Bethel University - Spire Yearbook (St Paul, MN)

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THE A C 0 R N 7 f aimers were already in an ugly mood at seeing so much water passing them and and going to those below. As far as John could see there would be less water every day. 'Phis made it necessary that ho lower the gates of each farm as lie went down that those below might at least get some water. As he rode along the high side-hill he reflected on all these things. There were no gates along tins hill, as the fanners below received their water from another canal. All he had to do was to watch for gopher holes or other crevices through which the water might be making its way. Xow and then he would see some water coming out of the high bank. He knew it came from the canal, but just where It stained, it sometimes took hours to find out. Sometimes, as he was trying to find the hole, he would see the stream at the foot of the high bank increase. This hastened his anxiety. What if he could not find the opening until it was so large that he could not stop it with a shovel. This, of course, would mean a washout, which at this critical time was the worst thing that could happen, it was nearly noon when lie arrived at the first gate. He was tired and out of humor. The farmer who took his water through this ga‘e had ordered two hundred inches, but as there was only about one halt as much water in the canal as it would take to fill all that was ordered, he bad to half shut the gate. lie was in the act of doing this when he saw the farmer coming up the ditch with long strides. Good morning, Mr. Scheidiger. said John. What have you mit all the water done? said Scheidiger without answering the greeting. —and here have you my gate nearly shut. What do you crazy ditch-riders do anyway? My crop is drying, yet you just put n ' gate down all the time. I will go to Benton to sue the company, and they will have to pay for my whole crop. Then I will find out if they can’t hire common sensahle men lor ditch-riders.” To tliis volley of threats, John gave no answer. He simply rode on, warning Mr. Scheidiger not to meddle with the lock on the gale. At the next gate he found a trench dug around the gate from the canal into the ditch. He had filled up the trench, entirely shut the gate, and was putting a sign or • .No Trcaspassing on it when the farmer’s sen ai rived at the place. John paid no attention to the young man. but kept right n wi h his work. The young farmer looked at the filled trench with a guilty look. He evidently felt to humilatod at being caught in the theft to have courage enough to censure John for closing the gate. When .John was done, he looked around and said, Hello Jack, nice dry weather we are having. isn’t it? Yes, the weather is dry enough. said Jack, and so are the ditches.” Weil, some cl them at least, were not dry during the night, replied John. I don’t care if they weren’t. We did not have half our share of the water after you meddled with the gate yesterday. It is just like father says, you are always helping those fellows down along the canal, so they get more than their share of the water. Hut just wait till we have threshed and find our kernels are dried up little things, that won t weigh anything. Then they will tell us how poor farmers we are.” John replied, “Well. I am not here to say who can farm best. 1 am here to look after this canal, and I will do it. If anyone I as not got more respect for right and law than to steal water from his neighbors as you did here last night. I have the right to close his gates. And that is just what I have done.” At nearly every gate John had some encounter. He was getting very tired and his horse was about to drop in his tracks. About five o’clock in the afternoon he arrived at Johnson’s one of tlie last farmers

