REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER. CHAPTER I. GENERAL REVIEW OF THE WORK OF THE APPROPRIATIONS AND EXPENDITURES. The following table shows the appropriations, receipts and expenditures for the Division of Irrigation for the fiscal years ending June 30, 1923, and June When the Division of Irrigation of the Board of Agriculture was created by the legislature of 1919, the department inherited three state irrigation pumping plants, put in for experimental purposes under a law which was repealed in 1919. These pumping plants, located in Scott, Wichita and Wallace counties, were all on the high prairie where the depth to water was very great and where the plants could not be operated profitably. The 1921 legislature, therefore, authorized the sale of these pumping plants and provided for the disposition of the land on which they were located, either by authorizing its sale or returning it to persons who originally had donated it to the state. These sales were authorized by four acts, three relating to land and permanent improvements, and the fourth relating to personal property at all three farms. Two years ago the sale of this property was not completed, and a report of the partial sales appeared in the 1920-1922 biennial report. At this time the property authorized to be sold by three of the four acts has been disposed of and a complete statement of the receipts and disbursements follows: Scott County Irrigation Farm-Chapter 278, Laws of 1921. Improvements on Wallace County Farm-Chapter 279, Laws of 1921. Personal Property in Scott, Wichita and Wallace Counties-Chapter 281, Included with the improvements on the Wallace county farm were a 100-hp. engine and a large irrigation pump which the department was unable to sell. These were transferred to the State Agricultural College by an act of the 1923 legislature (chapter 234, Laws of 1923). While the Wichita county farm has been advertised repeatedly, no bids have ever been received for it, and the department has been unable to find anyone interested in the purchase of it. At this time it does not appear probable that the farm, consisting of 40 acres of land, and including a very expensive, but probably worthless, pumping plant, can be sold for enough to cover the $800 required by law upon the sale of the land to be paid to the person who donated the land to the state. The department is unable to recommend definitely what should be done with the Wichita county plant, but it seems that the legislature should make some provision for its disposition, either by turning it over to the county commissioners, returning it to the original owner, or allowing the dismantling of the plant. L INTERSTATE WATER CONTROVERSY. The interstate water controversy existing between water users in Kansas and water users in Colorado on the Arkansas river has been referred to in two previous biennial reports. The 1923 legislature passed an act providing for the appointment of a commissioner by the governor, to meet with a commissioner from Colorado, for the purpose of drawing up a compact or treaty between the two states providing for "the future utilization and disposition of the waters of the Arkansas river and streams tributary thereto, and fixing and determining the rights of each of said states to the use, benefit and distribution of the waters of said stream." Similar legislation had been enacted by the Colorado legislature two years previously. The irrigation commissioner was appointed by Governor Davis to represent Kansas on this commission. While progress on a matter of the magnitude of the Arkansas river problem has necessarily been slow, much time and careful study has been devoted to the subject and considerable progress has been made. In the first week in November, 1924, the two commissioners, meeting in Denver, made a preliminary draft of a proposed compact and it is now before the irrigation interests of the two states for their consideration. In general, the proposed compact provides for the building of one or more reservoirs in Colorado to store the surplus waters of the stream for the benefit of the Kansas ditches. In the proposed compact Colorado is to purchase and place at the disposal of Kansas all lands, rights of way and easements necessary or essential for the construction and operation of such reservoirs, and it is contemplated that the necessary works will be constructed by the Kansas ditches who will participate in the additional water supply. The building of such reservoirs will make possible the storage of sufficient water so that 75,000 acre-feet of stored water can be released annually for the Kansas ditches at their demand. GROWTH OF IRRIGATION PUMPING. The department is pleased to report a very steady increase in the number of pumping plants in Kansas and the acreage being brought under pump irrigation. During the five years since this department was organized it has worked on 65 farm projects, has made topographic surveys and maps for 47 projects, covering a total of 3,640 acres. By far the larger part of this work has been done during the last biennium. While the acreage under irrigation is not yet as large as that in the Garden City district, the greatest interest in pump irrigation is centered around the towns of Dodge City, Larned and Sterling. During the last two years a large number of new pumping plants have been installed in these localities. At Dodge City many of the pumping plants have been put in to aid in potato raising and truck growing, while at Larned the growing of sugar beets has been a prominent factor in the expansion of irrigation. Yields as high as 24 tons per acre have been reported there. At Sterling no special industry has contributed to the interest in pump irrigation, and the pumping plants installed there have been put in for the irrigation of general farm crops. SPECIAL INVESTIGATIONS. One of the duties of this department is to gather data, information and statistics concerning the water supplies of the state and the methods of developing the same. The department has, therefore, in addition to making the stream-flow measurements reported in Chapter II, endeavored to devote some time each year to a special study of some feature of the state's water resources or their development. One of these projects has been a special investigation of the artesian water in the Crooked creek valley of Meade county. This investigation revealed that there are over 270 artesian wells in the Crooked creek valley. These wells have all been located and measurements made of the pressure and volume of flow wherever it was possible to obtain them. In connection with this investigation, information from any source from which it could be obtained was secured concerning the logs of these wells, and considerable time has been given toward a study of the geology of the valley with particular reference to the probable amount of artesian water available for irrigation. The report of this investigation is partially prepared, but its completion requires more time than is available before the publication of this report, and a complete report covering this investigation must necessarily be delayed until the publication of a later biennial report. Three months during the summer of 1924 were spent in making tests of irrigation pumping plants in use in the state of Kansas. These tests cover such matters of interest as the capacity of the plant, distance the water is lifted, the kinds of power used and the cost of pumping, and the flow of water in irrigation wells. This report is now in process of preparation and will be issued as a special report on irrigation pumping within the next few months. FLOOD INVESTIGATIONS. The Executive Department has called on the irrigation commissioner to make three special flood investigations. One, the disastrous Arkansas City flood in 1923; the other, two minor floods in Dickinson and Harvey counties. Comprehensive reports have been made on both the Arkansas City and Dickinson county flood situations. In both instances drainage districts were recommended as the solution of the problems there, but at this time, as far as is known, the recommendations have either not been carried out or have been acted on in only a limited way. The Arkansas river, particularly, presents some very difficult problems from the standpoint of flood control. This stream rises in the Rocky Mountains in Colorado, and for about 120 miles from its source is a typical mountain stream, descending in this distance from an elevation of more than 10,000 feet to about 5,300 feet. As the river enters the plains region the gradient diminishes, the breadth increases, and the stream is unable at ordinary stages to carry the load of detritus collected in the more rapid portions above. This detritus is gradually deposited, forming low, sandy banks and bars, which block the course and cause the stream to continually shift its bed. Most of the mountain water is diverted from the stream for the irrigation of 500,000 acres of land in Colorado and 65,000 acres in Kansas. At normal times the stream in western Kansas is dry. In eastern Kansas it carries the flow of the Pawnee, Little Arkansas and other tributaries. This flow, which in dry times |