Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1889-05-09
REcLA1M1NG THE DESERT.

RECLAIMING THE DESERT.
Senator Stanford on Tuesday addressed
the State Board of Trade on the subject Of
irrigation of the arid lands lying directly
east of California. In stating that the i'm.
portance of the proposed scheme to con.
quer these now waste lands to the use Of
agriculture and mechanics cannot be over.
estimated, the Senator did not one
particle exaggerate. California has fal
exceeded, in its growth, prosperity
and contribution to the strength Of
the nation and in the development Of
resources, the forecasts of the most san.
guine and the most vivid fancy of those
who pioneered the State into the Union
No more can we forecast the full posi-.
bilities of the arid plains when they shall
have been welded to water under the
skIllful hand of man. AS the Senator
said, these lands are now valueless to in
dustry; they are worth nothing to the
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them in irrigation after manner possible
to large capital only, and under compre-
hensive scheme that ought to be managed
by the Government, before the tiller Of
the soil can think of going upon them to
add new wealth to the country by their
cultivation. They can be made to far
more than repay the outlay necessary for
reclamation and to furnish homes for q
myriad of people, secure on a soil of won.
derful productiveness.
Senator Stewart of Nevada also adj.
dressed the Board. He is the author OF
the legislative proposition to have the
sums held to be pa, able to the Govern.
ment by the trans-continental railroads ex.
pended in the reclamation of these lands
from sterility, and thus conserve two great
ends, the upbuilding of the State Of
Nevada and possibly of another and ada.
cent State, aad the restoration of the abil.
lty Of the railway lines to pay their in.
debtedness without taxing local traffic
heavily, since the capacity to pay has beer
seriously crippled by the construction O.
rival through lines under Government aid
The plan includes also the construction o.
new feeder lines to these railroads, which
indeed would be indispensable with the
growth of the country under irrigation
Senator Stewards speech in the Senate Of
the United States ON this subject the RE.
coRD-UNIoN has already published and
commented upon. The Senator stated tc
the Board of Trade that he estimated the
sum necessary to bring the waters of the
western slopes to these arid lands to be 8
mere bagatelle compared to the immediate
and Unreasonable benefits that must result
The surveys would, in their completeness
cost about 100000, and for the early
surveys at points where Typographical
surveys have already been made the sun
of $250,O00 has been appropriated. These
preliminary surveys would serve to edu
cate the people of the East upon the i'm
mense Importance of the scheme, and illu
inmate for them the fact that two-thirds O
the worlds agriculture is now carried OF
under the stimulus of irrigation.
The subject is one of first Importance t,
the people of this State, and they should
make themselves thoroughly intelligent
upon it. Nothing, next to the heav,
populating of their own State, shonlt
more interest them than the eliminatio,
from the commercial and productive prob.
lens Of the coast of the arid plains to the
east of the State. They should be peo
pied with an industrious host, whose need
of transportation and marketing should b,
met by a network Of feeder lines to tn,
great trunk line that has its terminus il
this State, and the markets of which
would then become of vastly greater i'm
portance. The scheme of retaining thes,
lands, and that speedily, is one that il
within the easy capacity-comparat
of the engineering skill and progressiv,
and accomplishing spirit of the age. Al
our contemporary, the San Francisco Alta
well says:
Senator Stewards proposition is feasible-fa
more so than in the beginning seemed tn,
rescue o. Hollands green acres from the bottom
of the sea. To-day cities and homes in tina
country are planted where the waters ono,
rolled, and orchai DIS bloom and bear and gar
dens grow where fish bred under the waves
The Senator's plan for saving all the storm
waters and economizing the streams, to max,
the soils fruitful on millions of acres, over al
area as large as Europe, excluding Russia, ma
stun the popular fancy by its immense outline
by its majestic promises: but to the practica
engineer il presents far less difficulties than die
the digging of the Erieeanal or the construction
of the Central Pacific over the mountains ant
athwart the deserts of Nevada. To promote il
Is Pacific Coast craftsmanship os the first order
II Will bring within reach of the settler tn,
cheapest and richest lands on the continent
and II will bring near TO the point of produc
ton millions of people who are consumers o
the product of orchard and vineyard of which
California has a monopoly, by reason of her
climate.