Only the smallest fraction of it has
as yet been harnessed for the generation of the electric current. As
electric generation increases, it should be comparatively easy for
the farmer to secure sufficient electric power to run the pump. This
has already become an established practice in districts where
electric power is available.
During the last few years considerable work has been done to
determine the feasibility of raising water for irrigation by
pumping. Fortier reports that successful results have been obtained
in Colorado, Wyoming, and Montana. He declares that a good type of
windmill located in a district where the average wind movement is
ten miles per hour can lift enough water twenty feet to irrigate
five acres of land. Wherever the water is near the surface this
should be easy of accomplishment. Vernon, Lovett, and Scott, who
worked under New Mexico conditions, have reported that crops can be
produced profitably by the use of water raised to the surface for
irrigation. Fleming and Stoneking, who conducted very careful
experiments on the subject in New Mexico, found that the cost of
raising through one foot a quantity of water corresponding to a
depth of one foot over one acre of land varied from a cent and an
eighth to nearly twenty-nine cents, with an average of a little more
than ten cents.
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