Hawaiian experiment station.

Idaho Measurements of the duty of
water on canals in southern Idaho, in co-
operation, with the State engineer's office.

Montana Measurements of the duty of
water on canals in different parts of Mon-
tana, and special experiments regarding
the amount of water required by different



THE IRRIGATION AGE,



207



crop?, in co-operation with the Montana
experiment station.

Nebraska Measurements of the duty of
water, in co-operation with the Nebraska
experiment station.

Nevada A study of the water-right sys-
tem in Nevada and measurements of the
duty of water, in co-operation with the
Nevada experiment station.

New Mexico Studies of the duty of
water in Pecos valley and Mosilla Park, in
co-operation with the New Mexican Irriga-
tion Commission and experiment station.

Texas A study of the amount and
character of the sediment deposited by irri-
gation water in the canals and ditches in
co-operation with the Texas Agricultural
college. Observations of this kind are be-
ing made in several States, but the work is
all in charge of the Texas agent

Utah Investigation of the distribution
and use of water from the Jordan river and
tributaries and the Weber river by special
agent of the department and in co-opera-
tion with the State engineer and the city
engineer of Salt Lake. This is a great en-
terprise, in which the State and city are
co-operating financially.

Washington Measurements of the duty
of water in the Yak i ma valley in co-oper-
ation with the Washington Agricultural
college.

Wyoming Measurements of the duty
of water and study of losses from evapora-
tion and seepage by special agents of the
department and in cooperation with the
Wyoming experiment station.

Missouri Practical trials to determine
the usefulness of irrigation in co-operation
with the Missouri Agricultural Experi-
ment station.

New Jersey A study of the practical
results of attempts at irrigation already
made in New Jersey, and experiments
with reference to the extension of this
work in co-operation with the New Jersey
Agricultural Experiment station. A re-
cent report on this work shows that irriga-



tion has been profitably employed by a
number of practical farmers and truck-
growers.

South Carolina Experiments in irriga-
tion in connection with the experiments
in tea culture at Summerville under the
direction of this department.

Wisconsin Experiments to determine
the usefulness of irrigation in a wide area
of sandy lands in northern Wisconsin in
co-operation with the Wisconsin experi-
ment station.

* * *

The plans for the work during the com-
ing year include additional investigations
in California and Utah. The investiga-
tions so far have been only in restricted
regions in different States and Territories.
It is desired that the scope of the investi-
gations be extended on the duty of water
and water rights. It is also desired to ex-
tend the investigations to the humid
region, continuing and developing enter-
prises already begun and adding studies
with a view to improving irrigation and
the culture of rice and other crops in
South Carolina and Louisiana. Also to
extend the work so that the irrigation sys-
tems of foreign countries may be studied
with a view to utilizing the results of their
experiments in our irrigated regions. It is
also desired that the problem involving
drainage should be studied. Drainage sys-
tems and laws are already needed in our
irrigated regions. These should be based
upon the experience already obtained in
some of our prairie States and elsewhere.



MEEKS AND DALEY DITCH.
The San Bernardino Transcript reports
that the owner of the Meeks and Daley
ditch, which starts at Colton and runs
down through the Agua Mansa neighbor-
hood, are preparing to enlarge the ditch in
order to make room for more water, or
rather intended to do so before Judge
Campbell granted a temporary injunction,



208 THE IRRIGATION AGE.

as the result of a suit which was filed by inches of water. The plaintiffs claim that

P. J. Stockman and Olive A. Byrne, exec- they will suffer great injury by the defend-

utors of the will of Matthew A. Byrne, ants tearing up large quantities of land

deceased, against W. E. Pedley et al. The upon either side of the ditch. They have

ditch, which runs through lands of the also cut off the plaintiff's supply of water,

plaintiff, has a capacity of 850 inches, and which they use to irrigate the alfalfa. Be-

the owners are proceeding to enlarge it in sides the injunction, the plaintiffs ask for

ord er tnat it ma Y carry an additional 400 damages to the amount of $500.



A VALENTINE.

By Martha Capps Oliver.
Alack-a-day! when hearts are cold

And naught but love can warm them,
And trusty bolts have barred them fast

That no device may storm them,
What chance has Cupid but to wait

Although In terror quaking,
To watch for some unguarded point,

A secret entrance making.

