The Coolidge examiner., 1940-08-22
Rotary Club Holds
Interesting Meeting

The Coolidge Rotary CluD met at
a regular session with Matt Dodge,
president, presiding.
Leon NOVEL; gave a short history
of his life, stating that he was
born in 1886 in a small town call
ed Havelock, Manatoba, Canada,
and immigrated to the United
States in 1901. After a short
period of time he went back and
spent six months there then came
back to the United States and has
been here ever since. AS a COM
parison he stated snow used to
fall as deep as IA feet in Manitoba
and now they seldom have more
than Is inches. In those days he
stated the houses were built upon
piers so the doors could be open
ed during such heavy SHOWS. Man.
atoba is northeast of the extreme
portion of Minnesota; therefore.
he stated he came from the ex-
treme East instead of just East.
DR.. G. E. P. Smith of the De-
partment of Irrigation Engineering
from the University of Arizona was
the chief speaker of the day. He
presented charts that dated back
to 1876 that showed the variance
of rainfall down through the years.
The period of 1890 to 1904 showed
an extreme efficiency of rain.
From 1904 until 1921 there was an
increase and during 1921 reached
its peak, and since 1882 has been
very low. In times of drouth like
the present, efforts must be direct
ed toward getting the greatest
possible crop production from the
limited water supply. DR.. Smith
pointed out that Arizona irrigators
compare favorably with those OF
some other states. but he believes
more than 25 percent of the water
applied is accounted for by un-
even distribution or as over irriga-
tion. The other great loss of
water is caused by the early ap-
plication of water to fields which
later have to be abandoned, or to
fields which barely return ex-
penses but no profit. To help eli
inmate this loss of water, the ex-
pertinent station has established a
forecasting service and is CO.
operating with the San Carlos Ir-
rigation District and the u. S. In
dian Service. The forecasts of
water supply are made at the end
of March, since the planting season
begins in early April, and are an
nounced through the press and
by radio. The forecast this year
was that So percent of the land in
the San Carlos project should be
planted. DR.. Smith stated when he
showed the climatic history of
Arizona that the present drouth is
now in it's eighth year and, al
though his graphs showed that the
drouth of 40 years ago was con-
siderably more severe, he said that
it resulted in much sound think
ing and planning and added that
is what is needed now.
DR.. Smith after discussing the
drouth and forecasting stated that
he. in cooperation with Mr.. Geo.
Kinne of Coolidge, sent some
Tamarix logs to the Grand Rapids
Mills in Michigan and they sue
ceeded in making verys hlgh
quality of veneer wood. He cited a
letter from the RCA Corporation
who wanted to know how much or
this wood was available and the
ACCESSIBILITY or lnVeStlSdllhS' lh0
only objection is that it requires
straight logs and a very large sup
plv to be available each year be-
fore it would be profitable to ad-
vertise and attempt to develop
the Tamarix industry.
Visiting Rotarians from Florence
were Alfred Westerman, Dick
! Fulton and r. L. Swearinger. Oth-
er visitors were Harry True or
Florence and Bob Cochran of Coo
| lidge. Also Don w. Egemayer,
| Custodian of the Saguaro National
| Monument of Tucson.