Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1900-01-22
IRRIGATION STATISTICS.
The Census Office Is Collecting Data Rela'
tive to Arid Areas Reclaimed for
cultivation.

OultlVdllOu'
Washington, d. c., January 22.-The
| preliminary work of the ensu office
in collecting data relative to the arid
and sub-humid regions shows that dur
ing the past ten years vast areas have
| been reclaimed by irrigation, both by
ditching from running streams and
drilling for s~ubterranean waters.
Where only a few years ago the sage
brush struggled for existence in the
! midst of a waste of alkali and sand, to-
day are fields of waving grain and bios
| soming orange groves. Hundreds of
| miles of canals and bitches have been
| constructed; hundreds of wells 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 fertil-
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 album
dance.
Irrigation is intensive farming. Where
the water supply is ample, 1T Is sure
farming. There are no failures, and
crops are enormous. The experienced IT.
rigator is like the trained engineer with
his hand on the lever. The movements
of his hand regulate the amount of wa
ter 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 constantly
! cultivated for over two centuries. In
| many sections fields may be seen which
have yielded successive crops of wheat
] for forty years, and show no d%ilninution
| of 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 con-
| struction and management, nj made
| possible man, gigantic enterprises OF
land reclamation and water utilization
Mountains have been tunrleled and
| whole rivers have been lifted from their
| beds and spread over the valleys pre-
| cisely as wanted. High up in the ranges
| and on the elevated plateaus immense
| storage reservoirs have been construct
| ed to impound the flood waters of the
| streams, so that the thirsty lane below
| shall not suffer during the long rainless
| summer.
AS the successful solution of the prob.
| lem of conservation of flood waters
means the reclamation of millions OF
acres of public land, the people natural
ly ask the government to promote meas
ures having this end i'm view. To this
demand the government responds
Lands containing excellent reservoir
sites have been set aside, and a thor
ough study of the sources and per1na'
hence of the water supply of arid re
gions has been made to enable congress:
to legislate with intelligence upon Thu
important subject.
In aid of this work the twelfth cen
sus will endeavor comprehensively u
show the present condition and values
of agriculture in the arid and sub-hu
mid regions; the length, irrigable ex
tent and cost of the various canals, we'll
and bitches; the character, volume am
constancy of water supply; systems EN-
ployed in distribution; amount paid to;
water and the crops, acreage, and yielt
of irrigated farms.
This effort will be successful If thos'
interested in irrigation shall HEARTH!
cooperate with the census office and 1T
agents.
Within a brief period the main SEIZED
ules for taking the census of irrigation
will be distributed, and Director Mer
Ram requests that all recipients pre-
pare properly to fill them out and to re
t,,,>,, IN ON, nronn nt1y