The Florence tribune., 1897-08-21
Arizona's Water Supply.

Arthur Powell Davis, issued by the photographic division Of the Geological Survey, under the direction of F. H. Newell. It comprises about 100 pages and embraces data tAat renders the publication almost indispensable to the public man or irrigationist in whatever part of the United States, but espec- tally so in Arizona.
 Mir. Davis was detailed to this work several years ago. Since that time he has, with an ample corps of assistants, been engaged in compilation of all data possible to secure relative to the water supply of Arizona and the best msdes for the utilization to the needs of man of the storm waters now running to waste in such immense volumes. His information, as far as the Stockman can judge by brief inspection of the contents of his book, has been reliable and his conclusions throughout are marked by good sense and sound judgment. The work contains in full
 the decision of Judge Joseph H. Kib-
 bsy on tue famous Salt River valley
 water suit tried in Phosnix number
 of years ago and by the appended table
 the rights of every canal in the valley are clearly set forth. This alone should make the pamphlet very hand book of the irrigationists of the southwest.
 Then too, profiles and estimates are
 presented respecting the Tonto Creek,
 Verde, Agua Fria, Florence Buttes and
 Queen Creek water storage dams, with information respecting the mean flow of the Salt and Gila rivers. The whole is profusely illustrated with rural and irrigation scenes in Arizona and, while many disagreeable facts are plainly stated respecting the country, there can be DO doubt that the general distri- button of the pamphlet win be produc- tive of the greatest of good.
 In his preface to the work, Director Newell, who is personally, from obser- Eation, familiar with all the local con ditions, says in part:
 "The storage of flood waters on arge scale is fast coming to be mat ter of prime importance in connection rvi4b +ba dara1o,,roap+ of tha .-;d r,or-
 tions of the United States. The irri- gation projects which involve compara- lively small expenditure, or which can readily be handled by associated effort,
 have already been entered upon, but
 there still remain many localities
 where, as time goes on, the necessity for water conversion becomes more and more pressing This is especially the case in southern Arizona, in the gehIaT semitropic conditions, large re- turns are obtained from the fertile soil, some of the most valuable fruits are raised, and crop follows crop in rapid succession, farming operations being continued throughout the year.
 The success of agriculture has been such that considerable number of large irrigating canals have been built and lateral ditches extended until the available supply during low water has been practically exhausted. The streams of this country are, however, extremely irregular in character, fuet- uating at times with great rapidity, floods coming down with out warning and disappearing in the course of few hours. At certain seasons of the year high waters prevail and run to waste to the Gulf, or disappear by evaporation and percolation into the sandy desert. It is obvious that by providing suitable storage works the area of land to be can be greatly increased, the limiting conditions being practically the cost of storing water relative to the value of the crops produced.
 "The conditions briefly described above are not peculiar to the vicinity of Phoenix, or even to the Territory of Arizona they prevail in greater or less degree throughout the more arid parts of the United States, for in nearly every portion of this country irrigation has been demonstrated to be successful and largely profitable. Systems of water supply have been built, tue more easily available waters utilized, and the extension of irrigable lands now rests mainly upon the conservation of waste waters. It is for this reason that 9 discnssion of the conditions near Phoenix, Arizona, has an interest not only to the citizens of that locality, but in general is of value to residents in other portions Of the west. In cer- tain respects the needs for water are more pressing in southern Arizona than elsewhere, and thus the probabili- ties of early solution of some of the problems of water storage are here more likely to be settled in the near future.
 ''The situation in the Salt and Gila river valleys is fairly typical of that as repards fha ,yoba 1,la ,,,.,