Irrigation
2 of the 7 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Irrigation. Both are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
watering land by means of artificial streams and overflowing. Natural freshets, overflows, and spring floods are not included under the term. The surplus waters of the Nile have been caught in reservoirs and used for irrigation from time immemorial. Rollin's Ancient History gives an account of the rude contrivances used for elevating water into the ditches. The famed fertility of ancient Mesopotamia was due in part to the skilful use of the waters of the Tigris and Euphrates for watering the plains. Smaller areas are yet made fertile by this method. India has 22,500,000 acres of irrigated land. China has maintained extensive irrigation systems since the dawn of history, especially in the rice districts. Portions of Spain, southern France, and the great plains of northern Italy, particularly the valley of the Po, are indebted to systematic irrigation. For an account of tidewater irrigation, or the flooding of land, as practiced in the Atlantic rice-growing states, the reader is referred to the article on RICE. Irrigation is not a new art in America. When the Spaniards first visited Arizona and surrounding regions they found the remains of extensive irrigation systems in the valleys adjacent to the ruins of the cliff dwellers' ancient cities. Small portions of the old fields were still watered and tilled by their descendants, as is the case at the present day. The early Spanish settlements or missions of the southwest, including those of Mexico and southern California, were famous for gardens and orchards watered by means of irrigation, a knowledge of which the thrifty fathers brought, no doubt, from Spain. The first systematic attempts by Americans at watering arid lands on a large scale were made by the Mormons. They entered Salt Lake Valley in 1847 and created a veritable paradise out of a desert. It is said that 175,000 inhabitants are maintained on 350,000 acres, a person to each two acres. In California the gardens of Spanish missions and the effects of water escaping from miners' sluices early turned attention to the possibilities of artificial watering. The La Grange system, for instance, cost $5,000,000 and waters 250,000 acres. Forty-six per cent of the present enormous fruit crop of California is produced on irrigated lands. Horace Greeley, the great Tribune editor, whose advice was "Go west, young man, go west," had unlimited faith in irrigation. He was one of the promoters of the irrigation colony planted at Greeley, Colorado, in 1870. At this time it is estimated not over 20,000 acres were irrigated in the whole United States . From this date onward, however, irrigation canals were extended rapidly. In 1909, 2,500,000 acres of Colorado land were irrigated. The following statistics, for 1900, are exclusive of rice plantations: Average cost per acre of constructing ditches $7.80 Annual cost of maintenance $.38 Average value of crop per acre $14.81 Average value of land per acre $42.53 Number irrigated farms 108,218 Number of acres irrigated 7.539,545 Cost of canals, ditches, etc $67,770,942 Value of irrigated crops $86,260,491 California led in the number of irrigated farms; Colorado in the number of acres. Montana, Utah, Wyoming, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, New Mexico , Arizona, and Washington followed, in the order named. In 1909 10,000,000 acres or about 2 per cent of our arid land was irrigated. When all the water shall have been used to advantage it is thought that about one-tenth of the arid region will be provided for. Of the different methods of obtaining water, the gravity method of drawing a supply in ditches from the head waters of streams and mountain lakes is the cheapest. When water cannot be had in this way, it may be lifted by pumps or secured by boring artesian wells . Speaking for 1909, about 200,000 acres of California fruit lands and 400,000 acres of rice land in Texas and Louisiana are irrigated by pumps. Probably 750,000 acres of American soil are watered in this way, but over nine-tenths of our irrigated area obtains water by the first method. In India 13,000,000 acres are irrigated by water pumped from wells. In whatever way water is obtained it is necessarily conducted to the fields in a ditch or flume with some fall. Two or three ways of applying the water are employed. In the Mission and Mexican gardens and in level fields the ground is usually laid of into level plats, or possibly terraces, surrounded by dirt ridges, with the idea of confining the water in pools. When fields have a gentle, uniform slope, it is customary to liberate the water from a ditch all along the upper edge and allow it to spread in a thin sheet over the entire surface of the field and flow into a catching furrow or ditch at the lower side. Another method yet is to plant crops in rows according to the slope of the ground, and liberate water slowly at the upper end of rows, so that it will follow the furrows between the rows to the lower end of the field. Among the interesting devices of irrigation is a canvas dam used to stop the water in a supply ditch and cause it to overflow. It is simply a canvas flag. The pole is laid crosswise of the ditch and the flag is fitted to the bottom and sides of the ditch with a few handfuls of mud. The weight of accumulating water presses the edges against the ditch, forming a perfect temporary dam. Distributing gives lads a fine opportunity to play in the water. Irrigated crops are surer than crops dependent on