The Florence tribune., 1899-09-16
What Recent Government investigations Disclose In Regard to Irrigation
 Possibilities in Arizona.
Good Indians and Industrious White Men Who Are Practically Destitute
 for Lack of Water.
An Exceptionally Favorable Opportunity to Inaugurate the Much talked of System of Federal Irri-
 gation.
IFrom the Los Angeles Times. July 1O.l

J. E. Lippincott, the representative in Los Angeles of the Photographic Office of the United States Geographical Survey, fur nlshes ne Tunes the following irrigation possibilities in Arizona:
 The Giln River Indian reservation is situated about eighteen miles south of Phoe- distance of nearly fifty miles. Here are located the Pima and Maricopa Indians to she number of nearly five thousand, These Indians are known throughout the Terri been peaceful in their habits, and agric,il- tural pastoral in their pursuits They are, now cultivating the lands where the prehistoric races built the now-ruined Casa GrRnde and its neighboring canals Irriea- tion has been praeticed in this valley from prehistoric times, Many ancient Gitehes can bo traced across the plain show ing evidences of engineering skill, and testifying to the fact that large. volumes of water were at one time carried.
 The Pimas and Maricopas have besea until recently, a self-sustaining nation They raise their crops of grain and corn with skill equal to that of the whites The settlers, seeing the results which the In dians have produced, through the operation of the desert land act, brought under culti yation much land in the valley of the (Sila adlaeent to this reservation. and have built extensive canals between Florence and the rallI oad station of Casa Grande. Under. the provision of the United States law all land Dnught nnGer the desert-land act must be made productive by the application of water: In order to comply with the proyis- ions of this law, the settler was comnelled to make diversions from the Gila River at points above the Indian reservation Other lands were taken up under similar coudi- tlons on the upper portion of the GiIa River 1hese diversions by the whites quickly de- prlyed the Indians of their water sunnIv and for the past five years they have been left on the desert without water for their crops and scarcely enough for their horses They are put in the position of either having to steal, starve or be fed as public wards and the government has been forced to issue rattons to them and feed them as it does the soldiers. Numerous court decisions have been rendered establishing beyond con troVersy the fact that the Indian has the prior and the better right to the water but the whites have maintained their water supply despite the dictates of tho court The development of this newer civilization mas become so extensive that to cut off ifs water supply would mean the desolation of many thousands of acres of fine farms and orchards. Evidently, the situation is a diff cult one, aud the Indian Bureau is hard pressed for proper answer.
 In 1885 an allotment of S35OO was made 1romthe appropriation for the Indian Office Tor preliminary investigation of the avail able water supply for these Indians. Mir NeWell was instructed to make this inYesti- gation by the Secretary of the Interior and he delegated Arthur P. Davis to take the matter up in the field. The surveys were necessarily of preliminary nature, but the storage possibility of the Gila River was fully demonstrated. It was shown that this stream drained about fifteen thousand square miles of the high plateau and moun- tam region Of Eastern Arizona. and that the rlyer Is remarkable for it's exceedingly light grade. Consequently, the storage possibili- tles or the stream are great. Recommenda- tons were made by Mir. Davis calling for Iurther and more accurate surveys, and in the spring of 1858 Congress passed a second appropriation of o,OO0 for the completion of this investigation. The hydrograDhic de- partment of the Geological Survey was agaln delegated as the proper office to con- duct these surveys.
 t.-T-I-
 the V hite Mountains in western New Mexico and eastern Arizona, " hich rise to elevations Of from ten to twelve thousand feet At the point where it issues from it's mountainous basin, there are over twelve thousand square miles draining through it's canons, The basin has been extensively explored and three large reservoir sites located and surveyed. The capacity of these reservoir sites has been determined and filings have been made under the United States laws for their segregation from the public domain. At point known as the Buttes a dam I5O feet in height above the bed of Lhe stream VIII store enough water to cover 174,oO0 acres one rect deep, or, as 1t is technically ex- pressed, 1!4O0O acre feet. dam at this point would bc approximately 300 feet long at the bed of the stream and 800 feet at it's crest. At Riverside, Ariz., it was found that dam 350 feet long ct it's base, and approxi- mately 6OO feet long on top will store a much greater quantity of water, the surveys at this site being still incomplete. At San Carlos, on the Apache Reservation, the river
  wide, and dam at this point 150 feet high would be buS 200 feet long at the crest. Such dam would store 361 ,000 acres one foot deep.
 Extensive explorations have been made to determine the depth of bed rock at each one Of these dam sites. At the Buttes the bed rock Is disepDointingly deep, the depths ranging in the center of the channel from 75 to l4 feet beneath the surface of the stream. At Riverside the maximum depth on the axis Of the dam is approximately seventy live feet, while. ct San Carlos the depth to bed rock is believed to be substantially less than at either of the other dam sites.
 The records of the flow of the Gila River have been kept at the Buttes for number of years, and the estimates of available water supply are, therefore, based on actual measurements, not surmise. The ordi- nary flow of this stream is ample to fill the largest of these reservoirs and on the driest years of which we have record 1t has been as great as 200. .0G0 acre feet.
 It will be seen by the above figures that the possibility of storing water on this stream is very great. It is doubtful if it has any equal in this line among all the streams of arid America. The San Carlos dam site. particularly, is one of unusual merit. The size of the necessary dam the available water supply, the great storage basin, and the proximity of aiIroad facili- ties are perfect; while the other two sites also have features of merit
 The duty of water in Southern Arizona is greater than in California. For the rais- ing of the staple crop of alfalfa a depth of twenty-four inches of water is ordinarily
 
 How for SIX months of one miners inch to each three and one-half acres. On this basis, the San Carlos site will furnish enough water to Irrigate over 150,000 acres of land. if1t IS assumed that each two acres will sup port one iuhabitant. this would permit of a population of 75,000 souls to be sustained from this reservoir.
 These figures are more startling when the fact is realized that at the present time all of the canals below the San Carlos dam site arc absolutely dry. and that the country from the Apache Reservation to the mouth of the Salt River IS in a condition of withered drought, with it's inhabitants both white aud Indian reduced almost to the condition of abject want. It is estimated that 10000 acres of land should be irrigated on the Gila Indian Reservation in order to relieve the condition of the Indians. This would leave over l00,G09 acres that could be irri- gated on the public domain, If 100000 acres Ofthese public lands could be so irrigated and being subdivided into forty acre tracts, sold to actual settlers, at the rate of $10 to $l5 per acre, the condition of the Indian would be wholly relieved, and 1t is probable the government would be reimbursed for its entire cutlay. In addition to this district offering ideal conditions for irrigation. with a soil which is unexcelled. with climate that will produce crops in continu- ous rotation. will be made to support spspulafiou of T5000, and will add to the 1ehle 7 cath of the Territory. on a conser- yotiFe estimate, over $S000.0