Arizona weekly citizen., 1889-09-14
PIMAs REPORT.
Full Text of the Report Made By The Pima County Committee on Irrigation. as Furnished to iho Investigation Committee YesteT- day.


 Territory, have the honor to represent
 to you the following facts and statistic:
 in connection with the reclamation of
 arid lands m this county. Examination shows conclusive evidence that all level
 lands in Southern Arizona have at Cne time been cultivated under a system of
 irrigation, by storage of water in reser-
 voirs, the remains of which, as well as oi
 the ditcheS and canals couvcyin" water on to these lands are yet to be Z CT and can be traced for long distances. And at this day when the farmer commences the cultivation of new lands his plough turns up stone implements used by a
 long gone race of men, who tiled the soil which we now are seeking to re- claim from the desert. The axe, ham,
 mer, lamp, and the hand-mill, etc. of stone, and the earthen vessels Tor house hold purposes are common and can be seen at almost every house. Beyond ali question the whole of Southern Ari- zona teemed with a dense population whose pursuits were wholly agricultural The arid lands of our county were cul- tivated by people who thoroughly un deTstOOd the value of irrigation. Who they were we know not. The only record left by them IS the remains of their ca nals and reservoirs, and the hieroglyph- ics on the rocks. which doubtless. if they could be deciphered would tell of a prosperous people. The skilled engi- neer of to day finds in constructing his ditches and levels, frequent occasion 10 utilize the labors this long forgotten people, who carried water where he-now seeks to do the same.
 The climatic conditions of Southern Arizona are such, now. as doubtless they were then, that without irrigation agricultural pursuits cannot be followed. I his fact was recognized by the Mission ary Fathers. U b0 in the year lG9J. sci tied in this valley They. before build ing churches. taught the Indians now to build dams aud reservoirs. I Ihree of which, Fl Comasa. MIssioEal, and Del Key are Tn use t0 this day irrigat;ng iE part the same lands winch nave been under continuous cultivation for twc hundred years. Much Of t.iis lacG ha grown two crcl5s each year during the whole EaT.ol.
 There are in the valley Of the Santa Cruz River. and cn the table lands lying i'll the great basin JetH:CH the Santa Rita m0ni:j;s.nS ,hH ,i.e -..It,i,. and tht Rincon iIDuI l.. i-s Un iia,. C,s>j. ia.e Santa Catalina uo;sntaiaS on tHe LuTth, inG the An,clc aI.,! S,i=rr.ta mountaE.s on west, over one ll.ii;cn acres Cf arid land whic.i are ara5ie an3 can ie brought under cultivation 1y malsir;: dams at points which are more ful.y shown by maps and IIe.ieureIul uiS l-.atjc b. tbis committee for lOuT information. We call your attention especially t3 the map of proPo:ei d'im at .. l.0.nt about twenty-five miles .;It..ej-t of rEcSon which alone Is i.,iii.t.iI bring under cult.-3tioa nInT., tlg- ieNfD ares 0t good .,;. ,., ..i..-i. uUI.s iI-s .C3e aau uE- productAe. .Ail thls ianl Is no% of practically no value. as 10 crop can be grown thereon without being irrigated.
 Sites for reservoirs can be found at various points on the east and west sides of the SierTIta mountains. There Is very fine site for a reservoir northeaei of the U. $. Military Reservation at Ft Lowell, seven miles from-Tucson at tnC Sabine Canon whi has storage capaci ty for several billion gallons of water sufficient to irrigate all the land lyiH to the east and ncrth of Tucson. in the basin spoken of before.
 This committee finds by consulting the best authority (U. $. surveys as fal as made) and by measurements where not made that there is over two million acres of the best land in this county lv- iEg idle for the want of water to irrigate them. That this water can be stored there can be no doubt. The average rainfall for five years as show3 by the report of Mr. l.. l.. WetmOre in charge of the U. $. Meteorological station al Tucson is eleven and seventy-seven one hundredths inches in the valley. The precipitation on the mountains Is more than four times as great as 1t Is m the valley, where the station is established
 The probable cost of constructing Jams. reservoirs and canals to bring these lands under cultivation will not exceed one million dollars. The slands It present are of no value but Ii b, means of storing the rainfall they cal )e irrigated, they become at once yalua lble for all tima. Our lands are adapted or the growth of all the fruits Of the temperate and semi-tropical regions. The peach, pear, apricot, nectarine, apple, quince, fig, olive nd the plum do exceptionally we'll md produce the best of fruit. which ri lens month earlier than in California. The grape grows thriftily and often ives two crops per year, and ripens at
 time when we have no rain, so enabling Is to convert the grape into raisins at a al Ia Iitiors the product of lands well cul iyated is as follows: barley yields fifty ,lshels per acre: wheat yields thirty bushels, and corn fifty bushels per acre. 'otatoes four hundred bushels. anG 'eans forty bushels per acre. Barley nd wheat when sown for hay. return | a average of two tons per acre. Alfalfa l Lucern) after being well set. can be cut K times per year, yielding m the aggre | ate twelve tons per acre. Hay is worth | welve dollars per ton, grain ninety | enIs per bushel, and potatoes one dollar ] nd twenty cents per bushel.
 If the Government will make the nee ssaTy surveys and withdraw from entry | nd settlement only the lands embraced | D the basins of the proposed reservoirs. rivate enterprise will, we think. soon | olve the problem of water storage in l Arizona, increasing the value of lands | rom nothing to an ass sesSed value of | fly dollars per acre. (The lands in the | icinity of Tucson, under cultivation. be- lg irrigated, are now assessed for taxes fifty dollars per acre.) Where lands | re thoroughly cultivated experience bows that one miners inch is sufficient | Q irrigate six acres of land, which when lanted to grass. beans, hay, or fruits eed to be irrigated once in thirty days. 'or alfalfa, land should, to produce the est results, be irrigated every fifteen, avs, requiring one miners inch for every hree acres.
 The castor bean grows to be a tree. saching six inches in diameter, and eight of fifteen feet, yielding two and
 half bushels to the tree, When pro- scted the tree lives four or five years
 From the report, submitted by the ma county committee, the following is being the concluding portion he entire report will hereafter aDrear