rainfall, and averages show that irrigated crops run heavier than rain crops, but an artificial supply of water requires intelligent management. Usually the supply to each farm is determined by water rights. After a farm has drawn its rightful supply the rest belongs to others further along the line, and not another gallon may be drawn from the supply ditch. These remarks apply to a colony ditch constructed under a definite agreement as to how large the stream to which each farm is entitled and what length of time. A water-master or ditch rider is appointed for the season to open and close water gates according to each man's rights. In localities irrigated by no fixed colony plan the first settler to tap a stream or lake is entitled to a ditchful of water at pleasure. He may sell shares in his right, that is to say, in the water of his ditch, but none may draw from the stream higher up or from the same lake to the lessening of his water supply, much less tap his ditch above his farm. After water runs on past a farmer he has no further claim on it. In an arid region any surplus water that passes is eagerly caught by the next man, especially in regions where the streams, usually from the mountain snows, are not sufficient to irrigate more than a fraction of the rich land lying barren below for want of moisture. A farmer needs to know how and when to make the most of his water privileges. Too much water or too long watering is more disastrous than drouth. The supply of water is naturally limited. In regions of irrigation there is usually more land than water. Land with water rights may be, and frequently is, valued at from $50 to $200 or even $500 an acre, while land of similar quality by the side of it, but without water privileges, is scarcely worth paying taxes on. The acreage of irrigated lands is increasing rapidly. Several large streams, as the Yellowstone, are but partly utilized; yet it is evident that only a fraction of the rich, but arid lands of the West can be reclaimed by surface water. Water for irrigating vegetable gardens is obtained from artesian wells in Algiers, Texas, and South Dakota , but whether artesian water can be had in large quantities is a question for the future. In 1894 Congress passed the Carey Act. It was considered a freak at the time, but it has proved a wise measure. Under this act the general government offered 1,000,000 acres of semi-arid land to each state that would undertake to irrigate the same and sell to actual homeseekers. Five states, Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington, accepted the grant. The general plan contemplates the organization of irrigation companies working with private capital under state supervision. The state grants the company a water right for an irrigation project, and sets aside the lands desired for the purpose. The fact that the company is in a sort of partnership with the state enables it to sell irrigation bonds to advantage. The state conveys title to the settler, who pays the irrigation company a fixed price, usually in ten or fifteen installments, for water privileges. The act provides that when ninety per cent of the land has passed into the hands of private owners, the irrigation company steps out, turning the project over to the settlers. The scheme has worked well. A large amount of land has been irrigated. Idaho has asked for and has received an addition 4,000,000 acres. The irrigation companies have made money, settlers have secured valuable homes, and the agricultural interests of the various states have been strengthened materially. Some fault has been found because speculators have gotten in ahead and have derived enormous profits; but that is likely to happen in the development of any new country. The speculator has a particular advantage in instances of this sort, because his lands are necessarily taken in with public lands when an irrigation project is organized. Of the projects opened under the Carey Act, that of Twin Falls, Idaho, is noted. There are a number of projects in Washington and in the Big Horn Basin in Wyoming. Fifty thousand acres in the valley of the Little Snake in Fremont County, Idaho, have been irrigated. There is a project in southwestern Wyoming on the Green River which embraces 40,000 acres of public land, together with a large block of private lands. In 1902 Congress passed the so-called Reclamation Act, providing that all funds in excess of five per cent received from the sale of public lands in Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota , Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming, should be set apart for the irrigation of arid lands in those states and territories. In 1909, the sum of $70,000,000 was in sight for the work. Contracts have been made for the expenditure of about $20,000,000 on irrigation projects in Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Nebraska, Nevada, and New Mexico. It has been estimated that, in the sixteen states and territories mentioned in the Reclamation Act, there are from 50,000,000 to 60,000,000 acres of reclaimable lands--enough, perhaps, to support a population of 15,000,000 or 20,000,000 people. In each case the cost of the irrigation works is charged pro rata against the acreage which is improved, and the settlers pay the expenditure back to the government in ten installments. Among systems under way are the Truckee-Carson ditch in Nevada to cost ultimately $9,000,000. It is 200 miles long and will water 385,000 acres, worth at the outset $100,000,000. Progress has been made on a project to water 250,000 acres on the Snake River in southern