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0 THE ACORN WHAT IRRIGATION MEANS TO THE DITCH-RIDER By Joel Burkman ’ll. John Anderson looked very tired, and out of sons as he saddled his horse preparatory to beginning his days work. The last few days had been very strenuous, and the farmers were more than usually discontent ed.. John lived in one of the many valleys between the Rockies and the Cascade Mountains. lie was supposed to take care of a large ditch that supplied a stretch of country with water. This canal ran along close to the side of a lava mountain, and in one place went right through a promontory of these lavas. When the canal had passed this, it ran along near the top of a tide-hill over forty feet higher than the plain below, in this side-hill the formation was not of the kind that easily holds water: layers of lava were frequent, and although thousands of dollars had been spent in trying to cement all the crevices in which the water was constantly escaping, it was still leaking in many places. No matter how closely it was watched the water would every once in a while transform one of these small cracks into a large washout that it often cost, thousands of dollars to repair. But more than that, it also took time—and time could only be valued by the price of the magnificicnt crops on those vast tracks of land that were deponent on the canal for their moisture. If the water should cease running for a week the crops would be a total loss: if but for a day. the loss, would yet be very great. This was one of the many things John was supposed to look out for and prevent. There were other phases of his work which while they were not so hard in some ways as the one mentioned, they were the more vexatious in other respects. From the canal, ditches led to each farm, or laterals to each group of farmers living together some distance from the main canal. At the head of each ditch and lateral tile water was measured, so that each tanner would get his share; and then again at the head of each private ditch that led out of the laterals. Otherwise, those who lived at the lower end would not get a drop of water, of course, those who lived nearer the head of the lateral never got enough, no matter how much they took, 'i'llis caused constant conflicts between the Mitch rider” (as the caretaker of the canal is called) and the farmeis, ami also between the farmers themselves, whenever they chanced to meet. Very little snow had fallen the previous winter. The river was, therefore, much lower than usual; and although the dam which was to raise the wafer in the river. jo that there should he a sufficient stream entering the canal, had been repeatedly repaiied and made higher, there was still not nearly enough water entering the canal «o fill the amount ordered. The canal company would have raised the dam still more, but the government had forbidden any more dams or other obstructions to be placed in the river, since a few miles below the river was entirely dry. and the animals and even the people were suffering for the want of water. Under these circumstances it was not to be wondered at. that the farmers were discontented: and it was of course only natural that John should receive all their surplus temper. When John had gotten up in the morning and looked at the canal, he had seen to his dismay that it contained even less water Ilian usual. He knew well what this meant. The farmer who had been almost desperate tefore at seeing their crops drying, would l c all the worse now. He had telephoned the manager urging him to send down more water, but was told that it would be impossible to send down any more for the

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THE ACORN $ under the canal. Mr. Johnson was silting on the gate as John came riding slowly up. Hello there.” shouted Mr. Johnson while John was yet far away, “I thought you would he coming soon, for 1 saw the water rising in the canal. How are you anyway— you look so tired?” Thank you,” said John, I am all right only a little hungry. You see I have not had a bite to eat since five o'clock this morning.” Ha! Ila! Is that all that ails the boy. Come right up to the house and my wife will have you feeling fine in a jiffy. You take your horse up to the barn and care for him while I go and tell Mary to get some grub ready.” When John had refreshed himself, he continued °n his round until he had been to all the farmers. He stayed at Johnson’s over night. The next morning John got up about three o’clock to look at the water. To his dismay he found that the water in the ditches was much lower than it had been the previous evening. He quickly saddled his horse and started off up the ditch to see what the matter. Either several of the farmers had opened there gates, or else the canal had washed out. The morning was very cold and damp. No rain had yet fallen, but it looked as if it might start at any moment. John rode on with feverish haste. He felt how the horse shivered from exhaustion; still he did not stop. What were a few hardships on his part, or the life of a horse, compared with all those magnificent crops. The rain soon began to fall and made the banks so wet that the horse slipped at almost every step. When John came to the side-hill he kept right on riding on the bank, because be could there better see if the water was increasing or not. although he knew that the horse might at any moment slip on the narrow bank and plunge headlong down the forty foot dike. The flow of water was steadily de- creasing as he went on. If all the water was rushing down that high bank, there certainly was no hope of stopping it by band. And just think what an opening it was making in the canal bank, and how many farms would not be destroyed by the runaway stream! There were many farms, also ditches, aiul levees, which it had taken years of hard labor to construct, that would be utterly destroyed. Then there were those larger farms, and especially that big company farm. Suppose the water was running over them. Their owners would sue the canal company for immense sums of money. These thoughts filled his mind as he rode on, blaming himself because he had not ridden up the canal the night before, instead of resting. As he rode on he heard a sound louder than the noise made by the wind and the rain. What was it? When lie came nearer he heard the roar of falling water. His worst fears were realized. The canal had washed out. and with terrible force the water was over-running acre upon acre of grain. He scarcely glanced at the tremendous wash-out as he hurried with the same feverish haste to the first waste canal, three miles farther up, to turn off the water. (The waste canals are dug at intervals along the main canal and into these, the water is turned at any emergency. They conduct the water to the river or some slough where it can do noharm). When John had the water running safely down this waste ditch, he telephoned up to headquarters, telling them of the wash-out and that they could use all the water, since it would only go to waste where he was. There was now a general stir-up througn-out the settlements below the washout. “What's the matter with the water? Where is that old ditch-rider.” were the words the farmers greeted one another with when they chanced to meet. Soon the awful truth was learned. Wagons, loaded with