Dam and Headgates, Whalen, Wyo., Laramie-Gering Irrigation Project

IRRIGATED FARMING

     The irrigated area of Nebraska is increasing at an amazing rate. Every year sees the completion of new irrigation projects. Irrigation farming in Nebraska has reached its highest development in Scottsbluff county, but other counties are developing rapidly, notable Morrill, Lincoln, Keith, Garden, Dawson and Buffalo. Small irrigation enterprises are succeeding in a score of western Nebraska counties. The entire North Platte valley is rapidly becoming an irrigated garden spot, and it is in this valley that homeseekers may find every opportunity to secure homes at a reasonable price and upon easy terms. The largest irrigation enterprise in Nebraska at the present time is the government project known as the Inter-State. An ample supply of water is guaranteed by the government, and this guarantee is made possible by the huge Pathfinder reservoir in Wyoming. Behind the Pathfinder dam is stored enough water to make a lake twenty miles wide, forty miles long and eighteen inches deep. Should the water in the North Platte river fail to supply enough water for the lands under the Inter-State canal, the Pathfinder reservoir is drawn upon. The water of the North Platte is diverted at Whalen, Wyoming, and led into the huge canal that waters upwards of 70,000 acres of Nebraska land on the north side of the North Platte valley.
     The Laramie-Gering project is connected with the Pathfinder project, and the water for this new government canal is also diverted at Whalen, but

waters the land on the south side of the North Platte valley. This project is now under construction and will be completed by1920. It will water many thousands of acres in Wyoming and about 100,000 acres in Nebraska. In addition to these two huge irrigation enterprises there are more than 500 smaller enterprises, many of them mutual, some private, and many organized by individuals like other corporations.
     The cost of gravity canals is very low when compared with the accruing benefits. Under the government constructed canals the perpetual water right costs $60 an acre, forty years time being given in which to pay, without interest on the deferred payments. The title to water runs with the land to which it is applied and is inalienable. There is no further cost save a slight charge for maintenance and repairs. Pump irrigation is increasing at a rapid rate, and there is scarcely any limit to be set upon the acreage that may be irrigated in this way and at a comparatively small expense. Land susceptible of irrigation, but not now connected with irrigation enterprises may be purchased at prices ranging from $25 to $45 per acre. Under irrigation the land in western Nebraska produces crops that can not be excelled by land in any other portion of the Republic. Under irrigation western Nebraska is rapidly becoming the greatest beet sugar producing section of the United States, and with the cultivation of the sugar beet goes the production of beef, pork and mutton. The transportation facilities of irrigated Nebraska are such that the farmers have access not only to the markets of the east, but to the markets of Denver, Cheyenne and other western cities.

     The returns from the average western Nebraska farm are greater than from the average eastern farm, measured from any angle, and much greater when into consideration one takes investment, industry and care. Obviously 35 bushels of corn per acre, raised on land that costs $50 an acre and sold for $1 a bushel, is more profitable than 50 bushels of corn per acre, raised on land that costs $150 or $200 an acre and sold for practically the same price. But the $50 land of western Nebraska will produce practically as many bushels of corn per acre as land further east that costs three times as much. And when wheat is considered--there is no wheat land in the world superior to the land in western Nebraska. Yields of from 25 to 40 bushels of wheat per acre on land that cost less than $25 per acre within the last two years are too numerous to attract more than passing notice.
     But one should not assume that one may farm successfully without capital. Before undertaking to farm in western Nebraska one should become thoroughly acquainted with the conditions; should be willing to adapt one's self to soil conditions and climatic conditions. What will win success in the farming sections east of the Missouri river may fail ingloriously in western Nebraska, and vice versa. The intending home builder in western Nebraska should have at least enough money to tide him over one crop season. In that

Overflow, Power Dam, Nebraska Power Co., Boelus, Nebr.

time he will have gained enough in experience to insure him success provided he has the requisite industry and intelligence. The land will do its part if the man thereon will do his part. In other words, success in western Nebraska, like success elsewhere, depends upon the land, but much more upon the man who tills it.

     Recently in an eastern state dairying in Nebraska was mentioned, and someone spoke up: "Why, surely they do not keep cows out there. Pray, what do they feed them?" It was news to this party to know that corn and alfalfa were grown in abundance-and corn and alfalfa spell successful dairying anywhere. The possibility of the establishment of permanent agricultural prosperity through the development of the dairy industry is beginning to dawn upon the minds of progressive farmers throughout the state. The increase in population, with the consequent rise in land values, has made necessary a more careful system of farming. In 1910 there was a population of 1,192,214, this being an increase of 11.6 per cent over the previous decade.