Arizona republican., 1899-02-19

Let these flood waters,' said the
 senator, be stored on tne headwaters
 of the Missouri, the Platte and the Ar
 kansas rivers and the other tributaries
 of the Mississippi, in the mountain val
 leys and interior basins which nature
 seems to have created so that man
 could, by building great dams, trans
 form them into inland lakes and reser-
 voirs of vast extent and capacity, and
 then the waters will not only be held
 back and prevented from going down
 in freshets to overflow and destroy the fertile country far below. but they can
 be drawn out into the irrigating canals
 in the dry season when needed for ir-
 rigatiOn. and will reclaim an inn mense arid territory which will be thus made capable of supporting a dense population. Then prosperous communities will grow up in a multi tude of places where is now a wilder ness and must ever remain so, unless these wasted waters can be saved in this way. They can be saved in no other way
 Senator Frye, the chairman of the committee, asked how the distribution of the stored waters would be regu- lated. Senator Carter replied:
 This would be regulated under the laws of each state, just as though nature, instead of the national govern ment, had regulated the flow of the streams. It is not proposed that the federal government shall in any way 4, water. The people Of the states can be depended on to provide wise laws and regulations to secure the greatest benefits to the people from the bene- ficial use of the water"
 WOULD HELP THE EAST.
 Senator Carter dwelt at some length on the erroneous idea that western de- velopment might harm the east. He showed this to be impossible. Not only would every new community in the west make a new market for the eastern manufacturers" he said. but the surplus products of the far western farmer would come to the eastern markets. The last few years has seen 8 most marvellous growth of our ex- port trade in the farm products of the west to Asiatic markets, and this de- mand is increasing every year and will absorb all the agricultural products of the irrigated farms of the arid region.
 Senator Warren also has introduced an amendment to the river and harboT bill providing for 9 specific appropr1a- tion to build the Piney system of res in South Platte reservoir in Colorado, in accordance with the surveys and esti- mates of the Chittenden report, and he showed the committee by references to this report the wonderful advantages and benefits which would result from their construction, over a wide area Of territory, and how cheaply they could be built compared with the enormous amount of water they would contain.
 "I want to say, however" said Sen ator Warren, that l am strongly in favor of charging this policy by ex- tending it over the whole arid region of the country. I have referred to these reservoirs surveyed by Colonel Chittenden, because we have the sur veys and photographs and the state ments Of the specific advantages to | arise from their construction right | here before us in this report. There | are reservoir sites in every western state where just as beneficial results could be obtained, and if the marvel ous advantages which will accrue from | the adoption of this policy are to be fully realized, the work must be ex- tended over the whole west.
 And it is only fair that it should be done. A national policy of internal | improvements should be extended over the whole country, and all the states should participate in it's benefits. Un- til now it has been a sectional policy The great interior west has never had it's fair share of moneys disbursed for this purpose"
 MINING DEVELOPMENT.
 Again" said Senator Warren, ''the development of the mines of the west has vastly benefited every section Of the whole United States. The western mines are adding each year millions upon millions to the national wealth. But the development of mineral wealth in many localities is seriously retarded by the high cost of living and lack of facilities in the more remote mineral regions. If you build up a dense agricultural population in these mining states, the stability ot such a development would guarantee construction, and the nearby farms would make food cheap at the mines, and an increased output from the mines would result which would make new markets for manu- facturers and stimulate prosperity everywhere
 George H. Maxwell of California, in behalf of the National Irrigation Con-