More than three-quarters of a mile in width in some places, and a mile and more in other places ; it reaches a distance of more than ten miles up and down the Niobrara valley. Every inch is fertile and productive and grows almost every conceivable vegetable.
Capt. Cook has an irrigation system in operation that is absolutely complete. The flow of water in the Niobrara fills the ditches and one thousand, two hundred acres are therefore made more productive by means of irrigation.
Two thousand tons of hay were put in stack last season and Mr. Cook expects to greatly increase these figures this season. Notwithstanding the fact that $20,000 worth of last year's cut was sold in the stack off this ranch, there are yet thousands of tons remaining in the fields.
Mr. Cook has reduced stock-raising to a practical business basis. Every detail, no matter how small, is carefully looked after.
A water system plant is one of the many features of the ranch that is deserving of mention. On a convenient elevation a six hundred barrel reservoir is erected and close at hand is an inexhaustible well. The water is brought to the surface and into the reservoir by means of an immense windmill. Pipes lead out to the corrals and barns and into the home, which, by a system of plumbing, is carried to all parts of the building. In case of fire a stream of water can be thrown a distance of one hundred feet or more.