Idaho. Bids have been opened for a great tunnel twelve feet square and five and one-half miles long to bring water to 80,000 acres in the Gunnison district in Colorado. A plan is under way for irrigating 150,000 acres or more on the North Platte River in eastern Wyoming and western Nebraska. The North Platte dam is to be 210 feet high. The Belle Fourche project in South Dakota will bring 80,000 acres under cultivation. The Palouse irrigation scheme covers 100,000 acres in Washington, capable, it is believed, of maintaining a population of 60,000 people. The Salt River project in Arizona creates a lake eighteen miles long, four miles wide, and 275 feet deep. The dam of masonry which closes the canyon is 165 feet thick at the base. The top is wide enough to serve as a bridge and wagon road. One million dollars was spent in getting ready for the actual construction. When the water is ready for use 200,000 acres of desolation will be converted into orchards and fields of alfalfa. Other projects under construction are the Yuma, in California and Nevada, 85,000 acres; the Minidoka, Idaho, 60,000 acres; Huntley and the Milk River, Montana, 235,000 acres; the Fort Buford, Montana and North Dakota, 60,000 acres; the Hondo, New Mexico, 10,000 acres; the Bismarck, North Dakota, 15,000 acres; the Malheur, Oregon, 100,000 acres; the Klamath Falls, Oregon and California, 236,000 acres; and the Shoshone, Wyoming, 125,000 acres. In 1909 there were in all twenty-eight projects under way aggregating in area 1,910,000 acres. The United States may have seemed negligent of great possibilities, but the nation is young and is certainly making up rapidly for time lost in the past. Irrigation presents many problems of its own. Much more water is needed than is popularly supposed. In addition to rainfall, the rice fields of Texas and Louisiana require to be flooded with a total of about two feet of water, not all at once, of course, but this amount of water must be supplied from time to time during the growing season. In the West the season for irrigation opens April 1st and closes September 15th. According to the reports of the United States Department of Agriculture, the principal crops require the following average supply of water: Feet Corn 1.40 Barley 1.49 Oats 1.73 Sugar beets 2.15 Wheat 2.68 Orchard 2.76 Alfalfa 3.39 Potatoes 3.94 In warm, rainless weather it is useless to sprinkle. The soil must be given a thorough soaking as often as necessary. Sometimes a dam bursts or a canal gives way. The water escapes. Crops parch and die before the breaks can be mended. The loss of water by leakage and seepage is great. Most canals are mere broad ditches dug through the land. Heavy clay soils are best for the purpose. Light ashy and sandy soils allow much of the water to soak away through their sides. Alkali soils have little containing power. Water carrying silt does most of its own work in packing the walls till they are comparatively watertight. In many cases it is necessary to plaster or cement the walls of the canals; but even then the loss of water through seepage in the smaller ditches is considerable. The loss by evaporation must be taken into account. At Phoenix, Arizona, the loss from this cause at the surface of a reservoir or canal is considered six feet five inches yearly; at Reno, Nevada, forty-two inches. The average loss from surface evaporation, that is to say, where standing or running water is exposed to the sun, is placed at from four to six and a half feet--this for the arid region of the Southwest. The loss in the Northwest may be half of this amount. All conditions considered, it may be said for the United States that from forty to sixty per cent of the water that starts finally reaches the field of the farmer. Three methods of measuring water are in use. The miner's inch has been inherited from pioneer days. It is the amount of water that will flow through a hole an inch square, situated four inches below the surface. A farmer desiring to use this method of testing the amount of water he is getting dams up his ditch with a board made for the purpose. It is provided with a horizontal slot closed by a slide. When the water is dammed back until it stands four inches above the orifice the slide is pushed aside and is adjusted until the amount of water pouring through permits the water held back by the board to stand steadily at the four-inch level. The size of the orifice is then noted. If an inch slot is open ten inches, the ditch is supplying ten miner's inches of water. The second unit of measurement is the cubic foot per second. This method requires a water meter, an instrument that indicates the actual speed of the current. It is in favor with engineers. The third unit is the acre foot, that is to say, water enough to cover an acre of land one foot deep. Contracts may be made in either of the three ways. See Egypt ; Ganges ; Po ; Apple 2026 Editor's Note: Federal irrigation was new — the Reclamation Act (1902) was building the dams that made the modern West, Roosevelt Dam opening in 1911. The water politics this entry starts never ended. See Reclamation . (Ed: BR 2026-06-15)
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
