The sun., 1893-08-06
Tho Vast Region without Water.

Tho Vast Region without Water.
Our esteemed contemporary, the Denver
| Republican. takes exception to some state
ments and conclusions Of ours on the sub
ject Of arid areas. and intimates that
we have not studied it sufficiently. and
have arrived at incorrect conclusions
from insufficient data. Moreover. we are
told that the rainfall at Denver being fifteen
inches per annum, enough water might be
| stored from three acres to irrigate one;
that apart from rainfalls large quantities
| of water can be stored from the streams in
| the non-irrigating season to make with the
| land irrigated from the streams and the
| stored rain water enough to irrigate 1OO.-
100000 acres. or one acre in four OF the arid
areas not included in the mountain region.
Besides, considerable areas in the arid
regions are susceptible Of cultivation with
out irrigation. though the possible extent
OF such dry farming" has not been de-
termined because Of the deficiency Of popu-
lation. Finally we are told that the popu-
lation Of the districts where irrigation Ia
necessary was about 1,0OO. 900 in 1880, the
year OF the census as our contemporary
assumes. from which we derived some Of
our data.
With the permission Of our esteemed con-
temporary we desire to state that we were
dealing with the condition found by the
officials Of the census in 1890 instead of 1880,
and that the sparseness Of tho population
in the region in question instead OF being
reason for deficient agricultural develop
ment is, on the contrary. conclusive evil
dence that such development Is impracti-
cable II not impossible. as thousands of
land-hungry home seekers have for years
searched through every nook and Granny in
the arid regions for q site upon which to
found home where employment might
be had in cultivating the land. When the
good. bad. and Indifferent land constituting
Oklahoma was thrown open to settlement,
there were ten times as many farmers on
the ground as there was land for. Many OF
those very homo seekers came directly
from Colorado: and to-day thousands of
such home seekers are upon the northern
border Of the Indian Territory awaiting
permission from the Hon. HoKE SMITH to
make homes and farms upon the Cherokee
Outlet. Agricultural development in the
arid regions has progressed slowly. n OF be-
cause population has been wanting. The
ohiy iooooh why popuidIlOu - wanting
there Is that agricultural development is
impracticable on any considerable scale.
What is barely possible is often far from
practicable. We endeavor to deal with that
which is practicable. We have given due
consideration to the possibility of storing
water for irrigation. and while readily ad-
mitting Its possibility. we have the most
serious doubts OF its practicability upon any
extended scale in those peculiar arid
regions, much Of which seem hopelessly
closed to irrigation for the same reason as |
in che case of central India where irriga-
tion was declared impracticable by reason
OF the confused system Of hills and valleys |
with unmanageable levels.
Given sufficient money and ample time, |
and We do not mean the time OF two gencr- |
ations only. engineers would undertake to |
store all the water that falls from the |
clouds In Colorado; but the cost of storing
any considerable part of it would be 80
enormous as to stagger the Imagination |
and drive distracted the Finance Minister
with the task Of providing half OF
1t. The debt resulting from our civil war
would appear as mere bagatelle compared
TO the sums that would be required to pro-
vide storage for water sufficient to irrgate
one-fourth OF the 1000. 900 acres spoken of
so nonchaantly by our esteemed contem-
porary. Why. after 27O years of energetic
American development. there are to-day.
including the arid regions. barely 2O5, 900 900
acres under staple crops In the United
States. although to make up even this total
we are forced toinclude all the lands mown.
there are millions of acres
If meadows never vexed by the plough.
1t Is true. as We have said before, that
here are areas In the arid regions where
cultivation Is possible and is actually prac-
Used without irrigation. for instance. In
northeastern Colorado corn and other crops
ire grown, in favorable seasons. in the
'latte and Republican valleys without re-
course to irrigation; but such favored To-
alites are very limited. and there seems
10 reason to doubt that all OF them have
'een discovered and appropriated by the
ZONE seekers who have swarmed over these
lesiccated regions many Of whom have
ince retreatcd to more productive areas.
We have not a doubt that our Denver con-
emporary has studied this subject care
ully and is aware that after thousands Of
ears In which irrigation had been practised
n India. and after tho Hindu rulers had
pent countless treasures upon stupendous
irrigation enterprises. the work was taken |
p by the Mohammedan conauerors. and
fter such princes as Shah FEaozE, AKBAR,
hah JEHAN, and AURUN0-ZEBE had con-
tructed works that arc still among the
'onders OF useful engineering. and after
uch works have been extended and supple-
lented by the immense constructions of
he British domination. the quantity OF land
nder irrigation In India Is still less than q ] ,