Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1889-08-25
ARID LANDS.
OUTLINE OF THE SCHEME FOR THEIR
RECLAMATION.
The Senate Committee of Inquiry-What
1t Has Done, and the Great
End in View.

The Committee on Arid Lands and Irri
cation, appointed by the United States Sen
ate to visit and investigate the condition o
the arid sections of the country, arrived a
Truckee on Friday night, having reached
there by way of Carson City and Lake Ia
hoe. The party was met at Truckee yes
terday morning by SUNDAY UNION repre-
| sentative, whose purpose it was to learn
the results of the committed investigations
| thus far, especially as regards the probabil.
ity of retaining the vast sage-brush plains
of Nevada, now devoted chiefly to cattle
| grazing. But three members of the com.
mittee came as far as California-Senator
Stewart, of Nevada; Senator Jones, of Ar
kansas, and Senator Reagan, of Texas.
Accompanying the committee, and assist
ing the members thereof in their investiga.
| ton, are the followiDg-named gentlemen :
Major Powell, Director of the Geological
Survey; Mr.. Warman, his Private Secre-
| tary; R. j. Hinton, Irrigating Engineer as
signed to the committee; Lyman Bridges.
Civil Engineer of the Irrigating Survey, in
| charge of the La Honta (Nevada) Division;
Sergeant-at-Arms, Eugene Davis; Assistant
Sergeant-at-Arms, DR.. Hines, of Washing.
! ton; Clerk of the Committee, G. j. Kappell:
| Official Reporter, r. A Boswell. Senator
Plumb returned to his home after the trip
through Washington Territory and Idaho,
but will rejoin the committee east of the
Rocky Mountains on their return.
The committee has been on the road
twenty-four days, has travelled upward of
5000 miles and the members of the party
are all travel-worn and weary. Hence,
they did not rise very early yesterday morn
| ing, and it was after o'clock when thew
! finished their breakfast and emerged from
| their cars. When the reporter found them
| they were all marshaled in a row, with
their sleeping-car for background, while
the photographer of the party was engaged
in taking picture of the group. The CEN
trail figures were Senators Stewart and
Jones, whose tall forms lowered above
those of their comrades. The former was
dressed in light grey suit, and wore a
broad brimmed white felt hat, which gave
| him the appearance of well-to-do farmer
| or cattleman, while the latter wore dark
business suit, and was prim enough for any
ordinary occasion. All were well tanned,
and appeared in excellent health, although
evidently greatly fatigued from their ardu-
Gus labors, U. S. Land Register Hetzel
and wife-old friends of the Nevada Sena-
tor-now Joined the party, having come to
Truckee for that purpose. While the Sac
ramentans were being introduced to the
different members of the party, the photog-
rapher prepared his camera for another
picture on larger scale. the newspaper
man was edging off out of range of the in
strument, when Senator Stewart called
out:
"Helloa there Mr.. -, get in here and
| have MI fol tbar &c nc
mo stealing off in that way +"
The reporter moved up and took DO
sition alongside the sturdy form of Senator
| Reagan, the center of the group being gal
| lantly accorded to Mrs. Hetzel. There was
| momentary hush each person tried to
look unconcernedly at the lofty pines that
adorned a neighboring mountain-top; the
| photographer cried AL overl'; and the
living statues broke rank and dispersed.
| The visitors were cordially invited into
the cars of the committee, and at 10 o'clock
the special train pulled out OF Truckee and
started for Sacramento. The Senators and
engineers of the party freely answered the
many inquiries made of them, and much
| information was obtained concerning the
movements of the committee, the scope of
their Investigations, and the vast benefits
expected to be derived from the great irri-
CATION scheme inaugurated by Congress.
Colonel Hinton WIS fonnd most at leis.
| ure, while the Senators and Major Powell
were consulting regarding the utilization OF
the waters of Lakes Tahoe, Bonner and
other mountain bodies of water, and from
| his well-stored fund of information the re-
porter cleaned the following facts:
A GREAT ARTEsIAN BELT.
1.-THE first important fact" said he, s'that
| struck the committee was the water re-
sources of the great artesian belt of the
plains east of the Rocky Mountains, as
| shown by the wells already sunk in James
town valley, South Dakota. In this region
one wet season out of three is sufficient to
make the land produce well, and storage
basins on a small scale will do there. This
artesian belt extends from the British pos.
sessions on the north to the Gulf of Mexico
on the south. In general terms, this belt
comprises the first division of the great
| irrigation system that is to restore to man
kind what is now known as the arid region
| of the Union.
The second division embraces the great
valleys of the Yellowstone Spokane Upper
Snake and Columbia. The committee went
through these sections and back into Idaho
through Snake valley. There is an abund
ance Of water in all the rivers and streams
coursing through these valleys The only
1
struction of suitable engineering works tc
| control these waters and conduct them to
10 the arid plains. Major Powell is of the
opinion that in Montana alone
THIRTY MILLION ACRES
Can be reclaimed. Yellowstone valley
will be the center of this branch of the ir.
rigation system. In Northern Idaho ant
the eastern portion of Washington Terri
tory the waters of the Upper Snake, Spo
kane and Columbia rivers can be made t.
reclaim immense areas of land now practi
cally valuless for agricultural purposes.
Coming eastward again, we find tina
Southern Oregon and Eastern Idaho, above
the Dalles and in the Snake basin, will b.
a great feature of the system. Below Sho
! shone Falls there is now running 222 ,00t
cubic inches of water, and the streams arr
lower than ever before known. The tribu
taries of these rivers are generally large
and will be used before the great storag,
works of the future will be necessary.
RECLAMATION OF sAGEBRUsH LANDS
1.-THE reports of the engineers who hav.
examined the Snake river basin prove tina
it will be of vast benefit to northwestern
| Nevada. a great portion of the drainag,
flood of that section will be diverted
through the Owyhee river to the uses o
that now sterile portion of Nevada, which
| will be made to blossom as the rose.
There is vast area of arid land in that sec
| ton, now quite valueless, that needs ONLY
water to make ii as fertile and valuable a.
| any on the continent. It would surpris,
any person unacquainted with these sage
brush plains if their future wealth, under
comprehensive system of irrigation, coulC
now be foretold.
Coming down into the Utah country
the committee found that Utah and Beal
lakes could be made the centers of tn,
large storage reservoirs of the future fo
that section. Some testimony was taker
by the committee as to the possibilities o
reclamation IN southeastern Utah by util
iZlng the waters of the San Juan river No
much direct information was gained by it
researches there, but the scheme looks feas
ible enough. Colorado valley, in that sec
ton, is already looked upon as one of tn,
possible irrigation districts.
WHAT UTAH HAS DONE.
Utah furnishes an illustration of th,
simpler forms of irrigation. The Mormon
farmers have been irrigating on a small
scale, but they have come 10 the end O
their rope. They have been confronted b,
the issue of storage reservoirs, but dom
know how TO handle the subject. They
waited upon the committee and presented
clear statement of what they had done
1t was a remarkable exhibition of wha
| small ranale and small - -,