San Andreas independent., 1857-10-10

valuable In the undrained marshes of Italy
water is the cause of desolation and misery
| in the plains of Lombardy and Piedmont, 1T is
| the fountain of rural wealth, the promoter ol
industry. and the fosterer of dense and fiou-
rishing population. We have here spread out
before us the San Joaquin plains, and the
noble river of the same name, flowing through
them, into which empties the Stanlsaus, Tuol-
umne. Merced, and other rivers. Here we have
tract of country over which are now roaming
bands of wild horses, country greater ln extent
than the plains of Piedmont, and can bring
under a system of irrigation larger amount
of land, and which will then be capable of sus-
tanning equally as dense population. The
great Sacramento valley, watered by the Sac
ramento river and its tributaries, NAV be COM
pared with the plains of Lombardy. But If
Sacramento and Stockton shall ever become
to California what Milan and Florence are to
Italy, it must be when these great plains shall
be studded with cottages and villas, and which
will not be until the waters which flow through
them are distributed over their surface.
Let us further turn our attention to what
has very recently been done in British India,
and by Englishmen. In England water is in
excess, and draining is the chief instrument of
fertilization. In India, water is in deficiency,
and irrigation is there the chief means of fer
tiliziDg the land, and in some years, the only
means of rescuing it from entire barrenness.-
In no country is more attention paid to Ag-
ricultue than in England. The love and pass
ion for Agriculture deeply implanted in their
natures, and wherever they go, and in what
ever land they dwell, they carry with them
1f,,u a., 1,aI i
fifty millions of native East Indians bow to
the sway of the British scepter. By very
many Americans and intelligent foreigners the
rule Of England, in India, is looked upon as
tyranical and oppressive. 1t may be so. Great
power is apt to be abused, and in every coun-
try under heaven, it has generated oppression,
tyrany and orruption-always excepting Cal
iforna The fact and truth is, that the Brit
ish government have done more to improve the
condition of the natives of India, within the
last fifty years than was done by their native
rulers in centuries before The canals which
they have caused to be constructed within that
time, have opened for cultivation immense
tracts of land which had never before known
the labor of man. The waters of the Ganges
and the Jumna, are taken from their natural
beds and spread out and distributed over
plains which before were dreary wastes. The
canal west of the river Jumna, is the largest
canal in the world. 1t has length of course
ten times greater than any in Italy, and its
area ofirrigation is five times greater. The in
come of this canal is over one hunred and fifty
thousand dollars year. With the Ganges
canal, the greatest in Italy will stand 40 com
parison. There are, in truth, no works in re-
nowned Italy, which approach those already
erected and in progress of erection in Nor
thern India. In the Guntoor district, in the
year one thousand eight hundred and thirty
three the periodical rains failed entirely This
district was not then under irrigation. 1t con-
tanned five hundred and twelve thousand in
habtants, OF which two hundred thousand, it
is believed died of starvation, and the fever
which followed it. To prevent the occurrence
of such calamity again, work of irrigation
was ordered by the board of directors in India,
which would insure a permanent supply of
water for great extent of land. The estima-
ted expense of this work is seven hundred and
seventy thousand dollars. There are very
many works in India of this character. Some
of great extent, constructed by the ancient ru-
ers of the country, many of which were out
of order, but which the government has been
actively engaged in repairing.
The most striking effects of the extension of
irrigation, and of the application of engineer
ing skill. are found in the Delta of Godairra,
previous to the year one thousand eight hun
dred and forty-four, the revenue of this pro-
vince was declining, the people were impover-
ished and dispirited, when plan for irrigation
aud distributing water by net work of canals
over an area of three thousand square miles,
was projected. 10 the year eighteen hundred
and fifty-one, over seven hundred thousand dol
lars had been expended, and it was calculated
that it would require five hundred and fifty
thousand dollars more to complete the work !;
yet such had been the effect of the employment
of capital and labor, and the stimulus given to
an impoverished district, that each year as the
works went on-even at the very first year
the revenue increased, and was greater after
deducting the sum expended, than the average
of the preceding eleven years-this is not a
solitary instance-thirty-ni works are emu
merated which have been executed in India
from eighteen hundred and thirty-six to eighteen
hundred and forty-nine three of which, from
various circumstances, have not been remuner-
ative. The remaining thirty-six have afforded
a profit on the money expended on them and
this, to such an extent, that taking the loss
Will lHG pIUuL VI Tue WUOic lLlTb1-UlU6, DOl
less than sixty-nine and a-half per cent on the
cost is repaid yearly. California ditch COM
panies, incorporated and constructed for the
purpose of aiding the miner in washing out
gold from the auriferous earth, have not been
quite as remunerative to the stockholders
The Court of Directors of India, number of
years ago, sent competent person to Italy,
for the purpose of examining her great works
of irrigation, and making report respecting
them; and if some of the money which has
been expended in California, in. printers
bills, had been so applied, it would perhaps
have been invested full as much to the benefit
of the State. Great as are the works con-
structed in India, it is now generally acknowl-
edged by well-informed Englshmen. that it is
paltry, compared with what the country de-
mands, particularly in Madras, containing one
hundred and thirty-eight thousand square miles
of land. The great income derived, and other
advantages, are altogether Irrespective OF the
increased and less huctuating supply OF food
of employment for capital and labor oil the
stimulus given to the exertions OF the popula-
tion, and of the moral effects of plenty occa-
stoned, by facilitating their Improvement