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<br />alfalfa and other hay crops add another 300,000 acres receiving <br /> <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />. <br />- <br /> <br />From south to north, the Ogallala water gets better better <br />not in the sense of quality, but there is simply more of it be- <br />neath the ground surface. The saturated thickness of the water- <br />bearing sands and gravels is greater under Kansas than under Texas, <br />although the depth to water tables is about the same in both States, <br />with sub-regional variations of course. On the other hand, the <br />water is not so widespread in underground occurrence in South- <br />west Kansas. so parts of several counties have never experienced <br />the bonanza that this mineral brought to the region as a whole. <br />The beginning of the great irrigation boom was almost exactly <br />as in the South Plains and for the same reasons -- discovery of <br />low-cost natural gas in the Hugoton field, improved pumping tech- <br />nology, and the extension of farm electrification in the late <br />1940s, bringing farmers the power to pump the water, From then unti 1 <br />the present, irrigation acreage has steadily increased. Hardly <br />any groundwater irrigation was practiced in 1945; by 1980 more <br />1,500,000 acres in the 14 counties were irrigated. This was only <br />some 40 percent of the available cropland. as more unsuitable crop- <br />land areas (or those without groundwater) are present here than in <br />the South Plains of Texas. <br />In the 14 counties, the leading crop in 1980 was irrigated <br />corn for grain on a weight basis, but the leading crop was wheat on <br />a value basis. Irrigated corn was 438,100 acres, grain sorghum was <br />410,000, and wheat was 391,000 acres. Corn and milo for silage and <br /> <br />II-8 <br /> <br />I <br /> <br /> <br />Arthur D Little.lnc I <br />