Arizona republican., 1900-11-25
A Paper on "InigatiOn in
 India and Egypt
Prepared by Mir. D. B. Heard of This City and Read Before the National Irrigation Congress in Chicago Last Night.

by MT. Dwight B. Heard of Phoenix on Irrigation in India and Egypt" Thr paper was read by MT A C. Bartlett
 Of Chicago on the telegrapllic request of Chairman George II. Maxwell of the National Irrigation association The following is q copy of the paper. which shows d close and comprehensive study of the subj c7 of irrigation in countries
 where the conditions strongly resemble
 thosc which prevail in the valleys of
 Arizona:
 In considering the needs of irriga-
 tion, and the splendid possibilities in
 storing the flood waters of our western
 rivers for reclaiming the arid lands in
 the valleys of the west. and for ere
 ating in what are now barren tracts.
 communities of prosperous homes. it is
 fortunate that We have so much vaIu
 able information to draw upon in the
 experience which England has had
 with these same economic problems in
 India and Egypt.
 The great difference between the
 work for this government and that
 which England has accomplished in the countries mentioned is that while she has undertaken her work for a people of but limited intelligence, who speak a foreign tongue. who arc slow to con- prehend modern methods of agricul- ture, and who are willing to be de- pendent this government is asked 10 assist a people who are willing to be dependent, this government is asked to assist q people who constitute one of
 the sturdiest types of humanity, who have already done much toward re- claiming the arid lands, and who are enterpTisnE, sc.r reliant. intelligent and industrious. It is almost aXio- mauc In the irrigation communities of the west that the school house follows the furrow. I have lived among and learned to know these people of the western frontier. and think that all honor is due, and that every assist ance should be given to the pioneer who frequently. at great personal sac rifice, does Loyalty his share of driving down the stakes of civilization"
 Whfe many people in the east may perhaps look upon irriga tion as con paratively modern innoVation, it is, in fact. one of the first known methods of agricultural development. and the most reliable statistical information shows that in the past, as in the pres ent, lands properly irrigated have yielded a larger return to the acre than lands under any other known system of farming
 At the time of the Pharaohs, tr Egypt. under the admins tration of Jo seph one of the earliest and most sue Vessful of irriga ton canals was built, and for many hundreds of years was in successful operation. The magnlh cent irrigation systems. which, within recent years have been developed in Egypt under English direction, prac tlCally follow the lines of the old ca nals and storage basins. which, thou sands of years ago, distributed the life giving waters of the Nile to the desert lands along its hanks. II has been my privilege to sail up this wonderful River of Destiny from Cairo to the First Cataract. where the ruins still stand of an ancient Nilumeter, which gaugcd the rise and fall of the water on which Egypt depended then as she does today The intending ribbon of verdure which follows the banks of the river is an interesting object lesson on the value of irrigation, for without ar tifcial watering this narrow valley. .J9 miles long from Cairo to the Cataract, and averaging about eight miles in width would he an absolute desert. the annual rainfall being only trifle over one inch, while the evaporation IS nearly seventy-two inches. This deS- crt-bound strip has today in successful cultivation 2,215.000 acres. and support ing q population of 543 to the square mile greater than that of Belgium, the T11n Ii-lt % I Europe.
 In addition tu the canals and basins which have served to divert aSd dis tribute the waters of the Nile. the Egyptians. from the time of the monu- ments. have raised the water of the sacred river (by many crude contriV- ances) onto the adjoining lands. For many centuries the patient fellahaen, singing cheerfully at their work. have raised. by means of the humble "sha- doof." with it's palm leaf or goat skin bucket the water. which, when ap- piled to this land, meant crops of cot ton, wheat and sugar cane, where otherwise desoIation would have pre- vailed. Another device for raising the water, in use for centuries, known as the "sakiah" or Persian Whee!. con sists of q vertical wheel carrying an endless chain of earthen pots, which | descend into well on the banks of the Nile; this vertical wheel being turned by a horizontal one applied to it, and propelled by d patient buffalo or sour visaged camel. These wheels are usu ally but lilly constructed and squeak and groan most dismally when in oper ation, so that the sigh of the sa.kiah" is literally heard throughout the land.
 Until very recently much of the aSri- cultural development of Egypt has been due to the distribution of the Nile water by these primitive methods: but since England has become the domi- mating factor in the internal develop ment of Egypt she has been steadily at work on a complete modern system of scientific irrigation, which will reach it's climax in the completion of the
 (Continued on Third PapeO