Overland Monthly Reports: II. An Index to California Dairying Conditions [pp. 519-521]

OVERLAND MONTHLY REPORTS.
dred thousand dollars, may serve to show
how some difficulties in the way of water
diversion may be overcome.
This last mentioned structure has been
undertaken by two irrigation districts organized under the law enacted in 1887,
which authorizes the establishment of
districts with municipal powers for the
acquirement of water and the construction of works for its distribution. Under
its operations more than thirty irrigation
districts have been organized, more than
ten million dollars in bonds for the furthering of irrigation work were issued,
and a new stimulus was given to irrigation development. Much is hoped from
the operation of this law, but the progress
thus far made under the system has not
been entirely free from disappointment.
On all sides, however, the fact is being recognized that irrigation is of advantage and desirable, even where not necessary, and that the introduction of irrigation leads to a higher use of the soil.
A mere glance at the vast dry-farmed
grain fields of the Sacrainento valley, one
hundred and fifty miles long, thirty miles
wide, threaded by the State's principal
rivers, whose waters flow unused to the
sea, may illustrate the possibilities of future development.
For examples of advanced irrigation development,
look to the Southern counties, among other localities: Redlands, Riverside, East Riverside,
the vicinity of Los Angeles, National City, and
the vicinity of San Diego; also to the surroundings of Fresno, Hanford, or Bakersfield.
Irrigation and irrigation works on large scale:
Calloway canal, and Kern Valley Water Company's works on Kern river, Kern county;
Alta Irrigation District canal on the south side
of Kings river, Fresno and Tulare counties;
Crocker-Hoffman canal on the south side of Merced river, Merced county; San Joaquin and
Kings River canal on the west side of San Joaquin river, Stanislaus and Merced counties, and
many others.
Wotable diverting dams:- Turlock and Modesto irrigation district dam at La Grange, Tuolumne river, Stanislaus county; Folsom Water
Power Company's dam at Folsom, American
river, Sacramento county.
Storage works of note:- Sweetwater dam, San
Diego county; Bear Valley dam, San Bernardino county.
Artesian wells:- Those of Pomona are well
known. A group of wells in the artesian basin
of Santa Ana river supplies water to Gage canal.
In the San Joaquin valley near the northern line
of Kern county are many whose flow exceeds
I,ooo,ooo gallons per day.
Windmills:- Within a radius of two miles of
Florin, Sacramento county, are 500 windmills,
raising water from wells for irrigation, each with
a duty of one to five acres.
Steam Pumps raising water from wells for irrigation can be seen near Woodland, Yolo county;
at Florin, Sacramento county; at Victor, Tulare
county; Colmena, Yuba county.
QX.
11.-AN INDEX TO CALIFORNIA DAIRYING CONDITIONS.
REPORTED BY SAMUEL E. WATSON.
IT IS difficult to make a concrete state ment which will give any comprehensive idea of dairying in particular localities
of the State. The industry began in the
mountain valleys adjacent to the mining
regions, and the American cows tied behind the wagons of the gold-seekers in
I849 and succeeding years were the foundation for our present dairy stock. The
mountainous and isolated valleys of the
Sierra constitute an important division
of dairying, for local demands, at the present time, and the climatic conditions in
these places range nearer those of the
East than elsewhere in the State, yet
varying with different altitudes and exposures.
The main grazing lands; which have
been given over to dairying for the past
thirty years, are those immediately facing
the ocean, beginning a hundred miles
north of San Francisco on narrow plateaus
in front of the redwood belt and extending along the hills contiguous to San Francisco bay and south to Point Conception,
comprising a district of coastline four hundred miles in length. The climate of this
region is peculiarly favorable for dairying and the temperature seldom runs below forty degrees in winter or above
eighty in the summer season, and with
the first rains in October grass and herbage spring up and continue luxuriantly
until grazed down and the June sun cures
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