Texas Almanac, 1941-1942 Page: 173
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IRRIGATION. 172
tween 1930 and 1935. the number of irrigated the Great Plains in Hale Deaf Smith Lamb
farms increased from 10,861 to 16,435 Prob- Bailey and contiguous counties There has
ably there was a decline in irrigated acreage been rapid increase in Irrigation in this ie
during the interval, but difference in census- gion during the last few years, and the ir11
taking method probably accounted for part gated acreage in 1940 was unofficially esti
of the difference in figures, mated at 90.000. Water is pumped from wells
There was a rise in acreage irrigated in many of which supply enormous quantities ol
Texas during the 1935-1940 interval, accord- water at very shallot depths
ing to unofficial estimates. Especially was There is a lage ii rigated area in the Win
this true on the Great Plains, where acreage ter Garden section of Za ala, Dimmit, Frio
doubled between 1930 and 1935, and has con- and La Salle Counties, most of the watei
tinued to grow at a rapid rate during the last coming from artesian wells Medina Lake
five years. furnishes water for a large irrigated aiea in
Most of the irrigated area of Texas lies Medina, Bexar and northern Atascosa Coun-
along the Rio Grande. Water is diverted di- ties. There are a number of smaller irligated
rectly from the flow of the main channel areas in the state including (1) the area
without use of storage reservoirs The Lower near San Angelo fed by the perennial flow
Rio Grande Valley has about half of the irri- of the South and Middle Concho Rixeis and
gated area of the state Diversion on some Spring Creek, (2) the area around Menard
projects is by gravity flow, on others it is watered from the San Saba, (3) the irri-
by pump. The irrigated area along the Upper gated area below Lake Kemp, (4) the I ri-
Rio Grande near El Paso receives its water gated area near Coipus Christi, (5) the iuri-
from the Elephant Butte reservoir in New gated areas of the Trans-Pecos around Foit
Mexico. In other paragraphs in this chapter Stockton and Balmorhea deriring their waters
something is said of the problem arising in from Comanche, San Solomon and other
the Lower Rio Grande Valley due to increased springs, and from xWells.
use of water on the Mexican side of the The irrigated acreage of the Great Plains
watershed The Red Bluff reservoir, a tribu- is devoted primarily to growing feedstuffs,
tary of the Rio Grande, irrigates a consider- though some tiuck crops are produced The
able area in Ward and Reeves Counties Trans-Pecos areas grow feedstuffs, notably
The second great irrigated area is on the alfalfa, cantaloupes and other truck crops and
Coastal Prairies where water is taken from some cotton in the areas along the Rio
rivers and artesian welts to irrigate the rice Grande The Lower Valley is devoted to cit-
crops-an Irrigated area in a humid region. rus, truck crops and cotton. The Winter
Diversion of river waters is principally from Garden and Laredo districts are denoted pri-
the Colorado, Brazos, Trinity and Neches. marily to spinach, onions and other truck.
Still another great irrigated area lies on The coastal area produces rice
IRRIGATED FARMS AND ACREAGE, BY COUNTIES.
Figures below are from the census of 1935 showing number of fai ms on which irrigation
was practiced in 1934 and number of irrigated acres from n hich crops were harvested The
figures are fairly representative in most sections of the state, but there has been a large
increase in irrigated acreage in the counties on the Great Plains, according to unofficial fig-
ures. In tabulation below counties omitted had no irrigated land producing crops during the
census yearNumber 'Irri-
Farms gated
County- Irrigated.Acres
Anderson ........ 24 94
Angelina ........ 1 2
Aransas ......... 1 10
Archer ........... 24 1,064
Atascosa .......... 246 3.040
Bailey .......... 37 1,679
Bandera ......... 6 10
Baylor .......... 1 6
Bee ............ 5 17
Bell ............. 11 286
Bexar .... ....... 255 6,412
Blanco .......... 13 62
Bosque ... ...... 8 44
Bowie ........... 1 1
Brazoria ........ 11 1,580
Brazos .. ...... 3 14
Brewster ........ 20 424
Brooks .......... 27 275
Brown .......... 16 118
Burnet .......... 7 123
Caldwell ........ 11 110
Callahan ......... 8 30
Cameron ........4,412 104,192
Cass .. ....... 2 3
Castro .......... 21 470
Chambers ....... 47 9,970
Cherokee ........ 32 87
Childress ........ 3 12
Coleman .......... 8 84
Collin .. 2. 2 6
Colorado ........ 49 8,966
Comal ..... 8 110
Comanche .. .. 2 79
Concho ........ . 2 55
Cooke . ... . 3 22
Coryell 13 66Number *Irri-
Farms gated
County- Irrigated Acres.
Cottle 1 20
Crosby .......... 1 4
Dal!am ... ... 2 24
Dallas ...... 70 510
Dawson ....... 2 17
Deaf Smith ...... 28 1,572
Denton ........ 4 31
De Wiltt ......... 10 78
Dickens ......... 10 11
Dimmit ......... 237 10,056
Donley ......... 1 15
Eastland ........ 6 25
Edwards ........ 3 37
Ellis ......... .. 5
El Paso ........ 1.327 51 518
Erath ........... 3 32
Falls ........... 20 162
Faxette ......... 4 7
Fisher ....... 2 85
Floyd ........... 172 5,448
Foard ....... 3 83
Fort Bend ....... 62 5,834
Franklin ........ 5 12
Freestone ....... 1 2
Frio .......... 24 755
Gal eston ....... 33 292
Gillespie ......... 10 37
Gonzales ........ 9 147
Gray .......... 32 41
Grayson ......... 5 16
Gregg .......... 2 2
Guadalupe ....... 3 75
Hale .......... 91 6,413
Hall ......... 1 10
Hansford ..... 2 270
Hardeman 1 20'i
i
-Number 'Irri-
Farms gated
County- Irrigated Acres.
Harris . ........ 8 8,413
Harrison ........ 4 15
Haskell ......... 1 1
Hay\s .......... 13 44
Hemphill ........ 5 23
Henderson ....... 13 31
Hidalgo ... ... 4,546 12U,1U0
Hill ........ .. 1 1
Hockle? .. ..... 1 14
Houston ......... 8 13
How ard ......... 4 9
Hud-peth ........ 71 12.U93
Hunt ... ........ 4 37
Irion ............ 45 1,385
Jack ......... 2
Jackson 7 783
Jeff Dais ...... 35 53i
Jefferson ....... 143 28.64S
Jim Wells ....... 19 121
Jones .......... 8 387
Karnes ........ 2 24
Kaufman ........ . 2 3
Kendall ......... 11 48
Kerr ............ 61 3x7
Kimble ..... .... 14 326
Kinney 1 476
Kleberg ......... 2 80
Knox ........... 1 2
Lamar ......... 1 2
Lamb .... 15 704
Lampasas ....... 7 225
La Salle ......... 62 3.216
Lasaca ... ..... 4 19
Leon .... ..... 6 20
Liberty ......... 23 S,591
Limestone 1 2IN DALLAS
MEMBER F. D. I. C.
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Texas Almanac, 1941-1942, book, 1941; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth117164/m1/175/: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.