The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1889-08-30
THE WESTERN RAIN BELT.
Il Seems 10 Be Moving Towards
the Reckiez-
The Once Arid PIatss Msw > Fertile
SOD Pss4sessss R>gSsa-ys
Irrsesssoa Se>A>a-


y
io<s2t year ago. when the qzeS-
non Oh irrigation wss being b-ouxhs
Forward 20 prominently ny the promo
fsFs Of the hiiI peoviiing for q ma.
tloaai appropriation 80 build storage
reservoirs and canals. the T~5~n<s
correspondent in discussing the .ssn..
ton sisted il 20 be the belief Of man.
people throughout the arid section
that long before snyshing extensive ia
inis direction conId be accomplished
the water question for The ard belt "
Ing east Of the Rocky mountains
would solve itself. That the rain belt
i rnoTing westward toward tie Rocky
mountains IL fact alreaGy reIi es-
tabiished, sufficient evidence was pre-
scented year ago And this
year comes additional proof i'm
Tue almost loo heavy and too
frequent rains which have swept over
eastern Colorado and western Kansas
and Nebraska, the particular section
of country the storage reservoirs we're
designed TO help oal- For three wears
these sections had been literally burned
up. and the farmer and sfockzroxer
WAS left not Only pennies. bot in
aens- Things looked gloomy ahead
Then came a mild and ot%n xiut--
Little snog tel! either on the PLANS or
IN the mountains and what little
came was soon di~sipasesi by the arm,
Winds which swept over the country
In The mountain clutches. where
usually from ten 10 thirty feet o. SNOW
/ and ice are 10 I've found in March and
April. there we're ssIs FIVE feet. and in
many places ali had disappeared with
the exception OF occasional patches in
sheltered nooks.
This Was something never known
before and II flied with CONSERVATION
those whose hopes for water we're
BASED on melting snow in the hills
whereby 10 feed the brooks aud rivers
Towing eastward This state % affairs
bad al effect tiat G me 70 be a serious
thing for KANSAS. Thousands OF farm
ers from that slate di~posed of their
properties for. little or nothing ard
let for the sorthxest II became
nearly an exodus In one week fully
700 People passed through Denver
| from Western Kansas 10 Oregon
ana Washington. Every train
coming from that state brought
scores OF people. Hundreds vent in
other directions, many r. Oklahoma
( aud 10 the Texas Panhandle The
tales which those poor people told
were IN many csses pitifni. and shey
! we're tn'iy borne out nv the statements
OF railway representatives who went
into Kansas in the interest of their
4 Al 4
| ing passenger agent OF the Denver Il
Rio Grande, who brought $40 people
away from the state, saws that he
could have brought as many more
bad he been able to exchange railroad
/ tickets for farms
j So far as Lack of rain was concerned.
some parts Of Nebraska were no bet
I ter than Kansas; bat the farmers
I showed themselves wise by sticking
/ ~ their homesteads- A trip across
1 Nebraska aa.4as By the writer a few
DAYS age. on which he rsssk ss sakszs
with great many OF ths larger iarns-
eyx, revealed sse Task thai erssu< @e-e
! never "a DTrrn .sirr ~ isswr arr noS
ifIse one siagirfau.s e as heard lsrsN
Omaha - gleseune 1as shss there
had been 400 issEca rain, aud ts4AS ex-
eept TOR tie loss accustomed b. the
washing % reFn ana In s8fHs psaees
wheat and rye. the prospects are most
excellent. Reports received at the
offices of the Onion Pacific. Barling-
ton and Elkhorn Valley railroads..
and by them eomuiled, show that the
crop yield OF corn and the small grains
will be fully s. per cent. To 81 per
cent. higher than last year. while
there is much greater scersge re-
ported IN the western portion OF the
state. which viii still further swell the
output. Potatoes and fiax have also
thriyed. though If the wet weather
continues the farmer may suffer from
rottine. How Is It in Kansas Much
the same. II Is curious fsc' that
large per centage OF those who were
so glad TO get away from the state in
March anu April. six weeks later on
were as anxious to get back; and all
who could raise the necessary railroad
fare went back. For the first time In
five wears the Prohibition state had
more water than was wanted.
Ia Colorado. where several large
irrigation enterprises have been pat IN
operation during the spring, there has
also been a great plenty OF water, The
great Henry ditch. which j. City feet
wide and sixteen feet deep when il
starts from the Arkansas river. and
which Winds out through Beat county,
Ia. no; been required to distribute
any " after this wear. Nature has done
her own irrigation. Another hsg
ait n of the same siEe i under com
struction. but the owner are wayering
in the balance, doubling whether II will
ever be needles. The city OF Denver,
whose water supply it was feared
would be stlnsed this year by reason
of the lack III mountain snox referred
Ia. has had more rain than ever oe-
fore known. ana there il no lack of
water for city consumption. though
early in the season only half the usual
amount was allowed for street irriga-
ton and four hours early in the day
were allotted s. the only time when
Lawns and gardens could t~ sprinkied.
Whether this state Of affairs viii ee
continued for another and for all time
i a matter which each year wiii alone
solve. 20 much rain can hardly he
expected each year. and indeed i not
needed II the farmer can have one
half the anounf ot rainfall, and have
Il a. evenly distributed as this wear,
he ear raise abundant crops, and the
screaEe wili he greatly incFeasesi- hat
whils, the rsiu belt = so sieaditF aa-
vanring toward THE mountains, II i
question whether there shouid re very
+ large sums expended IN extensive sna
+ exge,tisive ~ stems of irrigation which
viii not pe needed after a tss year.
+ There are .one sections 81 Colorado,
/ wyoming. Utah aud Arizona where
E irrigation wonit open up large and
+ fertile regions, and here lrst Of al
should the experiments he made
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