Arizona weekly enterprise., 1888-06-09
Utilizing the Water Supply.

For the first time in the history of the nation, Congress is showing a disposi- ton to put forth it's hand to assist in the inauguration of line of public policy that will have for its object more full and complete utilization of the water supply of the arid regious of the west. Once that such policy be- becomes a feature in the system of public works carried on by the nation al government for the improvement of the public domain, the entire west will enter on a new era of prosperity and advancement. What such a policy means to Arizona alone can be realized from the statement that of the 12, ,240,- 900 acres of land included within the boundaries of the Territory, there are at present less than a quarter of a million of acres under actual cuItiva- tion-the principal reason for the cul- tivated area being thus restricted be- ing simply the lack of sufficient capi- tai to carry out a system of water storage that would give the Territory the use of all the water 1t now has annually flowing to waste through its myriad of streams The amount of water that annually finds its way from the barren mesas of Arizona to be lost the waters of the Gulf of California would, if stored during the wet seasons, be sufficient to render productive and valuable at the lowest estimate, one quarter of the lands within the Ter ritory. With the Colorado, the Gila, the Salt, and other streams of less magnitude it only needs the intelligent application of capital to reclaim for the purpose of agriculture and kindred pursuits in Arizona an acreage that will exceed in area many of the older and most wealthy States. This is not the case alone in Arizona, but the same statement holds good in nearly every State and Territory west of the Missouri. The rapid manner in which the public domain is being absorbed is sufficient proof that whatever eXpendi- ture the government would be at in constructing either irrigation canals ol water reservoirs would be more than re paid to it, by the sale of lands. whicE without such expenditure will ever re main comparatively worthless. The trouble with the great mass of Amer
 ican people, however, is that they dc
 not realize what an immense country they live in, and this is specially true of the people of the eastern State
 who have not had the experience
 which have instilled broader anC
 more liberal ideas into their bretherr
 of the West. Accustomed to recogniz,
 the east as a pivot on which the nation
 turns, they are 10th to go into an,
 experiment of which they have nC
 practical knowledge. The idea of de veloping a water supply for the re
 clamation of the lands west of the Mis- souri to the great mass of the peopl
 of the East appears more like tn dream of an enthusiast than the plal of practical common sense. With thi idea 1t may require years to so shap
 national legislation as to make tn
 annual appropriation of public money
 for works of irrigation, water storage etc., as prominent feature as is tn , annual appropriation made for the in provement of eastern rivers and hal
 bors, yet the day will and must com ! when the coffers of the nation wi l provide the means of retaining fo l the benefit of its citizens the immens empire which without such assistanc
 must ever remain barren and unprC , ductive waste.