Harper's Magazine For January, 1891, Contains An Article On
California, Which All Persons Interested In That State Would Do Well To
Read.
I extract a few statements:
-
IRRIGATION.
"A piece of land at Riverside, below the flow of water, was worth 300
dollars an acre. Contiguous to it was another piece not irrigated, which
would not sell for 50 dollars an acre. By bringing water to it, it would
quickly sell for 300 dollars, thus adding 250 dollars to its value. As
the estimate at River side is that one inch of water will irrigate five
acres of Fruit land, five times 250 dollars would be 1,250 dollars per
inch, at which price water for irrigation has actually been sold at
Riverside.
"The standard of measurement of water in Southern California is the
miner's inch under four inches pressure, or the amount that will flow
through an inch-square opening under a pressure of four inches measured
from the surface of the water in the conduit to the centre of the
opening through which it flows. This is nine gallons a minute, or, as it
is figured, 1,728 cubic feet or 12,960 gallons in 24 hours, and 1/50 of
a cubic foot a second. This flow would cover 10 acres about 18 inches
deep in a year; that is, it would give the land the equivalent of 18
inches of rain, distributed exactly when and where it was needed, none
being wasted, and more serviceable than 50 inches of rainfall as it
generally comes.
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