Bob was told to "turn himself loose," and he had one of the finest of gardens, principally potatoes, growing, when the grasshoppers came along and left the ground absolutely bare.

The trees however, were doing fine, and the more venturesome and home-loving were making attempts with flower gardens. These generally developed until ten years after irrigation was put in, the places along the routes of the laterals, became beauty spots. Sidney looked to the eyes of the stranger who crossed the wide reaches of prairie, before arriving there, like a veritable oasis in the desert.

In the meantime, ranchmen had noted that the valley lands under which the "water table" was close to the surface, made good hay crops. They also noticed the porous character of the soil, and the thought had occurred to raise

HISTORY OF WESTERN NEBRASKA

the level of the water in the streams it would percolate back farther from the stream banks, making more hay land. So the substantial method was adopted of hauling loose rocks or refuse from the barns and corrals, and throwing into the channels. The stream thereby became little cascades at irregular distances, and then instead of running waters, there were rather quiet lagoons above each of these artificial rapid places. The waters were held at higher levels, and soaked back into the banks as intended.

The next step was to build small ditches to lead the water away from the natural channels, across the flat grounds near by, where it was turned loose to soak into the ground, or find its way back to the stream.