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The Commoner.
VOLUME 9, NUMBER 11
Remarkably Successfu
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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.
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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
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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.
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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
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Profile of the Six Sections of tbc Canal, Sboirt"
Write SAN BENITO LAND AND WATER COMPANY, P. O. Box ft
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