Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1899-12-23
IRRIGATION IN UTAH.

From the beginning, agriculture has
been the chief industry here, aud from
the beginning irrigation has been an AID
OF incalculabe Importance In the deVel-
opment OF agriculture in this State.
Utah has long been called THE
cradle Of American irrigation and II
still leads. In this respect II has be-
come, in recent years, a school room
for the study Of irrigation, and repre-
sentatives from many States have car
rled away the valuable lessons taught
to see the principles applied In their
own lands,
still the irrigation system OF Utah
differs in some respects from any OF
the other States. The original settle
ment Of lands here and the eonstruc-
ton OF canals and bitches were stimuli
taneous. Small holdings were adopted
by the settlers, and the great number
OF these brought about a multiplicity
Of small canals. taken from natural
water courses. This naturally caused
the loss OF much Of the water through
seepage, and the methods have been
modified and corrected in later years.
The necessity for changes all along
the line resulted in the organization OF
the Irrigation Congress in 1891, and this
has become an Institution Of immense
benefit. The State Irrigation assoeia.
ton is all the time considering the prob
lens that interest Utah IN the irriga-
ton field, and the officers this year are
as follows:
President, Governor II. NJ. Wells,
vice presidents, President Lorenzo
Snow, Hon. a. L. Thomas, Judge L. w.
shurtliff. secretary. C. l. Stevenson;
executive committee. Judge l.. W.
shurtliff, chairman, Hon. Geo. 9, Can
non, f. G. Rognon, c. +. Wantland;
finance committee, Col. I. c. Weber
Gill S. Peyton, Samuel Auerbech, John
Q. Cannon. NJ. II. Walker.
One OF the pressing needs is the or
ganization Of strong companies to build
great reservoirs for the storage Of
water in order that vast tracts Of land
may be reclaimed. Many OF these are
already doing this work successfully,
but the greater project, the Lake Bon
neville company, which had for its plan
the construction OF a reservoir having
q storage capacity Of $4,000 acre-feet
and designed 70 reclaim some 100000
acres, has suspended operations for the
present, but assurances are given that
II will be revived later on. The Bear
River Irrigation company stands, there
fore, as the largest enterprise In the
class known as capitalistic organiza-
tons for irrigation. In the State. It's
canal has cost upward Of s2,O00,Q0O,
which will lrrlgate $4,000 acres of land.
Meantime, the other smaller reservoir
projects are fourlshlng and new ones
are being formed. The success Of such
undertakings all the way from the Rio
Virgin. in Washington county, up along
the Sewer, at Clear Lake and through
to Cache Valley has been thoroughly
demonstrated and the benefits proven.
Irrigation Is proving, too, the indirect
basis Of othel industries, and the beet
sugar industry Is a striking Illustration
Of this. What the works at Lehi,
Sprlngville, and ogden. are doing for
the State can hardly be overestmated,
furnishing as they do the farmer an
opportunity 10 make increased profit
from his land, furnishing additional la
Dor In the cultivation OF the beets and
opening galnful OCCUPATIONS at the
factories. And yet. without irrigation,
the beet sugar enterprises could not be