Amador ledger., 1900-02-02
WORK OF CENSUS OFFICE
Reservoirs Built. = Flood
waters Impounded
LAND RECLAMATION AND WATER UTILIZATION
Thousands of Acres of Land Are Now
Cultivated That Were Once
Barren.

WASHINGTON, ID. CO. January I9.
The preliminary work of the Census
Office in collecting the data relative to
the arid and esub-humid regions shows
that during the past ten years vast
areas have been reclaimed by irriga-
ton, both by 6itching from running
streams and drilling for subterranean
waters.
Where only few years ago the
sage-brush struggled for existance in
the midst of waste of alkali and sand.
today are fields of waving grain and
blossoming orange groves. Hundreds
of miles of canals and bitches have
been sunk, and thousands of acres of
land have been cultivated in zones
where once the desolation of Sahara
reigned.
Moistened by fresh waters and ferttil-
lied by the rich silt of the swift noun
tain streams, once trackless wastes and
desolate valleys in the arid Southwest,
have become as fertile as the famous
Valley of the Nile, and send forth crops
OF endless variety and exceeding abun-
dance.
Irrigation is extensive farming.
Where the water supply is ample, it is
sure farming. There are no failures,
and crops are enormous. The exper-
fenced irrigatOr is like the trained engi-
neer with his hand on the lever. The
movements of his hand regulate the
amount of water supplied to his fields
as those of the engineer control his
engine.
In most of the irrigable sections of
the West, fertilizers have never been
used, although the land has been con-
stantly cultivated for over two CEN
turies. In mary sections fields may be
seen which have yielded successive
crops of wheat for forty years and show
no diminution or productive strength.
Wonderful progress is shown in the
methods of constructing canals, dams,
and pumping machinery, and in the
manner of distributing water. Modern
inventions in machinery have greatly
lessened the time, labor and cost of
construction and management and
made possible many gigantic enter
prises of land reclamation and water
utilization.
Mountains have been tunneled and
whole rivers have been lifted from
their beds and spread over the valleys
precisely as wanted. High up in the
ranges and on the elevated plateau i'm
mense storage reservoirs have been
constructed to impound the flood
waters of the streams, so that the
thirsty land below shall not suffer dur
ing the long rainless summer.
AS the successful solution of the
problem of conservation of flood waters
means the reclamation of millions of
acres of public land, the people ma
turally ask the Government to pro-
mote measures having this end in view.
To this demand the Government re-
spends. Lands containing excellent
reservoir sites have been set aside and
thorough study of the sources and
permanence of the water supply of arid
regions has been made to enable Con-
gress to leglslate with intelligence upon
this important subject
In aid of this work the Twelfth Cen
sus will endeavor comprehensively to
show the present condition and values
of Agriculture in the arid and SUBJ
humid regions; the length, irrigable
extent and cost of the various canals,
wells and bitches; the character, vol
ume and constancy of water supply;
systems employed in distribution;
amount paid for water supply; systems
employed in distribution; amount paid
for water and the crops, acreage and
yield of irrigated farms.
This effort will be successful if those
interested in irrigation shall heartily
cooperate with the Census Office and
its agents.
Within brief period the main
schedules for taking the census of irri-
cation will be distributed, and Director
Merriam requests that all recipients
prepare properly to fill them out and
toFeturn them promptly.