The first national government irrigation investigations were authorized by the annual appropriation act of June 16, 1880 (21 Stat. L., 293, 295), which provided five thousand dollars for "the purpose of enabling the Commissioner of Agriculture to procure data touching the agricultural needs of the arid region of the United States." The Commissioner was also authorized to contract for the sinking of two artesian wells on the plains east of the Rocky Mountains." Other activities were subsequently carried on by the Department of Agriculture, and the Geological Survey gave considerable attention to the subject prior to 1892.

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More extensive and general work by the former was authorized by the act of July 5, 1892 (27 Stat. L., 74, 76), which provided for the collection of information as to the best modes of agriculture by irrigation. This function was rendered more important by the act of August 18, 1894 (28 Stat. L., 372, 422), which attempted to encourage states to foster the irrigation and reclamation of lands, the act being subsequently modified by the Carey Act.

The Secretary's power was enhanced by the act of March 22, 1898 (30 Stat. L., 330, 335), which appropriated ten thousand dollars for "the purpose of collecting from agricultural colleges, agricultural experiment stations, and other sources, including the employment of practical agents, valuable information and data on the subject of irrigation, and publishing the same in bulletin form." The administration of this law devolved upon the Office of Experiment Stations. Further duties were required by the act of March 1, 1899 (30 Stat. L., 947, 953), which required investigations and reports upon the laws relating to irrigation and the use of irrigation water, and suggestions as to better methods for the utilization of irrigation waters than was then being commonly realized in farming. It specifically directed the experiment stations to coöperate with the Secretary of Agriculture in carrying out the investigations "in such a manner and to such extent as may be warranted by a due regard to the varying conditions and needs of the respective states and territories as may be mutually agreed upon." To these functions was added that of reporting "upon plans for the removal of seepage and surplus water of drainage, and upon the use of different kinds of power and appliances for irrigation and drainage" by the act of April 23, 1904 (33 Stat. L., 276, 294).

To formulate plans for the administration of the act of 1898, the Office of Experiment Stations called a conference of experiment station officers and irrigation engineers at Denver. Here it was decided to confine the early endeavors of the Office to two general lines of work: "(1) The collection and publication of information regarding the laws and institutions of the irrigated region in their relation to agriculture, and (2) the publication of available information regarding the use of irrigation waters in agriculture, as determined by actual experience of farmers and experimental investigations, and the encouragement of further investigations in this line by the experiment stations.”

Regarding the first category of activities the Office planned: "(1) To aid courts and administrative officers in the adjudication of claims respecting water rights; (2) to bring out the defects in existing laws and methods of administration, and to furnish impartial and adequate information on which wiser and more equitable legislation and court decisions may be based, and (3) to assist farmers in the acquirement of water rights and to protect their interests in the appropriation and use of water for irrigation."

To proceed with these activities it was immediately necessary to increase the staff. The state engineer of Wyoming, Professor Elwood Mead, was appointed to direct the investigation. A headquarters of irrigation work was established at Cheyenne, and an expert and a clerical force for this center was developed to correspond with the growing needs of the Office. It was suggested that college students fit themselves for irrigation investigations under the Office, and the Office endeavored to utilize the services of station officers in many of the states, particularly in the West. Later arrangements were made for coöperation not only with the agricultural colleges but with state engineer offices also, in the attempt to coördinate widely separated investigations. Later another branch office was established at Berkeley, California; resident agents were located in various arid states; and drainage engineers were detailed to selected localities. State experiment sub-stations were utilized for demonstration work for the observation of farmers. A complete organization for technical research in irrigation and drainage was thus evolved, and a subsidiary system of extension workers to communicate the practical results of the research to the farmers not only through correspondence and bulletins, but also through personal advice, lectures, and farm demonstrations.

To the basic investigation activities of the Office of Experiment Stations were added many cognate ones within the succeeding two decades. The study of irrigation laws and institutions was directed to interstate streams and to foreign waters, in the hope that future irrigation contracts might be made with the maximum economy of water. Largely through the efforts of the Office, many of the arid states adopted codes of irrigation laws which made land development more feasible.

Measurements of water were made to show the basis for the establishment of water rights. These measurements were made in nearly every arid state as well as in many humid sections, and in the insular possessions. The Colorado Agricultural College maintained a hydraulic laboratory for this purpose.

