The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1900-03-02
ABOUT IRRIGATION.
Dsta Desired From Those Who AR,
Interested In 1t.

Ou1CC III COliCItll1S paNh iSreitiNC W lllG
arid and subhumid regions shows. that
during the past ten years vast areas
have been reclaimed by irrigation, both
by ditching from running streams and
drilling for subterranean waters.
Where only a few years ago the sage
brush struggled for existence in the
midst of a waste Of alkali and sand
today are fields of waving grain and
poisoning 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 zone
where once the desolation of Sahara
reigned.
Moistened by fresh waters and fer
tilted by the rich silt of the swift
mountain 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 ex-
ceeding abundance.
Irrigation is intensive farming.
Where the water supply is ample, it is
sui llAS AaClC u AO ldlluIcS
and crops are enormous. The expert
enced irrigator is like the trained engi-
neer with his hand. OF the lever. The
movements of his hand regulate the
amount of water supplied to his fields
as those of the engineer control his en-
CINE.
In most of the irrigable sections of
tho yvact fnpfi1iyn,c ho y,o raror, 1ao,
used. although the land has been con
stantly cultivated for over two cen
turtles, In many sections fields may be
seen which have yielded successive
crops of wheat for 40 years and show
no diminution of productive strength.
Wonderful progress is shown in the
methods of constructing canals, dams
and. pumping. machinery and in the
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
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their beds and spread over the valleys
precisely as wanted. High up in the
ranges and on the elevated plateaus
immense storage reservoirs have been
constructed to impound the flood wa
tiers of the streams so that the thirsty
land below shall not suffer during the
long ~rainless summer.
M Ac f1n ~ ,o1,4:o, - N
problem of conservation of flood wa
tiers means the reclamation of millions
of acres of public land. the government
has been asked to promote measures
having this end in view. To this de-
mand the government responds. Lands
containing excellent reservoir sites
have been set aside and a thorough
study of the sources and permanence
of the water supply of arid regions has
been made to enable congress to legis-
late with intelligence upon this impor-
tant subject.
In aid of this work the twelfth cen
SUI will endeavor comprehensively to
show the present condition and values
of agriculture in the arid and subhu-
mid regions; the length, irrigable ex-
tent and cost of the various canals.
wells and bitches; the character, vol
m and constancy of 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 a brief period the main
schedules for taking the census of irri-
cation will be distributed, and Director
Merriam hopes that all recipients will
fill them out properly and return them
promptly.