the process of watering or moistening land by ditches or other artificial means. It is probably the earliest application of science to agriculture. During the last half of the 19th century the lands watered from the ancient irrigation works of India were more than trebled by the completion of the Ganges canal system, the largest and costliest in the world, and by the more systematic and effective operation of works previously built. The land reclaimed and the value of the products of irrigation in the historic Nile vall have been largely augmented with the completion of the great dam at Assuan, at a cost of $24,000,000. Since the construction of the first ditches in Utah by the Mormon pioneers, irrigation has marvelously extended the domain of enterprise and civilization in all parts of the world. It has wholly changed the appearance and prospects of the W. third of the United States. It promises to make the Northwest Provinces of Canada one of the grain fields of the British empire. The irrigated farms of the Australian provinces of Victoria and New South Wales Wales alre already rival, and will in time surpass, in value the livestock industries which were first established on the arid plains of that continent. Within the past quarter of a century irrigation has made the Hawaiian Islands one of the chief sources of supply for the sugar consumed in the United States. It has increased the population and agricultural wealth of New Zealand and been greatly extended in Mexico and Central America. Methods. The water used on the greater part of the irrigated area is distributed by gravity. The supply is tapped at a point higher than the land to be watered; thence it is carried in canals or ditches, which follow the contour of the country, to the place of use. Many of these canals are important engineering achievements. The Cavour Canal, in Italy, cost over $17,000,000, and has doubled the population of the valley of the Po in the past 40 years. The Ganges Canal is the greatest system in India. The upper Ganges has 890 miles of main channel, 3,700 miles of laterals, 282 miles of outlet channels, 31 locks, 202 bridges, and 17 dams. It was completed in 1884, irrigates 1,205,000 acres, and cost $14,644,000. The lower Ganges system embraces 531 miles of main canal and 1,854 of lateral canals. It irrigates 620,000 acres, and cost $7,- 000,000. The W. Jumna Canal, begun in 1875, has cost over $8,000,000, and has a total length of 1,200 miles. In the United States there are several canal systems, and at Lagrange, California, is the highest overfall dam in the world. The lifting of water from wells or streams by hand or by oxen was one of the great means of ancient irrigation. In recent years this has been supplemented by an important use of steampumping plants. There are 1,500 of these in the San Joaquin valley of California alone. A large part of the water used in the irrigation of cane in the Hawaiian Islands is raised by pumps. Some of these are of extraordinary size and capacity, being capable of lifting 20,- 000,000 gallons 500 feet vertically in 25 hours. The method of distributing water from canals must vary according to the amount of water available, the nature of the soil, the topography of its surface, and the character of the crop, and there can be no single best method under all circumstances. Flooding. Under the flooding system small parallel ditches are constructed about 100 feet apart, the plans varying with the slope of the ground. These small ditches are usually fed from a lateral from the main canal. Where the surface is broken, they will be irregular in outline, and will generally approximate a right angle to the steepest slope of the soil. They are usually simply furrows made with a heavy mould-board plow, and where the crop is grain they are filled back by the plow before harvesting. In the distribution of water they are cut at convenient points to allow the water to run out and spread over the surface. The water thus released if left alone would follow the lines of quickest descent, and in doing so spread out as it proceeds, dividing into numerous branches or rills as it increases its distance from the opening of the ditch. For the purpose of facilitating its spreading and to insure its application to every portion of the surface, the irrigator follows its course and guides it by moving a few shovelfuls of earth here and there, thus separating the various small rills and starting the branches in different directions. This is a cheap but somewhat disagreeable method, because the irrigator has to work in the water and use all his strength and speed in order to direct the water so that it will reach all points, which it seldom does in equal volume. It has for its chief claim cheapness and speed, but sacrifices economy. Under this system an experienced irrigator can cover from 10 to 20 acres a day, the area depending on the character of the land, the uniformity of the surface and the volume of water at his disposal. For such crops as grain, alfalfa, clover, and the various grasses, and for everything which is sown broadcast and is distributed uniformly over the surface, the flooding system is employed. Checks. A modification, and in some respects a great improvement, of irrigation by flooding consists in the use of what are called compartments or checks. It is really flooding by the use of levees, which restrict the movement of the water to definite areas, thus giving assurance that it shall remain on this area till it sinks out of sight or is drawn off. The compartments or squares vary in size according to the slope of the ground and with the locality. The Mexican irrigators in the S. W. make compartments less than 100 feet square, while in California and Arizona they often contain several acres. Furrow Method. - Under this method parallel furrows are plowed which lead from the lateral used across the rows of crop to be irrigated. A small opening is made in the ditch to let the water between each of these rows. There are