St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1889-08-01
Upon Such Land History
Shows Civilization Always
Began.
Maj. Powell Gives a Scientific
Disquisition on the
Subject.
Disease Lies at Well Bottoms
and Heavens Water Must !.
Be Had. -
Artifleially Watered, Western
Lands Blossom Like the =
Rose. :

1dJ. u. w. LOWELL, ulTtCtoI VI Iil0
United States geological survey, arrived
in the city yesterday noon and added
his presence to that of the senator from
Nevada and his corps of assistants in
the great problem about to be investi-
gated from scientific point of view
the irrigation of arid lands in the West.
The major is most affable gentleman,
and eminently qualified tocarry out the
idea in hand in an extensive manner.
Speaking of engineering and its tri-
umphs toa GLOBE representative last
evening, Mr.. Powell gave his views vent
as follows: Hydraulic engineering is
the oldest scientific art. Everywhere
throughout the world civilization began
in arid lands, and hydraulic engineering
was the first great problem to be
solved. If the dreams of modern
electrical science are realized, so
that water power can be economically
converted into electric power and trans
ported from place to place, the future
will see in it rapid increase in employ
ment If this is done our highland
streams will Immediately become of
value as powers, and dams and reser-
VoirS must be constructed in far greater
numbers than in the past. -a
Modern sanitary science condemns
well water for domestic purposes in
cities, towns and villages. Disease is
at the bottom of the well, health in
waters of the heavens, and the people =,
MUST HAVE THIS PURE WATER.
wherever the houses of men are clus-.
tered, reservoirs, or systems of reser-
VoirS, must be built. Nothing can be
mole certain than that the storage of
water for this purpose will quickly and
greatly increase throughout the United.
States.
Great floods destroy low water cham
nels by blocking them with natural
dams. By storing the water of such
floods, and diScharging it at low water
time, these ehanDelslar kept open and
a more equable volume is preserved.
Experience has shown that flood waters
contain vast stores of fertiliZing ele-
ments. All other fertilizers that man
can utilize sinkinto insignificance when
compared with those furnished by flood
waters. In the United States we are
just beginning to appreciate this. The
conditions under which agricultural ops,
erationS have hitherto been carried ons
have not directed the attention of our
farmers to this subject until of latef
years.. It is far within the facts to state 8
that any region OF our country may
have. it's agricultural production
doubled by the use of itsJ
flowing waters for the fertilization
of lands. .The. time is rapidly coming 4
when the flood waters, of the country'l
will be used for this purpose on grandI
scale, and reservoirs will be constructed
all over the land. as they are now ind
process of building in England, Frances;
Tfnlu nd nf ntrin 81
about two-fifths of the area of the 4
United States is so arid that agriculture,
is impossible without artificial irrigaA4
tiOn,- -5-.j - T. 49,. .7.l5@a - ~
THE RAINFALL BEING INSUFFICIENT
for the fertilization of ordinary crops;
In this region all agriculture dependSd
upon running streams. LII all Of this 4
country, wherever agriculture is prose-
euted, dams must be constructed and
the water spread upon the lands
through the agency OF canals.
Again, as the season of growing crops
is comparatively short-in most of the
country it lasts from two to three
months oniy-the waters of the nom
irrigating season will run to waste I'M
less they are stored in reservoirs. Less
than third of the streams of the arid
region run to the sea, even now, as the
great majority are lost rivers
"Thee arid region is mountainous.
Mountain ranges lnclOSe valleys, while
plains, mesas and plateaus carry dead
tation of moisture Oh these lands is con-
fined to the mountains, where 1t is eX-
cessive. The fertile lands along the
plains and mountains are arid. LII all
the region agriculture is possible only
by collecting the mountain waters and
using them on the plains and valleys.
In the region of country where land is
more abundant than water the value
inheres In the water, not in the land.
Land, like air, is. formed in greater
quantities than can be used; water is
the necessary, and value is given to the
land by the water right which it carries
if the water right is discovered the
land is valueless. All Of tile early civil
lization of the world began in arid
land and the best agriculture of the
world to-day is carried on by means of
artificial irrigation. The seemingly
desert plains of the arid region of the
West are, in fact, abundantly rich =
WHEN wATERED ARTIFICIALLY.- x
ultimately one of the great agricult-
ural regions of this country will be !
found in the irrigated plains and vail
leys of the West Sagebrush plains,
sand-dune deserts and alkaline valleys |
will be covered by gardens, fields and |
groves, all perennially fortified from !
thousands of mountain lakes. Enough |
has been said to show that the storage
of water in reservoirs is not one of the
trivial incidents of modern industry,
but enc of its most important factors,
and that in this country we have only
reached the beginning of its develop
ment. We may expect, in the course of |
few generations, that all the highland
streams of America will be controlled
and utilized, and that the floods will be
bridled and become the trained serv-
ants of man, as wild beasts have beensl
domesticated for his use." al
MUM AS CLANS. "A
I'd