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Show MM II M IS MAKSUCCESS Hf C. G. Elliott, Chief (lorernnicnt HJ Drainage Engineer, in Salt Lake Investigating. SHOWS SPECIFIC RESULTS IN NUMBER OP CASES I ! Will Spend Much Time Over-! Over-! looldng "Workings of UtaJi Experiment Station. !'i ! C. G. Elliott, chief drainage engineer of the office of experiment stations, United States department of AgTicul-, AgTicul-, ture. iB in the citv for a fow days, at i the Ken von. Mr. Elliott has come from "Washington. D. G., and will be in the State for a'woek or more looking over the various localities wherein drainago i exparixoonts and investigations are be-j be-j ing conducted by the Federal Dcpart-! Dcpart-! ment of Agriculture in co-operation ; -with the State agricultural experiment J 'fitation at Logan. Five years ago fcho United States Department De-partment of Agriculturo took up the jnvestigation ox the improvement of agricultural lauds by drainage. From If Email beginnings the work has steadily expanded since that time until now I examinations of localities suffering i .from lack of sufficient natural drainage i havo been made in more than half of i the States of the Union. As a rosult ! of these studies and examinations, plans f and recommendations for remedial I measures have been prepared, which, when carried out by those financially interested, havo produced beneficial results, re-sults, in somo cases so extraordinary as to be far beyond the belief or even the i iopes of those involved. The office of experiment stations has S some of the most, able and experienced I drainage experts of the couutrj' on its I staff of engineers. Mr. Elliott, who has charge of the work, is recognized i.h mitliorir.v on this subicct in this I country. He has for over thirty years given nis entire time to drainage, having hav-ing been associated with such work 8ince tho very beginnings of drainage for agricultural purposes in this couu-trv. couu-trv. He is tho author of several books on the subject, and before becoming xissociatcd with the Government service 'he published n drainage journal, in addition to casing on his extensive privaie drainage engineering practice. I Investigating Everywhere. The work of the Federal Governineul in investigating drainage problems extends ex-tends all 'over the country in humid j-egions as well as in tho arid States. But in no other Slate, probably, will greater benefits result than will be produced pro-duced in Utah by adequate drainage to remove excess or water and alkali from the fertile lands. With wisdom and foresight the State Legislature perceived per-ceived the importance of this question, ques-tion, and three years ago appropriated $10,000 to be used by the Utah agricultural agri-cultural experiment, station in investigations investi-gations of use of irrigation water and tho reclamation of alkali land, provided that the United States Department of Agriculture would devote an equal sum to the same work, to be done in co-operation with the State authorities. The appropriation made 13" the Federal Fed-eral Congress for this work is too limited limit-ed to permit the ofiico of experiment stations to take up the actual construction construc-tion of drainage work on any extensive Ecale. Like other branches of the Department De-partment of Aericulturo. its work is I rather advisory and educational. It is roadil' apparent that tho preparation of the best plans for securing drainage in anv given localitj-. including the methods to be used, the locatiou and pise of the work, in order to secure the desired results at the least oxpense, ' is a matter requiring careful judgment pnd long experience, in tho early history his-tory of drainage much work was dono which produced no proportionately valuablo benefit because improper methods meth-ods were used; and likewise much useless use-less expenditure was incurred because tho fundamental principles and laws relating to land drainage were not understood un-derstood and followed. No two localities locali-ties arc' exactlj' alike in their conditions condi-tions and needs, but the general laws relating to drainage arc universal, and it is only their applications which vary. So far as its funds permit, it is the province of the office of experiment stations sta-tions to furnish the advice and assist-ancu assist-ancu necessary to insure that any community com-munity intending to take up drainage work "shnll proceed along right lines lines which will sccuro the desired relief at the minimum of expense. Where unknown and i:utri:.l cou.litions are to bo met, such experimental work as Eceins necessary is undertaken. I Drainago of Utah, On acconut of the generous support pven to the work by the Legislature, it lias been possible to devote the entire time of one engineer to drainage in this State, and 0. F. Brown of this city has had charge of the work, since its inception. in-ception. The icport of the work accomplished ac-complished during the first two years is included in bulletin 09 of tho Utah experiment ex-periment station at Logan. There, is scarcely a locality where irrigation ir-rigation is practiced in this State which does not include a considerable area of land onco profitably cultivated, but uow either wholly abandoned or onK- indifferently in-differently productive front acumula-tion acumula-tion of seepage water or alkali. This stato of affairs works a great hardship upon uian' farmers and in some instances in-stances has so reduced tho value of their land that the.v are poorly able to to undertake work" involving much expense ex-pense in bringing about a betterment of their conditions. Such work is not likely to be undertaken whonevor there is doubt about tho success of the project. pro-ject. These injured areas are to bo found from Cache countv on the north to Washington county on ttfe south, un-uer un-uer a great variety of climatic and soil conditions. Tn some cases the locations are remote from railroad facilities and supply points, and in every case a local investigation or experiment is ncccs-Miry ncccs-Miry to ascertain the requirements of the particular section. Hyde Park, Cache County. A strip of land, estimated at 2000 acres, lying between Hyde park and Logan near the foot of the main ir-rigated ir-rigated bench, had become, in a large part, too wot for cultivation, and in m.mo ,caBes produced only water grass. 