Alack-a-day! when he has gained

Admittance through some portal,
What chance of flight, or safe escape

Has any helpless mortal?
For Cupid scatters tinder round,

'Tis made of smiles and glances
And sets his torch of love a-light,

As slyly he advances.

Alack-a-day! the mischief 's done

And hmv, there is no telling, g
No word, was said, no step was heard

Within the heart's lone dwelling;
For what are bolts, and what are bars,

And resolute resistance
For Cupid always has his way 7

And wins by sheer persistance.

Alack-a-day! for worse and worse

The plight is ever growing,
The heart no more contends with fate,

The flame of love is glowing.
Heigho! the fires are roaring now,

Still higher, brighter, faster,
The seige was long the end was sure,

For Cupid will be master!




HELEN WADSWORTH YATES.



THE IRRIGATION AGE.



209



HELEN WADS WORTH YATES.

The recent quadrennial elections
which carried into office the Hon.
Richard Yates as governor of
Illinois, carried also into the execu-
tive mansion a charming woman,
his wife. Of Mrs. Helen Wads-
worth Yates, the new first lady of
Illinois, little is now known by the
general public because her husband
is a new figure on the larger politi-
cal horizon. Previous 1 to her ac-
cession to the dignity of the first
lady of the state, Mrs. Yates led a
quiet domestic life in her delight-
ful Jacksonville home. She is now
in the fierce light that beats about
the life of political leaders and the
public in general, and the women
of Illinois especially are interested
in her.

Mrs, Yates is fitted by education,
training and distinguished lineage
to .grace the proud position she
holds, and before her four years as
mistress of the executive mansion
are over she will add another bright
page to its history which other
brilliant women before her have
helped to make. Those who have
come in touch with Mrs. Yates and
felt the genial warmth of her gen-
erous nature, who know her tact
and have perceived her strong men-
tal grasp upon affairs feel that she
will add strength as only an able
woman can to the administration
that has begun so auspiciously for
her distinguished husband.
D Americans are proud to boast
that here a man stands upon his
own feet and that distinguished
ancestry [cannot put a man into
position his own merits cannot win.



This is true. But the pride of an-
cestry is as strong within our
breasts as among the aristocrats of
the old world, and we point with
pride to those numerous examples
among our men of prominence
where the strength and power of
race has extended from generation
to generation. Gov. Yates, the
son of a governor, comes of no
more distinguished Hue than his
wife, who traces her ancestry back
through successive generations of
men distinguished in every line of
endeavor to a strong eld Puritan
who came to America when the
persecution of Cromwell's Ironsides
made England too small to hold
them, and beyond him through
English sires to the time when
another, and the first known, fight-
ing Wadsworth won a crest at the
battle of Aquicourt. Something of
the spirit that induced that stout
warrior to write upon his shield
Aquila non captat muscas, "the eagle
does not catch flies," has stirred
every later generation of Wads-
worth, who have never stooped to
small things.

The first of Mrs. Yates' family to
land in America were William and
Archibald Wadsworth who landed
in Boston harbor some time prior
to 1632. William .became a man of
prominence in the colony and from
him Mrs. Yates' family descended.
The descendants of William and
Archibald successively took their
places in the young country as men
of affairs and helped to make its
history. When the Revolution
came on the Wadsworths took their
place in the army and added luster



210



'1HU IRRIGATION AGE.



to the family name. Among those
who rose to high rank was Mrs.
Yates' great-grandfather, General
Elijah Wadsworth. About this
time another of the family was
president of Harvard college.

When the first tide of emigration
set toward the great West, the
Wadsworths were among those who
came to battle with all the hard-
ships of pioneer life. Edward
Wadsworth, grandfather of the
wife of the present governor,
settled in Ohio and served as cap-
tain in an Ohio regiment in the
war of 1812. The warlike strain
was in all their veins to such an
extent that some of the family were
to be found wherever fighting was
to be done. When Decatur humbled
the Tripoli i an pirates Lieut. Henry
Wadsworth, a youth of nineteen,
lost his life in the attack. Another
patriot of the family was Gen.
James D. Wadsworth of Geneseo,
N. Y., a millionaire, a philan-
thropist and a patron of the arts.
When the Civil War came on he
first outfitted a ship of supplies
and presented it to the government
and then offered his services in any
capacity. Made a brigadier gen-
eral in 186J he fought with great
dash and courage until a bullet at
the battle of the Wilderness ended
his brilliant and patriotic career.

