The Florence tribune., 1899-09-09
wHllE BILLIONS OF GALLONS RUN
 TO WASTE. 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-taiked- of System of Federal Irri-
 gation.
LFrom the Los AngeIes Times. July lO.l

nishes The Times the following irrigation possibilities in Arizona:
 The Gila River Indian reservation is situated about eighteen miles south of Phoe- nix, and extends along the Gila River for distance of nearly fifty miles. Here are located the Pima and Maricopa Indians to Indians are known throughout the Terri tory as good Indians.' They have always been peaceful Tn their habits, and agrieul- tural or pastoral in their pursuits. They are now cultivating the lands where the prehistoric races built the now-ruined Casa Granae and its neig ghboring canals. Irriga- tion has been practiced in this valley from prehistoric times. Many ancient ditches can be traced across the plain. showing evidences or engineering skill, and testifying to the fact that large volumes of water were at one time carried.
 The Pimas and Marieopas have been mntil recently, self-sustaining nation. They raise their crops of grain and corn Elth skill equal to that of the whites. The settlers. seeing he results which the In dlans have produced, through the operation ol .he oesert land act, brought under culti- Vation much land in the valley of the Gila udjncent to this reservation. and have bnilt extensive canals between Florence and the ram oad station of Casa Grance: Under the provision of the United States law, all land bought under the desert-land act must De made productive by the application of water: Tn order to comply with the proyis- Ions of this law, the settler was compelled to make diversions from the Gila River at points above the Indian reservation. Other lands were taken up under similar condi- lions on the upper portion of the Gila River These diversions by the hites quickly de- prIyed the Indians of their water supply and for the past five years they have been teIt 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, ana tho government has been forced to issue ratlons to them and feed them as it does inc soldiers Numerous court decisions have been rendered establishing beyond com troyersy 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 the ccurf me development Of this newer civilization mas become so extensive that to cut of its water supply would mean the desolation of many thousands of acres of fine farms and orchards. Evidently, the situation is a ditfi- cult one, and the Indian Bureau is hard pressed for Droper answer
 m loso an allotment of $500 was made rom the appropriation for the Indian Office Tor preliminary investigation of the avail able water supply for those Indians Mir Newell was instructed to make this iuyesti- Eatlon 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 iuiiy demonstrated. It was shown that this stream drained about fifteen fhousand square miles of the high plateau and noun tam region of Eastern Arizona, and that the rlVer IS Teinnrkable for its exceedingly light grade. Consequently, the storage possibiii- fies Of the stream are great. Recommenda- tions were made by Nr. Davis calling for the spring of 1898 Congress passed a second appropriation of S20,0tO for the completion oI snis invest ieatIon. The hydrographicde- again delegated as the pruper office fo con- duet these surveys.
 The Gila River derives it's source from the hlte Mountains in western New Mexico and eastern Arizona, which rise to elevations Of from ten to twelve thousand feet At the point there it issues from it's mountainous basin. there are oyer twelve fhousand square miles draining through it's cauons 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 15O feet in height above the bed of fhe stream will store enough water to cover 174oO0 acres one feet deep, or, as it is technically ex- pressed. l!4.eOO acre feet. A dam at this point would be approximately 300 feet long at the bed Of the stream and 800 feet at its crest. At Riverside. Ariz., it was found that dam $50 feet long at its base, and approxi- mately eu0 feet long on top will store much greater quantity of water, the surveys at this site being still incomplete. At San Carlos. on the Apache lseservation, the river vide and dsm at Fbhrow 9h;s ;5 goTse at lUV Is9s would be but 200 feet long at the crest. Such dam would store 361, 600 acres one foot deep. Extensive explorations have been made to oetermine the depth of bed rock at each one of these dam sites. At the Butfes the bed 1 rock is disapDointiugly deep. the depths ranging in the center of the channel from 75 70 1zs feet beneath the surface of the stream. At Riverside the maximum depth on the | axis of the dam is approximately seventy nve feet, while at San Carlos the depth to ped rock is believed to be substantially less than at either of the other dam sites.
 The records of the How of the (iiIa River 1 have been kept at the Buttes for number 1 of years. and the. estimates of available water supply are. therefore, based on actual | measurernents. not on surmise. The ordi- nary How of this stream is ample to fill the | largest of these reservoirs, and en tho driest years of which we have a record it has been as great as 200 eco 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 available water supply, the great storage basin, and the proxiH1ity of aiIroad fscili- 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 raie- ing of the staple crop of alfalfa. depth of applied to the land which is equivalent to now for six months of one miners inch to each three and one-half acres. On this basis, the San Carlos site will furnish enough
 
 lift IS assumed that each two acres will sup port one inhabitant. this would permit of 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 are absolutely dry, and that the country from the Apache Reservation to the mouth of the Salt River isin condition of withered drought. with its inhabitants both white aud Indian reduced almost to the condition of abiect want. If is estimated that 10G00 acres of land should be irrigated on the Gila Indian Reservation in order to relieve the condition of the Indians. This would leave oyer 10000 acres that could be irri- gated on the public domain. If 100000 acres of these public lands could be so irrigated | and being subdiyided into forty acre tracts, sold to actual settlers, at the rate of $l0 to Sl5 per acre. the condition of the Indian would be wholly relieved, and 1t Is probable the government would be reimbursed for it's entire outlay. In addition to this. district offering ideal conditions for irrigation. 1 with d soil which is unexcelled, with a climate that will produce crops in contiuH- ous rotation. will be made to support a population of 7see0. and win add to the pubiie yeaitt | of the Territory. on a conser- sat5Ye estimate. over Sd.0a0i GO.