Arizona weekly citizen., 1888-06-02
IRRIGATION FOR ARIZONA.


 Major Povelrs report in fsvor of maf- ing an effort to reclaim by irrigation vast districts of the arid lands of the west. and the symes bill in the House looking to the same end, will bring up for consideration one of the most inter- esting economic questions thsi hs. been before the country for a long time. The object of the Symes bill is to establish 6 system of reservoirs from which water may be supplied to lands that are now barren and useless through lack of mois- rure. Major Powell thinks 50.OOO,OOo scres of land could be reclaimed by the system of irrigation proposed by the Symes bill. IL is fact not generally realized that there are vast bodies oi very rich land in Colorado, New MeIi- co, Utah, Arizona and Texas, which IS now utterly useless, but which could be made ss productive as the Mississippi valley if some system of irrigation could be applied. In Southern Arizona there are great bodies of level land called mssas (derived from the Spanish mesa table. and meaning table lsnd) where the soil IS from five to twenty feet deep and of the richest sandy losm, but where nothing grows except osctus and 6 few varieties of hard stunted shrubs h many places one can find two or three hundred thousand acres in one oi these messs with not e cultivated spot on the entire body. owing to the sbsenee of water. The rainfall is heavy enough coming on in both summer and winter but the earth is SO porus that the water is absorbed st once. Great floods ol water inst may come from suddeu storm will sink into the earth in feu hours at furthest and leave the surface entirely dry. Rivers that are full oI water one day have dry beds the next The Gils rIver of Arizona drains elmos' ss much watershed st the Potomac. and yet in the dry season it shrinks to the dimensions of a brook that may be clear ed at G single leap. The question, there fore, is not one Of finding water. but oi husbsnding it, of storing and usslizins it. There is but one way in which thii can be done-ihst is. to construct vssi reservoirs. Nature has provided th' principal walls and foundations for these in the deep mountain canyons that every where open out into these vast fertile plslns. All that IS neediul is that. dam: shaIl be constructed across these can yons. The streams that rush down tho mountain sides in case of rainfall vii soon fiIl them and thus millions and millions of gallons of water can be saved to be let out as it may be needed through irrigsting canals. The problem to bs solved so far as Arizona is concerned Ii 6 very simple one. The only thing need ed is capital to build the reservoirs. Il would appear to De ns proper for the gov ernmsnt to appropriate money to save the arid but naturally rich lsrds of Ari Eons ss to save the lands along the Mis sissippi from overflow. Such spproprl stion would clearly come under the head of internal improvements. If irrgstior could be applied to the southern part oi Arizona there would be immediately ssen there one of the mos. hssu H1iih. l '.,,SI fsItITrii-- a,s J~au'lul su0 .St6sperous regions in the world. The resources of the soil are illimitable, the winters most delightful, and the appear snoe of the country most novel and pic turesque.-Nstionsl Republican.