In all the long line of distinguished
sons of the Wadsworth blood the
one whose fame has gone the
broadest and who has writ his name
the highest on the scroll of honor,
the nations great poet Henry Wads-
worth Longfellow stands first. His
mother was a daughter of Gen.



Peleg Wadsworth and the poet's
middle name was for his mother's
family. Thus the author of Evan-
geline was a cousin not far removed
of Mrs. Richard Yates.

Archibald Clark Wadsworth, Mrs.
Yates' father was born in Ohio and
moved to Jacksonville at an early
age. There he engaged in business,
and there his whole life has been
spent. In 1848 he married Delia
Witherby, a member of an old Ver-
mont family. The Wadsworth
family always has been prominent
in the commercial and social life of
their home town. There in 1865
the present governor's wife was
born.

Mrs. Yates received her educa-
tion at the Illinois Womans' Col-
lege, one of the numerous educa-
tional institutions of a city which
takes pride in styling itself the
Athens of Illinois. Taking a high
rank in the intellectual pursuits of
the school, Mrs. Yates graduated
to take her place in the social life
of her home city. Nor did the
duties of society banish her inter-
est in deeper things. She at once
became interested in those ques-
tions that are agitating educated
and progressive women today, and
became an earnest member of sev-
eral clubs devoted to the pursuit of
what is best in literary, musical
and economic lines. The Wednes-
day Musical Club, Household Sci-
ence Club and the Jacksonville
branch of the Daughters of the
Revolution claim Mrs. Yates as a
member. In the clubs she wag a
gifted and earnest , worker, in
society she was talented and popu-



THE IRRIGATION AGE.



21



lar. In 1888 she was married to
Richard Yates then a young law.
yer struggling for a foothold in his
profession. As a matron Mrs.
Yates became a leader and the
Yates home in Jacksonville was
noted for its delightful hospitality
and the charm of its quiet refine-
ment. Two daughters have come
to add to cares and joys, Catharine,



Yates last month there was a pleas-
ing family picture that touched
tenderly upon the heart strings of
everyone who witnessed it.
Grouped around the young incom-
ing governor sat his beautiful wife
and two pretty children and the
proud mother who had sat on that
same platform forty years before
holding him in her lap while his




DOROTHY AND CATHERINE.



aged nine, and Dorothy, aged five.
Today there is not a happier nor
more interesting family circle in
the state than the one that occu-
pies the highest position in Illinois
political life.

In the pomp and ceremony at-
tending the inauguration of Gov.



father was inducted into office.
The yojmger of the governor's
children did not understand the
nature of the long program that
was conferring honor upon her
lather and dreadfully boring her.
Finally childish impatience could
stand the strain no longer and she



212



THE IRRIGATION AGE



began to cry for "papa to stop
reading and go home with her."
But papa couldn't just then stop
unfolding his plans for the govern-
ment of the state and it was not
until grandma's fan became of
startling interest that the little
one's eyes were dried.

An unusual sight that presented
itself during the inauguration was
the presence upon the stage of no
less than four ex- governor's wives.
Around Mrs. Yates sat her mother-
in-law, the wife of the first. Gov.
Richard Yates; Mrs. Tanner, wife
of the outgoing governor, and Mrs.
Oglesby and Mrs. Fifer.

At the governor's reception in
the evening at the executive man-
sion Mrs. Yates made her first ap-
pearance in that social capacity
she will be called upon to exercise



during the next four years. A bit
of sentiment had caused her to
wear for this function the gown in
which she was married, and no fair
and blushing bride ever looke.d
handsomer or prouder than Mrs.
Yates as she received the congrat-
ulations of the immense throng
that passed before her. With her
occupancy of the governor's officia]
residency all classes are pleased.
The masses are pleased with her de-
mocratic spirit and unostentatious
bearing, the great number of club
women are pleased that one of their
number should have risen to dis-
tinction, and the aristocrats repre-
sented by the Daughters of the
American Revolution are proud to
see the representative of the na-
tion's blue blood occupying a sta-
tion befitting its purity.



OUR RAILROADS AND SOME

THINGS THEY HAVE DONE

FOR THE COUNTRY.

BY C. B. PARKER.

