acre
an acre for a season like 1919. The
ross amount of water that is to be
is LOO acres feet an acre n.