The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1894-05-18
THE NATIONS ARID LANDS.
GREAT VALUE OF IRRIGATION TO
TILLERS OF THE SOIL.

bGtl IN blbth lOI dRGNs lApAb
z before the era of recorded history
the system was perfectedin those lands.
Among the first governments estab-
lished by the man were those founded
on and by the ditch. Population was
first cemented to the soil by water that
flowed through bitches. What little
standardization there was ON earth
was fringed along rivers that annually
overlooked, and by bitches through
which life-giving and population-sup-
porting water flowed.
All arid lands, it matters not where
they lie, are worthless, and large
area is required to support single
beast, say, from fifteen to thirty acres.
The growth of grass is scanty, and il
does not endure close grazing, and il
SO grazed itspeedily disappears. Water
only has value in arid zones. With
out water the land cannot be brought
under the pillow. With water properly
applied the arid lands are transformed
from non-productive deserts into the
most productive soil on earth, and
capable of supporting an exceedingly
dense population.
What Is the area of the arid lands of
the United States? Open a map of the
country, place your index finger on
the one hundredth meridian at the
southern boundary, draw it diagonally
northward to the Canadian boundary
line at the point where the pinety-
ninth meridian passes into Manitoba.
All land west eff that line and east of
the Pacific Ocean is arid, save Western
Washington, Western Oregon and
Northern California.
1t is true that within this arid zone
there are large areas of land where the
rainfall is sufficiently heavy to permit
grain to be grown to perfect maturity,
and there are other large areas in
which crops are occasionally snatched
from the grasp of heritage devouring
siroccos. But the migratory Western
settler, the children of the Mississippi
Valley, long ago discovered these pro-
ductive and semi-productive districts,
and they are fully occupied. As a
whole, the region that I have indicated
is arid, and until wind DETECTING
mountain chains sink into the earth
and the prevailing winds cease to
/ blow it will remain arid.
How much of this arid land can be
reclaimed? That question cannot be
answered accurately, but many acres
! less than the advocates of Government
aid to establish irrigation works as
sert. The annual rainfall in this region.
taken asa whole, does not exceed ten
inches. To raise grain to perfect ma
turity requires from twenty to thirty
inches of rainfall, and with this amount
of precipitation the rain must not be
| punched, but must fall when needed.
Throughout the arid zone a delay of a
few days in the falling of needed rain
is fatal to full crops, and a delay of a
few weeks forbids the gathering of any
crops at ALL 1t requires but few days
of dry weather in the arid zone to
awaken the wrath Of the southwest
wind and cause it to blow its hot
breath in fierce blasts over the land,
and all vegetation withers and curls
and dies if the wind blows many days.
All talk of the region, as a whole,
ever being reclaimed is the prattling
of ignorant men. Ten inches of rain
fall, even if every drop was conserved,
is not sufficient TO irrigate the region.
The rain and the snow fall on gravelly
plains, on sandy wastes, and on lofty
mountain chains, none of which can be
reclaimed. A large portion of the
moisture is lost by evaporation, an
other large portion sinks into the
ground. In fact, the only areas with
in the arid zone that can be depended
on to supply water to irrigating bitches
are the highlands. In those regions
of lofty attitudes the summer rains
quickly run down the steep tanks of
the mountains and into the creeks and
rivers. And the snow, which contains
the great bulk of the moisture that
falls in the highlands, lies deep in
mountain valleys, and shaded canyons
and melts slowly and Keeps the streams
full of water during the very months
that water is required on the plains.
1t is evident that there can be no
greater aggregate of water in any re-
gion than the amount that falls from
the clouds on the land, less theamount
that flows out by rivers, and less the
evaporation. This being true, the
statement that one-fourth or one-ifth
of the arid land can be reclaimed is a
mistake The writer unhesitatingly
asserts that not one-tenth of the land
lying between the one hundredth meri-
dian and the Pacific Ocean, again ex-
Guiding Western Washington and Ore
gon and portions of California and
| fovOrad AREAS sucb as the palouse re-