numerous devices for regulating the turning of water into the furrows from the field lateral, the simplest being the placing of a dam of canvas or earth below the opening through which water is to be run; but in many places the lateral is constructed permanently, often consisting of a plank or cement flume with openings in its side, having adjustable gates by which the amount of by water delivered to each furrow can be levels strike regulated. In the application of this water the attention of an irrig irrigator is reducing required to see that the proper amount which is kept in each furrow, and that it does vators not break out and flood the surface, leavwould ing the furrow beyond the break without general moisture. The success of this system decomplete pends on having a soil in which vertical percolation is not excessive and lateral France movement is adequate. The furrows all the must be so constructed as to maintain are the velocity of the water within the safe ment. limit permitted by the character of the highly soil; otherwise there will be an injurious irrigation erosion of the furrows. Where these Po river conditions are secured it has several ad- Como. vantages; it thoroughly soaks the soil tled and accomplishes the distribution of that moisture without saturating the surface vate and causing it to run together, as it does are where water stands on it. In cultivating works crops the displacement of the soil is rethe duced to a minimum; hence, the labor is the reduced and the cost is less than by any The method which distributes water so evenly States, and thoroughly. There is less loss from ment, evaporation because a less area of water Act of is exposed to the action of the air and 3,000,000 arid sun. Subirrigation. Introducing water bevaluable low the surface for the watering of culture crops has several obvious theoretical adtion vantages, such as the preventing of loss Idaho, Project State Arizona Salt River Arizona-California Yuma California Orland Grand Valley Colorado Uncompahgre Valley Boise Idaho King Hill Minidoka Huntley Milk River Sun River Montana Blackfeet . Flathead Fort Peck Montana-North Dakota. Lower Yellowstone Nebraska-Wyoming North Platte Newlands Nevada Carlsbad New Mexico Rio Grande New Mexico-Texas North Dakota Pumping North Dakota Umatilla Oregon Oregon-California Klamath South Dakota Belle Fourche Strawberry Valley Utah Okanogan Yakima: Washington Storage unit Sunnyside unit Tieton unit Jackson Lake enlargement A Wyoming Riverton Shoshone Total evaporation, distributing water at which will encourage plants to their roots deep deep in the soil, and the of frequent quent surface cultivation, have caused inventors and cultito labor to secure a system which be effective and cheap enough for adoption, but thus far without success. Irrigation Laws and Institutions. In , Spain, Italy, Egypt, and India more important irrigation works owned and controlled by the govern- In Italy, especially, irrigation is developed. Most of the water for purposes is drawn from the and from lakes Maggiore and In undeveloped and sparsely setcountries like Australia nearly near all has been done is the result of prienterprise. In Canada all streams state property and all irrigation are built under licenses issued by government, and in accordance with plans prepared or approved by it. Reclamation Service in the United operated by the national governwas established by the Reclamation June 17, 1902. By 1920 some acres of land located in semiand arid regions had been made both from the standpoint of agriand of homesteading. The irrigaprojects are in Ariz., Cal., Colo., Kan., Mont., Nebr., Nev., N. M., Estimated Gross cost area on completion Dollars Acres 15,106,943 192,077 9,495,570 110,000 1,048,298 20,533 3,545,157 50,000 7,341,651 100,000 12,758,216 327,552 16,385 591,362 5,998,863 121,392 32,885 1,750,943 181,000 5,955,475 3,775,096 174,620 118,500 1,048,250 134,500 3,761,877 704,534 152,000 59,613 2,915,090 251,715 10,643,517 6,384,544 231,000 24,991 1,383,458 162,000 9,775,296 26,151 721,163 36,300 2,473,191 141,444 3,092,101 97,889 3,479,802 3,506,004 60,000 10,099 947,029 3,783,105 110,828 3,355,599 3,380,284 32,000 783,153 100,000 71,918 136,618 6,109,061 135,686,549 3,212,092 N. Dak., Okla., Ore., S. Dak., Utah, Wash., Wyo., Texas. The funds for this work come mainly from the sale of public lands and from oil-leasing royalties. According to the Reclamation Extension Act of Aug. 13, 1914, the money expended is returned to the fund by the settlers, through payments in fifteen or twenty annual installments, without interest. Over 400,000 persons are living on the 1,780,000 acres irrigated by the Reclamation Service. The value of the crops in 1920 on the project land was nearly $114,000,000. In 1902 the average value of the desert land was not more than $10 per acre. Since the government has undertaken the irrigation of this territory, the average value has increased to $200 per acre, or a total of over $350,000,000. More than 13,000 miles of canals and ditches have been built on the projects. The Reclamation Service in 1920 served 2,845,000 acres of land, including 1,662,000 acres for which the government furnished the total water supply, and 1,183,000 acres to which the government sent stored water as an aid to the supply of private streams. The Mexican Government has taken an interest in the question of irrigation, and has appropriated over $20,000 to be used for the improvement of the Yaqui River Valley, Sonora. The table on page 199 shows the principal United States irrigation projects and their cost up to June 30, 1919.