The Arizona sentinel., 1888-03-10
NEED -OF WATER.
THE pEN9AsaDs OF ARIZONA AND
 NEW MEXICO.
An Appropriation for the Sinking of ArtesIan Wells Recommended by a Committee of the House.


 mittee on Territories has decided in favor of ascertaining the water re sources of Arizona and New Mexico, with a view of reeEaiming desert in these two Territories by irrigation. The committee has already reported bill to the House appropriating $50,- 900 for each of the Territories, which sum the Secretary of War is directed to expend in boring artesian wells in the public lands in those Territories, and in making photographic survey of each Territory, and from such sur Fyeys to assertion, as near as may be, the practicability of storing the waters of the Territories in reservoirs or other receptacles for the purpose of irrigating the public lands. The Sc cretary of War is directed to cause the work to be done at as early date as possible and to make a full report to the Fifty-6rst Congress. All lands reclaimed from a desert condition by any water thus developed are to be subject to entry as homestead claims at the minimum price of $4 per acre.
 The committee submitted a strong Ereport in favor of making these requi- rements to assertion the water re- sources of these two Territories. In speaking of the condition of the Ter ritories and the probable success of the enterprise, ths committee says: "From the census of 1880 it appears that the Territory of Arizona embraces an area of ll2,920 square miles, or 72, 268, 800 acres of land, of which vast area less than 2,0O0,000 are sus ceptible of. cultivation for want of water, and even this small area is en tirely dependent on irrigation, thus leaving utterly without water supply and without any means. of. irrigation the enormous body of over 70,0O0,OOO acres,o of land, which under the present land laws must forever remain unfit for the habitation of man, unless 8 supply of water can be obtained by artificial means" The same conditions exist in the Territory of New Mexico, which embraces an area of l22, 46O square miles, OF 78,374, 400 acres of land, of which as appears by the last census, only ,! per cent is susceptible of cultivation for the reason already stated, leaving 973 per cent, or A., 063,e0 acres unfit for human habita . tion, unless water can be obtained to irrigate the same The Territory oi New Mexico was organized in 1850, and in thirty years thereafter it had a population of only ll9,565 souls, o' less than one person to the square nile, and its population during th' two decades preceding 1880 only in creased 26,000, all of which increase occurred after 1870, and consisted largely of persons connected directly pr indirectly with the construction maintenance and, operation of railroad loading through said Territory to tn, Pacif ocean. While the population increased as above stated, and also b, reason of large mining enterprises
 yet, as shown by said census, ther has been an actual decrease of th agric ultural element, the number O farms in 1880 being actually less thar in 1860. This can be accounted fo
 only by the fact of the scarcity of wa ter for agricultural purposes:
 "The same conditions exist in Ari zcna, except that it's population i about one person to two square mile
 of area. The waters of that TerritorN
 have been almost entirely appropriatee to agricultural purposes, yet milli on of acres of the most fertile land is un
 inhabited, because the-poverty of the people will not permit experiments II
 water development, and does actually
 prevent any efforts toward the re
 clamation of these vast deserts Tn
 climate of this country is adapted t' the growth of the vine,, fig, olive orange, lemon and various other tropi cal and semi-tropical fruits, while tn , products of the temperate zone grow J in the richest prefusion.
 'The valleys of these Territories ar ! extremely fertile, and, under prope encouragement, can be made product D i've beyond probably any other lan' on the continent. With these fact before your committee, drawn iron ' official sources, and sustained by actua observation, the conclusion Is reaches that the public interest requires tn