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acre have been reported. For the most part the hay is baled and shipped to distant markets.

During the past biennium high freight rates and the high cost of fuel or power have had an unfavorable effect on development in this district, and in some instances have been the cause of pumping plants standing idle. Unless such charges are adjusted more favorably to the farmer, diversified farming, dairying and truck gardening will have to be practiced to enable the district to develop its latent possibilities.

So far pumping has had no noticeable effect on the supply of ground water, and it is unquestionably sufficient to irrigate a much greater area.

SOUTHWESTERN KANSAS.

About 2,400 acres of land are irrigated in that portion of southwestern Kansas south of the Arkansas valley and west of the eastern boundary of Barber county. There are a number of pumping plants scattered throughout this district, but the greater part of the irrigated acreage is in two or three larger projects obtaining their water supply by gravity from the Cimarron and similar streams.

Opportunities for future development are found principally along Crooked creek, Bluff creek and the Medicine Lodge river. On the upland the ground water is generally deep and the supply limited, and as a rule little or no ground water can be developed in the valleys. On the other hand, many of the streams fed by springs near their sources have a fairly dependable supply of water.

The Arkansas river to the north is much higher than these streams. It is only necessary to point out the fact that Dodge City, on the Arkansas river, is 520 feet higher than Ashland, forty miles south, and is 220 feet higher than Jetmore, twenty miles north, to show that this river runs through that part of the state which is on a "hogback," so to speak. The effect of this is that most of the drainage is away from the Arkansas. Most of the ground water in that part of the state, and undoubtedly some of the "underflow" of the Arkansas, moves south and feeds the numerous springs which are found in the hills in Meade, Clark and Kiowa counties, in which these streams have their sources. Some of these springs are large enough to supply an entire irrigation project. The writer measured one such in 1915, which had a flow of more than ten cubic feet per second.

Besides the water to be obtained from springs, there are many places where dams could be put in the channels of these streams and a very good supply of water developed in the same manner as it is done along the Pawnee.

NORTHWESTERN KANSAS.

In comparison with the area, the irrigated acreage of northwestern Kansas is insignificant. Not more than 1,000 acres is irrigated in the entire district. Most of the upland is too deep to water for extensive or profitable irrigation. Where it is practiced it is for the irrigation of truck gardens. Here the successful plant is the windmill plant. One project in particular which has come to the attention of this department consists of two windmills and a small earthen reservoir to store the water. The owner uses this water for the irrigation of two acres of land planted to a variety of small fruit and truck crops.

38

Irrigation Commissioner.

He has been very successful with this project and obtains most of the family income from it.

The valleys of the Republican, Solomon, Saline and Smoky Hill rivers offer the greatest opportunities for irrigation. There are a few pumping plants pumping water from these streams, but for the most part the irrigation potentialities of these streams remain untouched. Some of the streams are cut down deep enough into the tertiary deposits to the west to be fed by their ground waters, and they have a fairly constant flow. The type of structure best suited to these valleys is the channel reservoir for the storage of surface flow and a pump to pump the stored water on to the adjacent valley land.

BLUE RIVER VALLEY.

With only about 200 acres included in irrigation projects, the Blue valley would not merit special consideration were it not for the fact that here in the eastern part of the state, where the average rainfall is high, and where little is known of irrigation, very good results have been obtained with the irrigation of farm crops.

Irrigation in the Blue valley is supplementary to the natural rainfall. It is seldom necessary to irrigate for longer than a short period during the latter part of July or the early part of August. Usually one irrigation is all that is applied, and occasionally there is a year when none is required. Notwithstanding this the farmers who have pumping plants have been highly pleased with their use. One farmer has been irrigating since 1896.

In 1919 the county agent of Washington county made a survey of irrigation in that county and found that of the farmers using irrigation, one irrigated a field of corn twice and obtained a yield of 70 bushels to the acre, and only 20 bushels from adjoining land which was not irrigated. Another farmer irrigated every other row of corn once and gathered 40 bushels per acre from the irrigated land, when the unirrigated portion yielded only 5 bushels per acre. Another farmer reported that potatoes which he irrigated in 1918 produced an average of 300 bushels per acre. Corn and potatoes have been the principal irrigated crops.

Irrigation water has been pumped directly from the Blue river without the use of dams or storage reservoirs.

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CHAPTER IV.

REVIEW OF IRRIGATION LAWS.

A UNIFORM APPROPRIATION LAW.

Two sections of the General Statutes of 1915 (5562 and 5566), relating to the appropriation of water for irrigation, restrict the privileges conferred by such acts to limited portions of the state. Section 5562 says that, "In all that portion of the state of Kansas situated west of the ninety-ninth meridian, all natural waters, whether standing or running, and whether surface or subterranean, shall be devoted, first, to purposes of irrigation in aid of agriculture, subject to ordinary domestic uses; and secondly, to other industrial purposes; and may be diverted from natural beds, basins or channels for such purposes and uses." Section 5566 says that, "All waters flowing in subterranean channels and courses, or flowing or standing in subterranean sheets or lakes, south of township 18 and west of the ninety-ninth meridian, shall belong and be appurtenant to the lands under which they flow or stand, and shall be devoted, first, to the irrigating of such lands in the aid of agriculture, subject to ordinary domestic use." The result of these sections is that there are three degrees or stages of the right to the use of water for irrigation prevailing in as many different sections of the state. West of the ninety-ninth meridian and south of township 18 the right to the use of surface or running water must be acquired by appropriation, but it is apparently unnecessary to appropriate underground water, because such water is appurtenant to the land and the title to it is therefore vested in the land under which it stands. North of township

18 and west of the ninety-ninth meridian no distinction is made between surface and subterranean waters, and the right to either must be acquired by appropriation. East of the ninety-ninth meridian the right to the use of "running water flowing in a river or stream" may be acquired for irrigation, but there is no authority for the use of underground water for irrigation, nor any means by which the user of such water can perfect his title to it.

These laws were enacted at a time when it was popularly supposed that the practice of irrigation would be profitable and desirable only in the western third of the state. Since that time the value of irrigation in connection with intensive agriculture farther east in the state has been so amply demonstrated that to-day there are hundreds of irrigation pumping plants east of the ninetyninth meridian. The owners of these plants have invested thousands of dollars in the development of underground water for irrigation of truck farms, gardens and orchards, but they have no means of perfecting their titles to the water until the above-mentioned laws are amended or new ones enacted. The irrigation commissioner, therefore, desires to recommend that these sections be amended by striking out the clauses which limit them to a restricted portion of the state, so that they will read:

"§ 5562. That all natural waters in the state of Kansas, whether standing or running, and whether surface or subterranean, shall be devoted, first, to purposes of irrigation in aid of agriculture, subject to ordinary domestic uses; and secondly, to other industrial purposes; and may be diverted from natural

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