The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-03-06
IRRIGATION FOR
NEVADA LANDS.
A PROPOSITION TO RECLAIM THOU
SANDS OF ACRES BY THE
STATE.
IMMIGRATION NOW WANTED.
THE METHOD BY
WHICH PROSPERITY WILL BE
SOUGHT.

To speak of Nevada as an agricultural
State would sound singular to the ears of
those who have always associated that
commonwealth with bonanza mines and
the production of other minerals, but men
who have given the matter thorough in
vestigation are sanguine that ere many
years have passed this State will be dotted
over with grain fields and fruit orchards
which will enable it to take rank with the
now more favored States to the East which
are possessed of the only requisite which
Nevada at present lacks-water and plenty
of it.
1t is proposed by legislative action to take
advantage of the provision of what is
known as the Cleary act of Congress, by
which each of the arid States was allotted
LOCO, 900 acres of land by the general Gov
eminent, provided they took the necessary
steps to reclaim it within a period OF ten
years from the passage of said act.
J. A. Yerington, the gentleman who
represented Nevada at both the Worlds
and Midwinter Fairs, is now at the Palace,
and yesterday mentioned some of the fea-
lures of what the movement is expected to
accomplish.
the object of the bill which is to be
introduced in our legislature said he, sis
to create a water commission, the duties of
which will be to make surveys, pick out
lands suitable for reclamation and suggest
the necessary steps to put the State on an
agricultural basis.
"Our soil is very prolific and anything
grows that is supplied with sufficient
water. The fact of the matter is that crops
in Nevada develop six weeks before they
do in Los Angeles. There are immense
tracts of land which are eminently fitted
for the purposes designed. The Humboldt
Valley, for instance, contains one body of
so, 900 acres which can be reclaimed, while
in the Carson, Truckee and Walker River
valleys in the upper region, and in the
| Colorado and its tributaries in the lower,
vast tracts of splendid land for this pur-
pose await development by irrigation.
Now the Government sells this class of
land at 81 % per acre. 1t is estimated that
the proceeds of the 1 900, 900 acres which is
given the State sold on the basis men
toned, would probably pay for the neces-
sary work of irrigation. But suppose the
cost exceeds that figure, it would be an
| easy matter for the State to dispose of the
| land at five times the price mentioned if
certain supply of water could be assured.
This of course, is figuring upon the actual
returns to the State in cash provided it
undertakes the work, and does not take
into consideration the wonderful impetus
it would give every conceivable branch of
business through the immigration which
would necessarily follow and the general
| development which would take place.
Nevada has in the past contributed but
little to her own material advancement.
The millions which have been extracted
| from her mines have built palaces in other
| States and laid cables to foreign chimes, but
not dollar of it, comparatively speaking,
| remained in the State as monument to
| her productiveness. The men who had ac-
cumulated these great fortunes moved to
| of har localities and took thpir wealth h
them, leaving behind nothing but the
recollection of an era of unexampled min
| ing prosperity.
"Now we propose to take another tack.
If we can develop farming territory there
will be no danger of losing it, but it will
remain constantly with US and contribute
its proportion to the upbuilding of the
! entire State.
ga great deal of money has already been
expended by Francis P. Newlands and
other individuals in exploiting this idea of
| irrigation, but it has become manifest that
in order to make it success the movement
should have the backing of the State and
| the cooperation of all its people"