The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1899-02-13
The Retaining
OF Hrid Land


Special Correspondence of The Tribune.
Washington, Feb. IA new and dis
tinct policy is being strongly advocated. |
for giving to the arid states and terrific
ries which have no harbors of great nav
igabe rivers, their proportion of the eX-
penditureS under the river and harbor
bill. The senate committee on commerce
has Just heard arguments in favor of
the construction of a comprehensive sys-
TEN of storage reservoirs in the arid
west as a part of the established ma
tional policy of internal improvements,
as urged by the national irrigation con-
gress and recommended in a report of
Colonel II. NJ. Chittenden, of the engi-
neer corps on reservoirs III Colorado and
Wyoming.
Senator Carter, of Montana, addressed
the committee in behalf of his proposed
amendment appropriating S5,000.000 for the
construction of n SS stem of reservoirs in
all the arid states and territories, this
being the proportion of the entire river
and harbor appropriation which the Chit
tendcn report suggests should be devoted
to this purpose. The senator urged that
such a policy would store at the head
waters of the Missouri and its tributar-
les In great natural reservoir sites, the
very waters which now go down to do
destruction on the rivers far below. Then
the reserve could be drawn from these
reservoirs, when needed in the dry season
for irrigation and navigation ard so be-
sides preventing tremendous damage from
erosion and overflow, would raise the
water for navigation, and irrigate and re-
claim vast areas Of fertile lands, now
dry and worthless, but which, under irri-
SatiCn, would support a dense and pros
porous population. "Such a policy" ne
said, would vastly benefit all sections
Of the country. new market would be
.t..1 C..
these western communities, while the
agricultural productions OF the western
unds would not come into competition
with those of the east but would be alb
sOrbed by the rapidly growing demands
Of the Asiatlc trade for western farm
products. A new empire in the west
would be created by giving to the country
| the wealth that would come from the
beneficial use of these waters, which now
go TO waste in the flood seasons and cause
only damage and destruction
Senator Warren, of Wyoming, through
/ whose efforts the Chittcndcn report was
| made, argued in favor of the project,
! stating that he had submitted an amend
ment 10 the river and harDOr bill provid-
! ing specifically for the construction of
/ reservoirs in Wyoming and Colorado, but
/ that he earnestly advocated the adop-
| tion of the broad policy of the construc-
| tlon of a comprehensive system of res
ervoirs in all the arid states and terri
! tories believing that il would be a sound
| national policy and result in enormous
| national benefits. such system"
| Senator Warren said, would not only
| thckly settle great areas of the west
| where now are nothing but stock ranges
| or deserts, but 1t would do vastly more.
! The great west is now adding untold mill
! ions from her mines to the nations
! wealth each year, but there are great
t.1 ZzasE 4,
| been prOtitably worked incident to the
/ lack of transportation facilities and the
| high cost of living in many Of the min
! ing regions. Create dense agricultural
population in these mining states" he
! said, "by making the waters availa Bile
/ for irrigation, and you would cheaper
food and compel transportation facilities,
| with the result that there would be an
, enormous increase in the output of the
mines, which would be exchanged for
supplies of manufactured articles from
eastern factories"
George II. Maxwell, of California, rep
! resentng the national irrigation con-
gress, was also heard in advocacy of the
policy. He urged that the broad ques-
ton was whether the great region known
as Arid America, which would, If re-
| claimed, sustain a greater population
than there is now in the whole United
States, should remain a desert forever, or
| should be transformed into prosperous
communities by conserving the flood wa
ters for beneficial use. Mr.. Maxwell
showed that the experience Of irrigated
countries has been that where the waters
were taken out of the streams and car
ried through a system of irrigatng
canals, the soil after a period of years
becomes permanently saturated with wa
ter, and thereafter very large proportion
of the water SO used finds its way
| haa iDtn hn gtVa oh,
nels. The result of this condition
would be that the enormous quan-
titles of water stored in winter under
the proposed policy would flow back into
the streams after being used for irriga-
tion and raise the water for navigation
at the time most needed for that purpose
In other words, this storage of water
would, in addition TO furnishing irriga-
| tion, act as a river regulator, prevent
ing floods in winter and low water in
summer.
The great flood OF 1881 on the Missouri
could have been controlled, Mr.. Max.
well stated, as shown by the government
reports, by a storage reservoir capacity
Of SO square miles in area and 81 feet
deep, The Chittenden reservoirs provide
for AZ square miles, 81 feet deep at a cost
Of $25OO,OOO, Storage water in Colorado
in the headwaters of the Arkansas riVel
would restore to Kar sas the waters di
verted by Colorado appropriations, ovei
which Interstate litigation Is threaten
ing, and storage on the P7atte river would
prevent the Nebraska irrigators on tha
stream from losing their supply from al
versions In Colorado and Wyoming, Mr.
Maxwell urged finally that this polio,
went to the root OF a great evil and re
moved the cause of floods, while it saVet