The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1889-10-24
REDEEMING THE DESERT.
Talk and Work In the Direction or IrrlgatIng our
Waste Places.


Waste Places.
That much of our desert and waste places
will ere long be covered with waving fields of
grain is q fOregOne conclusion. The FL PasO
Irrigation Company has awarded the contract
for the construction of its canal to the Rosen-
field Construction Company, of Denver Colo.
The canal will be 30 miles long. 30 feet wide,
and four feet deep. It will extend from Ell Paso
down the Rio Grande Valley to Fabens and
will be completed by Feb. l. 1890. 1t will irri-
gate 10000 acres of fertile valley land unsur-
passed for fruit growing, and 800 miles nearer
to markets than Southern California.
The problem of the great plains is to supple
ment the rainfall
Artesan wells must be the source of the
small storage with which the farmers will sup
ply the deficiency Of yearly rain fall The
water should stand in small ponds, gathering
the correcting and enriching qualties-for
land use-whch the mcrobe aud microscopic
life breeds.
Says Senator Stewart, of Nevada:
:" The only permanent system TO supply the
great plains from 81 deg 80 min. to I0i degrees
to the base of the Rockies foothills, will be o
great scheme of photographic engineering.
which will seek on the one side, as Maj. Powell
has already suggested, to SO store the waters of
the Upper Missouri and the sources of the Mis-
sissippi as to regulate and thereby prevent the
disastrous floods of the lower basin region, and
yet will at the same time, as | now suggest,
afford abundant supply for the feeding of one
or moro great canals with their appropriate
reservoir systems by which not only irrigation
will be effected for the great plains area-360
miles east and west by 600 miles north and
south-but manufacturing power and nayga-
bic capacity will also be secured.
- see no reason why there should not event
ually be a navigable canal from the Upper Mis-
souri, to the Gulf of Mexico; one too that will
irrgate 50,000,000 acres Of fertile land now
largely idle or given over to the use of tho
broad horned steer, at the rate of 90 acres per
steer.
GOOD FOR THE LAND OWNERS.
"Such land is not worth to-day over 81 per
acre. BY the expenditure of the same amount
per acre, or $50,000,000 it may readily be made
worth $40 per acre at upset sale. or $500, 000 900
in all. / have no idea of proposing such meas
ures in Congress; our good friends of the East
and center would roar too much for that. But
/ may be allowed to think that, under due re-
strictions and covering reasonable period of
time, it would prove q wise expenditure of
money.
Suppose we say that there Is on the great
plains land enough to make 100000 homesteads
of 80 acres each-a quantity quite sufficient
there for an irrigated tarmstead. Suppose each
homestead supports family Of five persons.
we should have an agricultural population OF
2,5000 900 souls. At least 500 900 more would be
supported in towns and villages in consequence
of the farm life. Every acre of the 100000
embraced would be worth at least $35. or an
aggregate Of $l.400000000. do not believe
this an extravagaut estimate, for the probable
value would be double that amount. Some
day this dream will DO seen in process of real
iZatou."
The irrigable lands in Montana are over 35,-
100000 acres, or one third Of the State. In the
Vail Will fbne, Oh o.
reelaimabe acres, of valley, mesa and table
lands.
East of the Rockies besides the Yellowstone,
are the Jefferson. Madison. Gallatin. Clark s
Fork Big HON, Rosebud, Tongue and Powder
Rivers; also tho Judith, with its important
basin the Milk River in the northeast, and
the Smith aud Musselshell in the sonth. En-
ginccrs differ in regard to the availability Of
the upper Missouri for irrigation; but the En-
ginecrs who we'll understand the irrigation
problems have. with % few exceptions to be
created. Westward the waters that flow to the
Pacific are the Missoula, Deer Lodge, Bitter
Pool, Baekfoot and some minor streams, all of
which are tributary TO the Columbia Basin. in
which, within West Washington and Oregon,
there arc certainly 100000 acres to be re-
claimed. At Bozeman are very fine grain aud
alfalfa fields at MiSsoula splendid orchards. and
at Yakima and Elensburg, in West Washing
/ ton. splendid examples of alI-round farming,
the results of irrigation. The average annual
rainfall Is about Is inches east of the Rockic ;
IL is about 10 inches west thereof. East Of the
Cascades there are some portions between the
Rockies western slopes and the Cascades,
which, owing TO peculiarities of topography,
allowing the passage of tho Chinook or moist
warm winds of the North Pacific, belong TO the
sub humid division and requiresome irrigation.
The area of new canals in Montana:
Names Of Companies. Mites. Cost Acres.
Il -. HF...se III