The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-06-24
A UNIQUE LAND SCHEME,

The plan of the Columbia Colonization
Company for bringing 100000 acres of the
Mojaye plains under settlement introduces
new idea into the work of developing Cali
fornia. 1t is constructing an irrigating
canal fifty-two miles long, seventy-five feet
wide and ten feet deep for brin ging water
upon the desert from the Colorado River.
The 100000 acres which it is thus bringing
under irrigation are owned by the Govern.
ment and as such are subject to entry by
settlers on the ordinary terms of the Gov
eminent, 81 25 an acre, one-ffth of which
is payable at the time of entry and the re-
mainder at the time of proving up. The
company is to pay the 81 for the settler.
In consideration of this and of a perpetual
free water right the settler is to agree to
enter desert land claim of 800 acres and
deed to the company all of his land except
forty acres, which he is to keep, the COM
pany receiving $50 acres. Thus the set
tiers land will have cost him $50, or So an
acre, and will be worth easily $1,000, or $50
an acre, the moment water is turned
upon it.
1t has not yet been asserted that the
Government will indorse this collision be-
tween the settler and the company. but as
there is no possible evil in the contract, and
as therefore the spirit of the law is not
violated, we may safely suppose that the
company has thoroughly informed itself
on this point. 1t is composed of strong
Eastern capitalists and has the Field, Farm,
and Fireside, which has an enormous circu-
lation in rural communities, as its organ.
The settlers which it will secure will come
from the East. The 100000 acres can be
taken by 625 settlers, who will represent
an added population OF 3l25. AS the land
is now absolutely worthless its irrigation
will add at least $4,000, 600 TO The wealth
of the State in land values alone, to say
nothing of the property that the settlers
will bring or of the annual product of their
industry.
The scheme is original and peculiar and
seems to solve the whole problem of irri-
eating the arid lands of California and the
whole West. The Mojave desert is at pres
emit desert in the truest sense and of the
most forbidding character but irrigation
is all that it lacks to make it a paradise.
Its soil is largely volcanic, the mountains
on either side being volcanic cinder cones
and extinct craters. but decomposed vol
canic matter makes the richests of soils.
The water of the Colorado River is per-
fectly clear and being melted snow is pure,
cold and wholesome. There is far more
than sufficient water in the river to irri-
gate the whole of the Mojaye Valley,
of which these 200, 900 acres are merely an
Insignificant patch. and also the entire
Colorado desert, lying in the southeastern
part of the State and far greater in extent
than the Mojave basin. In the Colorado
desert the Southern Pacific Railroad Com
pany owns 5000 900 acres of land under its
Government grant, half of which is irri-
gable from the Colorado, and as the COM
pany owns only every other section there
are 1.50O, 900 acres of Government land that
could be made fit for settlers by irrigation.
In the Colorado and Mojave plains all of
the finest and most expensive semi-tropic
fruits could be produced, and as the soil in
both is of marvellous fertility the yield
would be enormous.
We shall watch the development of the
Mojaye undertaking with great interest
and the highest of hopes for it's success.
The actual work of constructing this great
canal will begin to-day, and it is not un-
likely that we shall live to regard the day
as marking one of the most important
happenings in the history of the State.