The operative duty of the water was likewise investigated in many states so that the farmers might plan irrigation works with greater economy of water. Eventually some of the states enacted laws to limit the amount of water to be used in irrigation. The prevention of evaporation and of seepage were typical problems. These investigations, however, were not confined to experiment stations beyond the Mississippi; the stations in Eastern states that are subject to drought were also active, and studies were made by the stations of Connecticut, New Jersey, and Wisconsin.

The methods of rice irrigation along the Gulf coast and the Atlantic seaboard were likewise given considerable attention with particular reference to the diverse types of machinery used in pumping water.

In connection with irrigation, rural engineering developed into a major field of study for the Office. Many suggestions were offered regarding the laying out of farms so as to get effective irrigation and drainage, the construction of farm buildings, and the uses of farm machinery, including pumping appliances and labor-saving devices. In these matters, the Office coöperated extensively with agricultural colleges. The farm mechanics departments of Iowa State College and the University of Illinois made pioneer experiments in the principles of construction which benefited both the farmers and the manufacturer.

Frequently, local irrigators would request the Office to make special irrigation investigations of particular localities. One of the earliest studies of this kind was conducted in 1900 with the financial

assistance of the California Water and Forest Association and with the personnel aid of the California and Stanford universities.

Eight typical California streams were selected to obtain such data as the number and capacity of the ditches established in connection with the streams, the uses of the water, and the volume of seepage water available for rediversion to irrigation purposes; and a study was made of the legal status of the water, including abstracts of the records of claims to water, the extent of riparian rights, and the principles that had been established by decisions rendered in cases involving any of the waters.

Allied with irrigation development was the resultant problem of drainage. Oftentimes the water flowing from the reservoirs would not only irrigate the lands on the slopes, but would form marshes and swamps in the plains below. Consequently, these lands needed to be reclaimed through drainage, and many surveys were made to aid the farmers in the solution of this problem. Furthermore, the water sometimes seeped through the banks of the irrigation canals, causing the flooding of crops and depletion of the reservoirs. To help rectify this condition, studies were made with a view to preventing the seepage by canal lining.

Both the irrigation investigations and the drainage investigations expanded so rapidly that in 1907 they were differentiated into two separate units, each requiring efficient field forces and wide coöperative arrangements with state and university officers. Resident irrigation agents were placed in various parts of the arid region to afford personal assistance to the farmers. Drainage engineers in various localities made technical investigations. Both bodies supplied coördinate information for the development of the public domain.

The technical as well as the popular activities of both the Irrigation and Drainage sections increased after the reorganization of 1907. The technical work in irrigation included the investigation of field and plat experiments, tank experiments, pumping tests, and the movements of soil moisture. Many text-books on irrigation and several foreign publications were based almost entirely upon the studies that were made by the Office of Experiment Stations. The technical studies of the drainage engineers included the carrying capacity of drainage ditches, the drainage of peat and turf lands, the reclamation of tide lands, the phenomena of the run-off

of waters; the drainage of alkali waters and of salt marsh lands, and studies relating to the construction of other drainage works. Drainage surveys were made of lands that were subject to overflow, and of those that were continually wet. The improvement of natural water courses and the construction of new channels to provide outlets enlisted additional attention. During its first year the Drainage Investigation Section made studies in fifteen states. Later the work was carried to every arid state and to practically all of the humid sections.

Special attention was given to tile drainage. This was largely responsible for the introduction of tile drainage throughout the Southern states from Virginia to Texas. Between 1907 and 1915 the legislatures of several states enacted drainage laws or created drainage districts, and thousands of acres of swamp and overflowed lands were rendered fit for cultivation. The activities of these two sections increased in volume and importance as new areas of lands were opened up for settlement. To the settlers was given information pertaining to the climate, water supply, and crops grown in certain areas; the cost of land and of water; the methods of preparing land for irrigation, of securing water supplies, and of applying it to crops. This advice was given not entirely through correspondence and published bulletins, but also through personal advice to the farmers.

In 1915 the Secretary of Agriculture ordered both the Irrigation Investigation Section and the Drainage Investigation Section to be transferred to the Office, now Bureau, of Public Roads, where their work is continued."

Agricultural Engineering Investigations. The research work pertaining to irrigation and drainage gradually developed into other fields until 1902, when the Director outlined in his annual report a separate field of agricultural engineering. He lamented the fact that both the Department of Agriculture and the state experiment stations had neglected this field. Consequently, the Department had not been able to answer the numerous requests for instruction in this subject. He declared that "with the increasing demand for efficient labor-saving devices resulting from

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For further history of irrigation and drainage investigations and of the rural engineering work see Institute for Government Research, The Bureau of Public Roads (1923).