The Arizona sentinel., 1895-03-02
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 ABSOLUTELY pURE
ABSOLUTELY PURE

, western side of the desert, three crops of grapes are gathered ever, year. These ranches of which have spoken are irrigated by pump ing water from the Colorado river the proprietors deeming that les, expensive than a gravity canal because of their position on the up lands. They figure the cost oi water at from $10 to SIP per acre per year.
 COST OF IRRIGATION.
 This brings up the question of the cost of irrigation in general In the census of 1890 the first irri. gation statistics were gathered. Taking the census estimates for Arizona, it is found that the average cost of water rights throughout the territory was $7 .07 per acre. By this is meant the right to take water upon ones land, exclusive of the regular an nual rental. For the latter the average annual cost was $11. 55 per acre. The census furthermore, collected statistics as to the ex- pense of redeeming the land fit for irrigation. This was found to be $S. 60 per acre. As nearly, if not quite all, of the land Tn question was taken up from the govern ment under the desert land and homestead acts at $1.25 per acre, it is easy to compute the total cost to the owners. Exclusive of the annual water rentalit would be $16 92 per acre The average valua- ton of this same land, including l improvements, was s48.68 per acre.
 These ranches near Yuma, of which I speak, were taken up un- der the desert land act. They are held now at $1O0 per acre. I am informed that irrigable land around Riverside, Redlands and similar places in Western Califor- mia, in state of cultivation com parable to these Yuma lands, is held at $500 to $400 per acre. There is something in & name after all, you see. I have been talking about Arizona irrigation. A very different and, it is claimed, a far simpler irrigation problem is in process of solution on the opposite side of the river from Yuma, in California. There lies the "Colo- rado Desert" stretching out to the south and west, into Lower Cali fornia (Mexico)on the south and to the Coast Range of mountains on the west, comprising some 1,5OO,- 900 acres of territory within the bounds mentioned. The Southern Pacific road passes through this desert, and, like all the overland roads, lays claim to every alternate section of land bordering on it's track. Phe government owns the rest, all of it open to settlement. Directly opposite the town of Yuma, lying along the river is the reserva- tion of the Yuma Indians, about 19,OOO acres in extent. At the last session of Congress- two bills became laws; one giving to the Colorado River Irrigation Company the right of way for It's canal through this Indian reservation, the other throwing open the reserva- tion to survey and settlement. The irrigation problem spoken of refers, primarily to these two bodies of land.
 LARGEST IRRIGATING CANAL IN THE
 WORLD.
 Starting at the northern end of the reservation, where a sufficient elevation is attainable, and where the water can be taken from the river by headgates instead of dams, the company in question has sur veyed route for a gravity canal down through the entire length of the reservation and thence out .on- to desert, the canal dividing at the entrance to the desert and skirting, both edges in order that the pitch of the land may be utilized in each direction. The total legth of the canal as surveyed is about 200 miles, it's breadth 156 feet and the depth of water to be carried 10 feet; in other words, the largest irrigat