With a certain class of would-be politi-
cians or guardians of the better interests
of the dear people, such pessimistic cries
as "the cruel monopoly of the railroads,
extortionate charges of fare and traffic,
railroad legislation, or favoritism of the
corporations by Congress and State legis-
latures, carrying or passing friends free
and charging their foes and the masses
fare," are often heard. Now there may
be much of truth in these charges, and the
writer is inclined to believe there is, for
railroads are born and operated by men,
and human nature being much the same
everywhere, we have selfishness as well as
generosity to contend with, and we believe
that one blessed with a happier optimistic
spirit can see in the railroads of our coun-
try the greatest boon given to man, and
not alone in the development of the coun-
try, but of manhood, morals, the schools,
churches, and all that makes life worth the
living.

A PEW OBSERVATIONS AND PERSONAL
REMINESENCES.

During the winter of 1844-45 it was our
fortune (or otherwise) to make the journey
from Geneseo, N. Y. , to the then far west
delphi, Indiana, via Erie. Cleveland. Toledo
and Fort Wayne. These were the good
old days of prehistoric railroads. Our
modus was a team and wagon; time re-
quired, 30 days, suffering and discomfort
non-computable. Then our parents found
very cheap land there worth $3 and $5 to
$10 per acre. Years later the railroads
came, and twenty-five years ago those



lands were worth $50 to $100 per acre-
Later, during the '60's, it was the writ-
er's mission to make the journey from
Otflaha, Neb., to Portland, Ore.; again in
advance of railroads this required six
months time, and not an acre of the land
passed over was considered worth the tak-
ing as a free gift from government, and
the roaming bands of wild Indians were
chasing the countless millions of no wilder
buffalo to the delight of the miserable
cyote, that flourished on the slain or crip-
pled buffalo, as would the politician crying
railroad monopoly off the corporations,
could he.

Later the railroads followed our pioneer
wagon trail, and now the tourist or emi-
grant can make the trip in palace cars in
three days, for $30, and see fine towns and
cities all along the way, and as fine farms
as are in Ohio, Illinois, or New York, and
worth $30 to $100 per acre. And Nebraska
forty, years ago only a "howling desert"
territory, is to-day the leading. State of
the Union, as to railroads, schools and
churches, and ranks as No. 1 in lowest
percentage of illiteracy of any State in the
Union.

While it is true the Northern Pacific
Co. first broke Nebraska's virgin soil for
railroad purposes, to the B. & M. or exten-
sion of the C. B. & Q. must be given the
credit as the great industrial as well as
moral reform promoter of the great West.
If asked how as to moral reform, we an-
swer, in building and causing to. be built
more towns, schools and churches than all
other causes; by giving employment to
more brainy young men and developing
them into financial and industrial giants.
Along this line the railroads have done



214



THE IRRIGATION AGE.



more, and have a greater number of able
men than all other industries, including
the profession of law, as to enforced mo-
rality. All employees are required to ab-
stain from the curse of drunkenness, in-
cluding moderate drinking.

As to favoritism and passes for friends,
it is one of many ways of showing grati-
tude to friends, and we are frank to con-
fess we like the plan. For several years
we never were refused a favor asked along
this line; during the past ten years we
have traveled many thousand miles and
paid full fare for every mile, not asking
favors in an instance, hence this is not
offered as recompense for pist favors, nor
are we to any extent mixed in politics or
railroad ''favoritism," but only that jus-
tice may be meeted where so justly due.
And if it be true that hundreds of averi-
cious minds have extorted millions unjustly
from the masses, it is equally true that
hundreds? of thousands of better inclined
men have come up from a job at $1.25 a
day on the section to $3.000 or $10.000 a
year with comfortable homes arid happy
families; and the way is open to any sober,
industrious young man to "go up" just as
fast as he is worthy of promotion; and for
every politician that rides on a free pass
may you all worthy philanthropists,
preachers, lecturers and reformers be fa-
vored as well as the poor and afflicted.

Stand up for the railroads.



LIVELY RACE IS WON.

Because Her Majesty, the Queen of
England, had urgent need of divers im-
portant documents of state contained in
256 sacks of mail from far-away New Zeal-
and, seventeen men emptied a loaded ex-
press car in seventeen minutes t the
Grand Central statitin to-day, and then
skilled drivers drove three teams headlong
through the city streets to catch the steam-
ship Campania, scheduled to sail for Liver-
pool at 11 o'clock



The fast special mail that brings letters
and packages from the uttermost parts of
the Occident to N*w York and the rest of
the effete East was ten minutes late, and
that meant a record-breaking trip to the
big Cunarder lying at pier 51, North River.

