AMAZON CANAL.

Location. In section 8, township 25 south, range 37 west, in Kearny county, about one mile downstream from head gate.

Records available. Irrigation seasons of 1921 and 1922.

Gauge. Gurley automatic water-stage recorded on north bank 50 feet downstream from wagon bridge across canal.

Discharge measurements. Made from bridge.

Accuracy. Stage-discharge relation practically permanent. Rating curve well defined. Daily discharge ascertained by applying hourly gauge heights to rating curves. Records good.

CHAPTER III.

A REVIEW OF IRRIGATION IN KANSAS.

In view of the fact that the general public has but little information regarding either the irrigated acreage in the state, the value of irrigation as an adjunct to the state's agriculture, or the possibility of future development, this department has endeavored to collect information showing the extent of irrigation, and has made a somewhat general study of the present status of irrigation development as regards water supply, nature of works or type of equipment used in developing such supply, and the kinds of crops grown under irrigation in the various localities. It has not been possible to make a complete survey of the extent of irrigation in the state. Information on the irrigated acreage has been obtained partly by assessors' reports and partly by the questionnaire method. The latter served to check the assessors' reports, which in many cases were incomplete. Assistance has also been given by the officers of the various ditch associations. Information on the general nature of development in the various localities has been secured almost wholly by the irrigation commissioner while on trips to the various parts of the state.

There are at this time approximately 95,000 acres of irrigated land. Some irrigation is practiced in all but thirty counties of the state; however, it assumes the proportions of general farm irrigation in only about seven counties. The principal irrigation counties and acreage of land irrigated in each in 1920 are as follows:

The present extent of irrigation in Kansas gives little indication of the irrigation possibilities of the state. The existence of abundant supplies of ground water in many parts of the state, together with the uniformly beneficial results obtained where irrigation is now practiced, indicates that as the population increases, as land values become higher and as the value of irrigation becomes more generally appreciated, the acreage will be greatly increased. Already around several of the cities and towns where land is high, and where there is a ready market for farm produce, or where truck growers' associations have been organized to provide a means of marketing the crops, irrigation is regarded as an essential part of the farm operations and the irrigation pumping plant is as much a part of the necessary farm equipment as is the silo.

The character of irrigation development varies greatly in different parts of the state. Types of irrigation structures prevailing in one locality are wholly absent in another. In one locality irrigation may be practiced extensively for general farm crops, while in another it is restricted almost entirely to garden

ing. Development has been influenced greatly by physical conditions of water supply and topography, and to some extent by natural rainfall and proximity to markets. These conditions vary so greatly in different sections of the state that a comprehensive idea of present irrigation development, value of irrigation and the possibilities of future development can best be obtained by dividing the state into the several divisions suggested by these varying conditions and considering each division separately.

UPPER ARKANSAS VALLEY.

About 81,000 acres, or eighty-five per cent of the irrigated acreage in the state, is in that portion of the Arkansas valley between Dodge City and the Kansas-Colorado state line. The larger part of this, over 65,000 acres, is irrigated by ditches taking water from the Arkansas river. There are seven such ditches in use at this time. The five principal ones-the Amazon, Great Eastern, South Side, Farmers' ditch and Garden City ditch—irrigate a fairly compact body of land between Garden City and Lakin. The other twoFrontier and Fort Aubrey-irrigate small tracts of land around the towns of Coolidge and Syracuse, respectively. The balance of the land irrigated in this district is irrigated by pumping plants pumping from the ground water, popularly known as the "underflow" of the Arkansas 'river.

There are several hundred pumping plants in the upper Arkansas valley, most of them being on the "first bottom," where the depth to water is from eight to twelve feet. Around Garden City these plants are very numerous, and almost every bottom-land farm has its pumping plant. Throughout the rest of the valley pumping plants are more scattered except for a small area around Dodge City, where in recent years a number of small plants have been installed, principally for the irrigation of truck crops. Between the years 1913 and 1915 a large number of deep-well pumping plants were put in on the upland northwest of Garden City. Some of these were intended to supplement the water supply of the Great Eastern canal and some for the irrigation of new land. The great increase in both the cost of power and freight rates since these plants were installed, together with drop in prices of farm products following the close of the war, has made the operation of the plants of doubtful value. Many of them are standing idle and will probably remain so until there is a favorable adjustment of the relation between cost of operation and value of farm crops.

Crops grown in the upper Arkansas valley consist largely of alfalfa, wheat and other general farm crops, although since the building of the beet-sugar factory at Garden City in 1909 there has been a considerable acreage in sugar beets. Alfalfa has been the predominant crop, but usually between 5,000 and 10,000 acres of sugar beets are grown each year.

In the past two years an unusual interest has been manifested in the growing of truck crops. This has resulted in the organization of truck growers' associations at Garden City and at Dodge City. The Garden City association in 1922 had forty members, with 2,000 acres in sweet potatoes, Irish potatoes, onions, tomatoes, melons and similar crops. Among other things this association is reported to have shipped 60 cars of onions and 120 cars of sweet potatoes during the 1922 season. The Dodge City association has 17 members and about 200 acres in truck crops, of which Irish potatoes predominate. While truck growing at Dodge City is comparatively new, the results obtained have