Little Falls weekly transcript. (Little Falls, Morrison Co., Minn.) 1894-19??, 1895-04-12
PROBLEM OF THE ARID WEST.

it, solution, According to tho Irrigation
Experts, Lies In Repartition.
The development Of portions Of the
arid west is one of the marvels Of this
age. Itseems to have been clearly dem
onstrated that with a full and correct
use of the resources Of the country there
is scarcely section Of the now almost
uuinhabited western desert regions that
may not be reclaimed. Tha water sup
ply from every source must be SO used
Is to best benefit the most people. The
irrigation experts say this end cannot
possibly be attained as the western
states are at present constituted. The
trouble is mainly that many millions of
acres Of the best irrigable land in ono
state depend for their natural water sup
ply on rivers that rise and run for the
greater part of their length in another
state. The people Of the latter state can
ont of the water supply and use q
waste it all in their own state, running
the land in the lower state. Orren M.
Donaldson, who proposes to wipe out
completely the present state and terri
torial lines and redivide the arid and
suhhumid west and southwest in states
with boundaries in accord with the nat
ural contour Of the country and with
special reference to the requirements OF
irrigation. says in The Irrigation Age:
. "There is hardly boundary line in oil
the west that is not, even when judged
by ordinary standards, in some way an
outrage on nature and q menace to the
best interests Of the people. But it is as
q country dependent for it's prosperity
on irrigation that the west suffers its
most serious injury from this unhappy
system Of division. Here it is not the
land that forms the basis Of the state,
but the water, and if elsewhere it is
desirable that the state be founded on
contiguous land areas in the arid west
it is tenfold more important that the
state be based on undivided water sys-
TENS or drainage basins"
After saying why the entire drainage
area of q stream or river system used for
irrigation should be under one state au-
thority Mr.. Donaldson submits q map
Of his plan of repartitionment, which
would give 26 states and territories
in place of the Is that now consti-
tute tho western half Of the country.
The boundaries are drawn almost wholly
upon natural lines, and the areas Of the
proposed states are tolerably UNIFORM.
Practically all Of the proposed divisions
would be entitled to statehood. The
question is not a new one with the irri-
cation experts, and it has been brought
before congress in several ways in the
last few years.
Mr.. Donaldson admits that Of course
it is impossible to include the largest
rivers each in one irrigation district or
in one state. But with the exception Of
the Missouri, Rio Grande, Colorado,
Columbia and Shoshone and Of two
smaller rivers no stream in all the ir-
rigation country would, under this pro-
posed partition, flow from one political
division into another. Each river would
have its entire course through the arid
region of the United States confined
within the limits of one state or terri
tory. The interstate division of the five
big rivers named could, he thinks, easily
be arranged.