Uncle Sam's dash through the city was
successful, for the mail caught the steam-
ship just before the lines were cast off,
and Queen Victoria's prime minister will
get his letters in good time.

The race against time began in SanFran-
cisco the day before Christmas, when the
256 sacks of mail, 15 of which were from
New Zealand, the rest coming from Aus-
trailia, arrived at the Golden Gate. The
mail steamship left Melbourne on Nov. 30,
touched at Sydney on Dec. 1, Auckland
five days later and Honolulu on Dec. 17.

Long before its arrival word was carried
about that the mail contained documents
from the New Zealand government that
should reach London by Jan. 5. It was
a long race across an ocean and a conti-
nent, and Uncle Sana's officials determined
to do their best to rush the mails through.

Messages were flashed across the coun-
try, and the steamship line, working in
connection with Superintendent Maze of
the foreign mail service, arranged for the
delivery of the bags aboard the Campania.
A tug was made ready to carry the mail
from the foot of Fortieth street if neces-
sary, but it was rushed aboard the train
that was to speed it east. Across the
plains and mountains it flew in a special
express car, which was piled to the roof
with the heavily laden sacks.

Across the Mississippi and into Chicago
the train flew, and then the car was shift-
ed to another train that carried it through
Cleveland to Buffalo and thence to Al-
bany. The special mail o?er the New
York Central whirled it down from Albany
to New York without a stop.

At the Grand Central annex stood a
force of men under Chief Mail Clerk Ed-
ward Herr waiting for the bags. Station



THE IRRIGA110N AGE.



215



Agent Downer and Foreman E. N. Edell
of the Grand Central station had every-
thing clear at this end. Three mammoth
wire-screened vans stood in Depew place,
each with a pair of horses that had a re-
cord of thirteen minutes from the Grand
Central station to the Christopher street
ferry.

The special mail puffed on track ten
minutes late. Its time of arrival is 10
o'clock. Uncle Sam's representatives
sprang at the sealed mail car, and the
doors flew open.

Then it rained mail sacks for seventeen
minutes. The car was shifted into the
canal along the side of th baggage rooms,
and the sacks were flung first on the bag-
gage room floor, and thence into the mail
wagons backed up to the doors on the
other side.

Amid a bedlam of shouts, yells of offi-
cials checking off each sack as it was flung
in, and a running to and fro of other men
giving special directions for the route to
the steamship, the mail was loaded up.

Across Forty-second street to Eighth
avenue the wagons flew down Eighch ave-
nue to Fifteenth street, across Fifteenth
street to Tenth avenue, and thence to
Twelfth street, bringing up at the Cunard
.pier as the crew of the Campania were pre-
paring for the final order to cast off.

The queen's mail came from New Zeal-
and in a ship that was making her maiden
voyage over the South Sea route, the So-
noma. Built by the Cramps, she flies the
American flag, and she is called "the
flyer of the Pacific." In its career around
the world the mail covered some 18,000
.miles.



TAKING AN INVENTORY.

All successfull Business men annual in-
voice their stock; they are not simply sat-
isfied with a bank account which shows
'that they are grov/ing in financial strength;
ut the stock on hand is gone over that



just what is on hand may be known and
also what its present value, whether it has
advanced or depreciated, whethe certain
classes of stock are ready or slow sale and
all like considerations that the yearly in-
ventory reveals to the thorough going
business man.

The farmer usually knows how many
head of horses, cattle, tfheep and pigs are
on the farm and can closely estimate tiie
bushels of wheat oats or corn and the
quantity of timber but these are not the
most valuable facts that an invoice on the
farm should disclose. But rather, how
many acres have been required to sustain a
given number of cows sheep or pigs. What
are the yields per acre, what the profitable-
ness of cerfain kinds of grain, what the
farm knowledge gained from the experiment
patch, what has a well systematized corp
rotation done for the- farm, what has the
flock of hens done towards lessening the
cash outlay for household expenses, what
has the garden paid, what has been the ac-
tual amount paid in cash or trade for fam
ily expenses, what expenses have been in-
curred for farm machinery and repairs, are
there unncessary fences on the farm, what
disposition has been made of manure, and
like questions should be answered as the
season's harvest reveals the contents of
storehouse and barn.