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About The commoner. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-1923 | View Entire Issue (March 26, 1909)
K fTrr-r-Mrw - The Commoner. VOLUME 9, NUMBER 11 Remarkably Successfu I in "th Lowor ft w; : - myyW & & ''...' ,?...': ''' X .!:"'. &$f .;. ,.":, , &ty..y ; y-- -y- I m r Source of Our IiicxImuhIUiIc Water Supply MiiJcMtlc IUo Grande nt Headgatc. No. 2. How long will water run down hill? Always. That's easy, Isn't It? It's tho little, simple, "easy" things that count most in this life WHEN PROP- EllLY APPLIED. , Al , , . A machino of fewest parts is host. Inventions founded on the simplest principles are usually most valuable. Sciontillc achievements based on the oldest, best known laws are the most practicable and tho most reliable. YOU know that. i , So it is with tho wonderful irrigation system at San Benito. It's based on the simpio, well-known fact that WATER SEEKS ITS OWN LEVEL. IT ALWAYS RUNS DOWN HILL. This is the foundation of tho assurance you have of an ofilcient and sufllcloiit water supply at San Bonito at all times. This was tho only factor in tho farming equation in tho Lower Rio Grando Valloy that was wanting an adequate water supply. NATURAL CONDITIONS IDEAL Hero was soil rich, alluvial silt, doposltod through the ages by the (vaters of this river, for San Benito lies In the midst of the Delta of the historic Rio Grando. wrmmmmm ?.S:XW;Jgg;2 k"C;Mvi'AvXVA'55 mm. b;,.Vjv-: 912 MMiimiiniipniiiMiamnmHMnnniiiimaMB ttf itim&gimsKiSSggmg,--r--V"iiiS - AaJB'xKSB" fit :$m&m;KS . . : ..n assbrsss'Shsws.. m$zmm&.m9mimM&&mmm& mmsasum vmmwmmmmmmm i immKimffltfflmw' i.. m? - && ;y:yviF.Mmyyy.:y rvii H M .' UV :3"timi . '. ... . .v .:. ... .:; .'- '.. -. . : . 0 ... .. . - IK li X 111 LBHjM.ri.iMI Ureat uraviuy system in niijjciiiwii, nnuv;. iuuu&ana Acres d Ordinary Inigation Uvercome, Making ban Benito 4 Productive Acres Selling Rapid). He knew that the Lower Rio Grande Valley J He knew it was a "MADE CO.UNTRY." 1 He knew that the silt and debris brought do upper country oy me current oi tne mo Grande i ited by its overflows, had built the land. ' He knew that it deposited the silt more rapidly n and that the banks were thus built higher thai rounamg country, it was eviuent tnat tne wate AWAY from the river, instead of TOWARD it, ail the case. He knew it was "made land," because the sau is still going on farther down at the mouth of thef Rio Grande is still building land at its mouth. h ertson's own words: UcmlKnto of the Sim Ilunlto Gravity Cnnal System Concrete and Steel CoHt $(10,000. Hero was a delightful, evon climate, not too hot, never too cold. Here was sunshine on an average about 350 days in the year of life-giving heat. And finally, horo was a railroad running right along the coast, affording transportation facilities to the Texas cities, and from thence to the largor markets of tho Northern cities. Here, in fact, were ALL the conditions necessary to ideal farming, EXCEPT THE WATER. And now that tho water problem has been solved in such a practical, common sonso manner, guaranteeing an abundant supply just when needed and where needed (never too much), farming at San Benito is reduced sub stantially to a SCIENTIFIC BASIS. Tho farmer can, as a rule, FIGURE HIS RETURNS WHEN HE PLANTS HIS SIDED. This is tho security wo offer you, and all homeseekers it San Benito. HOW this inexhaustible water supply was secured is an interesting story. fa When Sam Robertson, the civil engineer and father of tho San Benito enterprise, was building tho main lino of tho St. Louis, Brownsville & Mexico Railway into Brownsville, ho discovered the possibilities of the gyeat gravity system of irrigation, and, as he says, kept it under his hat until ho found financial backing. nat '.''.:.: :'Sx: ?"'?''?. ''-nxM'-'- j--.::y.vS:. :-. i i T"""iiiiiimi !! !! nmmumiMMiui-j ""3iSSfiatttt- - 7 i,u.. inuiu vnum, MR. ROBERTSON'S STORY "When constructing the main line of tho ra! Brownsville, I came to the old, dry, deserted Resa bed, at what is now San Benito, and a new confl fronted me. In all my previous experience in coi railroads, -when crossing a river, or river bed, of any kind, I found it necessary to build the apj the trestle by filling in dirt, in order to maintaial Snm A. RobcrtHon, Civil Engineer, "Father" of the Wonderful Scheme of Gravity Irrigation Now In stalled at San Benito. fr(r fa) Xr CS But here I found I had to make a four foot cut through the banks of this Resaca to keep my level. I dis covered that the banks of the old dry river bed were higher than the sur rounding country. It set me to thinking,, jar!?- I'ljegan to 'ride the country and study it, taking levels and running preliminary surveys. I discovered that these old Resacas ex tended for many miles through this delta, even to the Gulf of Mexico; that their banks, like the banks of the present river, were also higher than the surrounding country, and that they were without doubt the old original beds of the Rio Grande ages ago, before it changed to its present course. My surveys showed that the highest elevation was at the river bank, and that after falling somewhat abruptly for a mile and a half, it continued to fall two feet to the mile. I found that the banks of the river were twenty-five feet and the bottom of the river eight feet higher than the top of the rails where San Benito now stands. It was plain that all that was necessary to make a complete gravity canal system was to get the water out of the river by means of a headgate and an artificial channel through the highlands that form the river bed into the old dry river bed or Resaca, and thence through the high banks of tho Resaca onto the land." ONLY GRAVITY CANAL IN THE VALLEY This foresight on the part of Mr. Robertson gave to the San Benito Land and Water Company the only gravity canal in the Lower Rio Grande Valley, and the best irrigation system in the Southwest. In stead of LIFTING the water from one to three times by means of pumps, as is so often done, we DROP it by gravity FIVE times through our locks and dams. Thus it is that, by utilizing an old, dry and de serted river bed, our main canal is thirty-seven miles long, averaging 250 feet in width and 20 feet in depth and containing 20,000 acre feet of storage. I hat is, when full, our canal holds water enough to Miy rihwvt-Hib ? ft snaa W?i r lw5nU&l W MarMf i T r IT && y I I Pace of the Massive Ileadgatcs Wall Showing tbc 81 atlon anu me om $&$ P0WW&W? I s& m Miymymm illf II iiili 11 ill m m TCHHniMMX3&tnHK& MMWraKyfcXgtt:aif. Iiock io. 3 on Our Gravity Cani N ew Ifeafl h'atfrj.a ftrsf Section Til 1 &fffn?tMbr4Qq I All Llo LI CI IA3U. wr imam www - ii . a Pot Headgate MtUJSj """" Booklet i . V rree .tbor Prop 3econd3tcficn the Mat 'files no Profile of the Six Sections of tbc Canal, Sboirt" Write SAN BENITO LAND AND WATER COMPANY, P. O. Box ft f" WHWWWjinw A.jJ.iuiHh.anntthlHidiii Vrtumtti; -Aj