Page:Kansas A Cyclopedia of State History vol 1.djvu/48

 Board of Agriculture the yield and methods of culture. These reports were a new and surprising revelation and showed that western Kansas, through to the Colorado line, was bound to be adapted to successful wheat growing, many yields being reported at from 30 to 40 bushels an acre without irrigation. Another crop that sprung into prominence at this time was alfalfa. In the spring of 1891 farmers in all parts of the state who had been successful growing alfalfa without irrigation were asked to report upon their manner of preparing the soil and seeding it, the acreage they had in alfalfa, its value for hay, pasture and seed. These reports indicated that it was the most profitable crop that could be grown in Western Kansas, and had revolutionized farming in that section.

STEAM PLOW IN ACTION.

The conditions in western Kansas, especially in the Arkansas river valley, were improved by the magical influence of irrigation. The valley proper is from four to twelve miles wide, and the whole district is flat enough for easy irrigation. The soil is sandy alluvium, containing the highest elements of fertility, needing only moisture to change it from barren prairie to productive fields. In the early days of immigration large numbers of people settled in the Arkansas river valley, towns were laid out, companies incorporated and large plans made for the future of this subhumid region. The ordinary methods of farming were not adapted to the climatic conditions and failure followed, until irrigation from the Arkansas river was tried. The experiments were successful until Colorado adopted similar methods for its arid portions and used so much water from the river that by 1892 the ditches in Kansas were ill supplied. The U. S. government made investigations in western Kansas that led to the discovery of an underflow of the Arkansas that amounted to practically a subterranean river. In 1905 it installed at Deerfield, in Finney county, an irrigation plant that pumped water from wells drilled to this underground stream. Through all the