1 P.is land once had the reputation of H being tho most valuable laud in the valley, but fields formerly used for tho IH growing 0f W,eat, beets, and alfalfa, 1 had been abaudoned to timothy and HI cl.0V(;r ?n account of the sub-irrigation Wiiich Lad rendered the land unfit for cultivation. The, wet area was gradually gradual-ly extending toward higher ground and parts of fields occuppving higher ground were found in a similar condition. A plan was made for draining a field of thirty acres by the use of a tile drain placed four to five feet deep, nearly parallel to the upper edge of the wet portion of the field to intercept tho water seeping down through the soil as a result, of irrigation on the higher lands above. The office of experiment stations furnished the tilo at two Hyde Park railroad station and the owners of the land did all tho work connected with putting in the drains, giving the office the right to use tho field for drainage experiments. The soil is a black loam, underlaid with yellow clay, both being of au open uatitre and permitting per-mitting tho passage of the water quite freely. Tho fields arb thoroughly drained by tho work done. Fifty bushels bush-els of wheat and 100 bushels of oats per acre have been grown upon such ?ortions as were plowed, and eighteen ons or more of beets wore grown in 1006 upon aJl the land planted to this crop, which was about twenty-five acres. A further effect of tho drains is tho improvement of the wet land adjoining the drained fields on the lower side. The work is being extended by farmers, who wish to restore their wet meadows to wheat, beet, and alfalfa fields. In such cases, drains were laid out for the farmers b' the department, engineor. but no further assistance was rendered in that locality. Emery County. Tho settlements at Huntington, Orangeville, Castledale and perrou include in-clude lands in all stages of ruin from the field just beginning to swamp to the desolate bogs, whoso miry depths are concealed by snow white alkali during the dry season of the year. Fully 30 per cent of tho land formerly under irrigation and cultivation is now practically valueless. The Crcary farm was selected for experimental drainage. drain-age. Lumber box underdrains wero used. The work wag arduous and discouraging dis-couraging because of the extreme wetness wet-ness of the soil and its consequent unstable un-stable condition, but the land was dried sufficiently so that it could be plowed by October, 1906. Tho soil in this locality lo-cality is one of tho most difficult in the fcitatc to dram, and hence the best methods to be used in such a soil may still bo regarded as in a somewhat experimental ex-perimental condition. Washington County, This most sou thorn county of tho State has experienced the need of drainage and an experiment was installed in-stalled near St. George. It was soon seen that the soil of the old lake bed "which it was desired to drain was most 'difficult to drain effectively by reason of its exceeding fineness anil unstable condition when saturated. Experimental Ex-perimental work will bo continued during dur-ing the current year. 'The gardens of the town are being successful!' drained and it is f-onfidently expected, complete success will finally attend the field experimental ex-perimental work. Box Elder County. Between Garland and liiversido a large area has hcon drained upon plans furnished by Mr. Brown. Much improvement is nlrcndy noted but insufficient in-sufficient time has elapsed to determine deter-mine the full benefits which will accrue ac-crue from the uiiderdraiuagc. Weher County. Near Ifoy an orchard is being drained as a demonstration of the no-vantages no-vantages and benefits of drainage in that region. Though the drains were only completed late last winter most gratifying effects are already observed. Sevier County. Near Richfield, an extensive system of tilo underdrainagc- is being installed. As in other coses the land owners perform per-form the work in accordance with surveys, sur-veys, plans and directions furnished by the engineer, which the appropriation made by the Stato and federal governments govern-ments make it possible to retain. This kind of assistance will be available avail-able to land owners during the coming yoar. Not a small part of the 'aluc of work will be the experience gained in dealing with the soils in different localities, lo-calities, the results of which will be published in bulletin form by tho State Agricultural college in compliance with the act of the leginlaturo appropriating fundB for the work, and by the Office of Experiment Stations of the United States Department of Agriculture, which co-operates so liberally with the State and land owners in the improvement improve-ment of wet and alkali lands. |
