, 1896-03-13
FRIDAY. MARCH l3, 1896.
TO RECLAIM AN ARID STATE.

About a year and a half ago, says the
New York Tribune, congress coded to
several of the arid safes 1000. 900 acres
each Of the public domain, to aid in de-
fraying the cost of irrigation for devel-
opment Of the agricultural resources,
One OF the states so benefited was Wy
oming. Her area comprises G2, 64l 800
acres, but her agricultural products, if
dependent upon the rainfall for moist
ening the earth. probably would not
satisfactorily supply one small town.
According to the government meteoro-
ton Of both rain and snow mounts to
from IL to Ill inches only. Heavy
snowfalls occur high among the noun
tains, and the warm Chinook" winds.
sweeping up from the Pacific slope.
melt the snow, feeding large streams.
But these rivers do not, like those of
the etst. carry fertility to the low
landa They course swiftly through
deep rocky gorges. often more thar a
hundred feet below the level of the
parched and barren plains bordering
them, and often are, for long distances.
quite inaccessible, even for the water
ing of stock.
These are the adverse conditions
prevailing in the great Big Horn basin,
which, in the northwest corner of the
state. is contained in a country Just
about as large as the State of Massa-
chusetts. This basin Professor Powell
recognizes as the bed of an ancient
lake, the boundaries of which are
clearly defined by mountain ranges
The Pryor range bounds it on the
north. the Big Horn mountains on the
east, the Owl Creek chain on the south,
and on the west are the detached Sho-
shone, Wind river and Gros Ventre
lines of peaks. Into and across the
basin run lower ranges of mountains
once. no doubt. chains of islands in the
vast expanse of water-a spur of the
Owl Creek range, the Sheep mountains
n a range that takes its name from
its principal peak, Mccullough noun
tain. Along the eastern side of the
basin. about 200 miles, flows the Big
Horn river, a stream of considerable
magnitude, but impracticable for any
useful employment under existing con-
ditions. Crossing the basin in it's wide
est part, in a somewhat diagonal direc-
ton, Is the Shoshone river. This
stream is not, naturally. of any greater
utility than the other. From where it
bursts out of the foothills to it's juno
ton with the Big Horn river, it has a
fall OF 1900 feet, and for almost all this
distance flows through a narrow cleft
$50 feet below the level of the plains.
So far as any service useful to man is
concerned, it might just as well 20
straight down to the center of the
earth. But engineers saw that by tap
ping 1t high up above, where it enters
the basin, and carrying it's water
through an elaborate system of bitches
the Shoshone might be made available
for the thorough irrigation of a vast
area Of the regularly terraced alluvial
lands that once were the lake bed.
FERTILITY OF THE SOIL.
Were hose lands worth such an eff
Tort for their reclamation? Their ap-
pearance might well have discouraged
even the most optimistic. Far as the
eye could see toward the mountains
hemming them in, they seemed a very
Sahara. Nothing grew on them ex-
cept here and there clumps of stunted
sage-brush. scanty punches of buffalo
grass and scattered dwarf forms of
cacti. Yet. the eye of experience saw
virtue in the soil. Its only lack was
believed to be water. To determine if
this was so or not, exhaustive and cost
~ experiments were made. 1t was
found that. with irrigation, this soil
was capable of developing astonishing
fertility. Wheat yielded 70 bushels to
the acre; potatoes. as much as LOOP
bushels; alfalfa, three crops in a sea-
son, and all other products in like
bountiful proportion. Here the state
government determined to begin the
work of retaining by irrigation the
arid lands. and last summer a contract
Wal made with a corporation chartered
under the name of the Shoshone Land
Irrigation company. the inappropriate
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