Arizona weekly citizen., 1889-06-15
IRRIGATION.

As may be seen from an "Importan
 Public Notice" published elsewhere, thu
 Senate committee to investigate tn,
 question of irrigation and reclamation
 of our arid lands, will reach Arizoni
 about the middle of September Wher
 they do get here our people should bt
 in readiness to receive them and fur
 nish them with such information as
 may be of advantage to them and also
 to the country, as it of the utmost i'm
 portance. On this question we quote
 from the Salt Lake Herald:
 1 The objects are to ascertain first, if it is
 possible to bring any considerable tracts
 of this country into cultivation. This
 must be learned from surveys. which
 will demonstrate the feasibility of stor-
 ing water and leading it on the uplands
 and dry benches which lie above the
 streams; and second, the wisdom or pro-
 priety, from an economic point of view,
 or undertaking the work, the cost of the Il1c NdluC OA LAlC AoA10 DC- ing taken into account.
 Gentlemen who are somewhat familiar with the arid region by reason of their connection with the national geological survey, do not hesitate to say that the scheme is not only practicable, but that the investment will prove wonderfully re- munerative. They assert that there are places in the mountains where vast quan- titles of water can be stored, to be drawn of as it shall be required for irrigation. They say that these reservoirs can be con- structed above land, now valueless, which with water will produce more every year than the cost of the reservoir. We ali know there are millions of acres of the very choicest of land which will always remain without value, unless water can be brought to it. In Utah, where there are no plains and the valleys are narrow, only small proportion of the land is under cultivation and productive. Not third of the Salt Lake Valley is cultivated. That which is productive is worth all the way from s25 to S,1000 an acre, according to location. It will not be denied that the land in the valley above the present irrigation line is just as rich as that below, or that the former with water, would be as desirable for farms and gardens. What is true of this valley, is true of hundreds of others in these mountains, only the Salt Lake Valley is one of the best watered in all this region. But these valleys are as compared with the broad plains of Dakota, Colorado, New Mexico, Texas and Arizona, which are useful now only to hold the better country together.
 THERE is no lack of water. Enough moisture falls in the mountains embrac- ed within and about the arid regions to irrigate ten times as much land as can ever be cultivated. All that is required is to husband the water against the time of need, and the feasibility of doing this is the business which will call out the senate committee the coming summer. It would be we'll if some of our public spirited citizens who are interested in the welfare of this territory were to set about the matter of collecting data for presentation to the committe on its arrival Of course, Utah will figure very in this gigantic scheme, which contemplates the expenditure of millions of money and the providing of homes for millions of American people. Yet small as the arid portion of Utah is as compared with the whole, it is large enough to be taken into account, and to justify an effort to induce the govern ment to bring us within the benefits of the proposed enterprise.