The Cross Section, Volume 14, Number 4, September 1967 Page: 1
4 pages : illustrations, mapsView a full description of this periodical.
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C >0s 4A '- - -'. `^ : . . FA Monthly Publication of the High Plains Underground Water Conservation District No. I
Vol. 14--No. 4
"THERE IS NO SUBSTITUTE FOR WATER""
September 1967
SPRINKLER
IRRIGATION
Declining water, small producing
wells, a decrease in net profits, and
high costs of labor are factors that all
High Plains farmers must live with in
today's agricultural trend.
What's the answer?-Many agree, a
more efficient way to irrigate.
For some farmers sprinkler irriga-
tion has solved the above mentioned
problems associated with farming.
Automatic sprinkler irrigation has
improved vastly since its early con-
ception. The first sprinkler systems
that were put in use were very sim-
ple, usually being sections of alumi-
num flow line with sprinkler heads
attached. These systems were effec-
tive but required a great deal of labor
and time to move from one set to an-
other. Frequently the lines accumu-
lated sand in them and made them
very difficult to move.
Realizing the great potential for a
water and labor saving device, the
manufacturers of sprinkler irrigation
systems designed and built in the ear-
ly 40's the automatic sprinkler sys-
tems now being used in t h e H i g h
Plains of Texas.
Many areas are using sprinkler sys-
tems exclusively to irrigate farm land.
Other areas are beginning t o u s e
them and in future years it is predic-
ted that almost all irrigating of farm
land on the High Plains will be done
(Continued on Page 4)WHY WATER, Incorporated?
Approximate Depth
To Water Map
The map on Pages 2 and 3 of this
issue shows the approximate depth to
water below the land surface in the
High Plains Underground Water Con-
servation District No. 1.
The map was constructed from data
assembled by the District from the
1967 measurements of more than 800
observation wells within the bounds
of the Water District.
The map is contoured on 20 ft. in-
tervals with consideration g i v e n to
the general geological and hydrologi-
cal conditions as known by the Dis-
trict.
The water l e v e l measurements
were not corrected to a standard ele-
vation, therefore local surface relief
in a particular area should be con-
sidered when using t h i s map as a
guide for local depths to water.
We hope this map will give our
readers a general knowledge of the
depths to water in various areas of
the Water District.Winding and twisting for 455 miles
up the vast central valley of Califor-
nia stretches a man-made river. A riv-
er two hundred and fifty feet wide,
fifty feet deep and concreted sides
and bottom. Like a golden a r m, it
threads its way through the Sierra
Nevada mountains to the town of Oro-
ville, California, s o m e seventy-five
miles northeast of the City of San
Francisco and on until its gaping head
gates intercept the surging, turbu-
lence of the Feather River below the
mighty Oroville dam. Spectators stand
high in the overlook area, awe strick-
en by the massive magnificence of
this mighty dam--more like than not
fail to give as much as a single
thought to the days on end of plan-
ning and study and work necessary to
transmitting a dream, like the "Big
O", into the reality it has become to-
day. A dream that will go for genera-
tions with its true value still unde-
termined, for it was this dream that
will shape the entire future of the
California Central Valley, as well as
much of the s o u t h e r n part of the
State.
Sometime in the early s t a g e s of
thinking about a water supply that
would divert desert lands to dollar
lands and fill the drinking cups of
millions of citizens, a perceptive Cal-
ifornian coined the word "Imagineer-ing", and with it sold an idea to a
thought-minded core of California cit-
izens-a core of men with distance in
their vision who refused to bow be-
fore the immensity of the task of har-
nessing the ravaging, turbulent river,
and moving its water through lifts
and a canal for hundreds of miles to
the thirsty areas of greater California.
While this has been going on in the
West, most Texans have been prone
to continue resting under their laur-
als satisfied by just keeping on skin-
ning their sheep. Smug in our ideas
that Texas has no problem of water
for sky-rocketing populations, expan-
ding industry, and an agricultural po-
tential far greater than that of Cali-
fornia, is a fault of our n a t i v e s.
Surely there will c o m e a day, and
when it does, the natural conclusion
can only be either-we are not too
bright-or, we think we have become
too SMART to DREAM.
Population bulletins tell us that by
1975, Texas will have b e c o m e the
third largest state in the Nation. Still,
a century ago, a wise old C h i n e s e
warned mankind:
"WOE IS HE WHO WAITS TO
BEGIN DIGGING A WELL UNTIL HE
HAS BECOME THIRSTY."
Californians have not waited to be-gin digging, and they have kept dig-
ging. The tough minded core of indi-
viduals with distance in their vision
banded themselves together into an
organization and called the organiza-
tion "The Feather River Association,"
-nonprofit, nonpolitical and with a
single purpose-to develop a water
supply for the central valley of Cali-
fornia. Across the entire State, WA-
TER became a PEOPLE PROBLEM,
and the people pitched in to help.
And that is why Water, Incorporat-
ed has been nutured into existence in
West Texas.
Water for West Texas is a people
problem. It is not a Sam problem, or
a Henry problem, or a George prob-
lem, or a problem for High Plains Wa-
ter District. It is everybodies problem.
And a problem that could slowly e-
volve into disaster, if every business-
man, landowner, professional m a n,
preacher, teacher, service station op-
erator, TV repairman, barber, rabbi,
or housewife does not become fully
educated to its importance. The apa-
thy that exists, and the great danger
of letting that apathy blank our minds
is frightening in itself. The popular
attitude seems to be that an abun-
dance of good water is something that
God owes us because we are West
Texans.
(Continued on Page 4)ICPa.L
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High Plains Underground Water Conservation District No. 1 (Tex.). The Cross Section, Volume 14, Number 4, September 1967, periodical, September 1967; Lubbock, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1532910/m1/1/: accessed June 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.