The Florence tribune., 1900-09-22
WATER WANTED. WHILE 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 haugurate the Much-talked- of System of Federal Irri-
 gation.
IFrom the Los Angeles 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 a distance of nearly fifty miles. Here are located the Pima and Maricopa Indians to the number of nearly five thousand. These Indians are known throughout the Terri tory as good Indians.' They have always been peaceful in their habits and agricul- tural or pastoral in their pursuits. They are now cultivating the lands where the prehistoric races built the now-ruined Casa Grande and it's neghboring canals. Irrisa- tion has been practiced in this valley from prehistoric times Many ancient ditches can be traced across the plain, showing evidences of engineering skin, and testifying to the fact that large volumes of water were at one time carried.
 ''The Pimas and Maricopas have been, until recently, a self-Sustaining nation. They raise their crops of grain and corn with skill equal to that of the whites The settlers seeing the results which the h. dians have produced, through the operation of the desert land act, brought under culti- yation much land in the valley of the Gila, adjacent to this reservation. and have built extensive canals between Florence and the raiI oad station of Casa Grande. Under the provision of the United States law, all land bought under the descrt-land act must be made productive by the application of water. In order to comply with the proyis- ions of this law. the settler was compelled to
 
 points above the Indian reservation. Other lands were taken up under similar condi- tIons on the upper portion of the Gia River These diversions by the whites quickly de- prived the Indians of their water supply and for the past five years they have been left 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, and the government has been forced to issne rations to them and feed them as it does the soldiers Numerous court decisions have been rendered establishing beyond con 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 court. The development of this newer civilization has become so extensive that to cut off its water supply would mean the desolation of many thousands of acres of fine farms and orchards Evidently. the situation is diff cult one, and the Indian Bureau is hard pressed for proper answer.
 Tn lbg6 an allotment of S3500 was made from the appropriation for the Indian Office for preliminary investigation of the avail able water supply for these Indians. MT. Newell was instructed to make this inyesti- gation 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 a preliminary nature but the storage possibility of the Gila River was fully demonstrated. It was shown that this stream drained about fifteen thousand
  tain region of Eastern Arizona, and that the river is remarkable for it's exceedingly light grade. Consequently, the stora age Dossibili- ties of the stream are great. Recommenda- fions were made by Mir. Davis calling for further and more accurate surveys and in the spring of 1898 Congress passed second appropriation of S2o 000 for the completion of this investigation. The hydrographic de- partment of the Geological Survey was again delegated as the proper office to con duet these surveys.
 The Gila River derives its source from the White Mountains in western New Mexico and eastern Arizona, W hich rise to elevations of from ten to twelve thousand feet. At the point where it issues from its mountainous basin, there are over. twelve thousand square miles draining through it's canons 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 peen made under the United States laws for their segregation from the public domain. At point known as the Buttes dam I50 feet in height above the bed of Ehe stream willstore enough water to cover IT. 900 acres one feet deep, or, as it is technically ex- pressed. 1I4.00D acre feet. dam at this point would be approximately 300 feet long at the bed Of the stream and 800 feet at it's crest. At Riverside. Ariz.. it was found that dam $50 feet long at it's base, and approxi- mately 800 feet long on top will store a much greater quantity of water the surveys at this, site being still incomplete. At San IF. passes through a narrow gorge 100 feet wide, and adam at this point l5O feet high would be bus POO feet long at the crest Such a dam would store S61- 900 acres one foot deep.
 Extensive explorations have been made to determine the depth of bed rock at each one of these dam sites. At the Buttes the bed rock is disappointingiy deep, the depths ranging m the center of the channel from 75 to lz4 feet beneath the surface of the stream. At Riverside the maximum depth on the axis of the dam is approximately seventy- five feet. while at San Carlos the depth to bed rock IS believed to be substantially less than at either of the other dam sites.
 The records of the flow of the Gila River have been kept at the Buttes for number of years, and the estimates of available water supply are, therefore based on actual measurements. not on surmise. The ordi- nary How of this stream is ample to fill the largest of these reservoirs and on the driest years of whiehwe have record it has been as great as 20O.OC0 acre feet.
 Tt 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 merit. The size of the necessary dam. the available water supply, the great storage basin, and the proximity of railroad faeili- 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 rais- ing of the staple. crop of alfalfa, depth of twenty-four inches of water is ordinarily applied to the land, which is equivalent to a How for six months of one miners inch to each three and one-haf acres. On this basis, the San Carlos site will furnish enough water to irrigate over 150,000. acres of land If it is assumed that each two acres will snp- port one inhabitant. this would permit of a 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 mouf h of the Salt River is in condition of withered drought. with it's inhabitants both white aud Indian reduced almost to the condition of abiect want. It is estimated that 10000 acres of land should he irrigated on the 5Ila Indian Reservation i'll order to relieve the condition of the Indians This would leave over 100000 acres that could be irri- gated on the public domain. If 100000 acres Of these public lands could be so irrigated and being subdivided into forty tracts. sold to actual settlers, at the rate of SIO to tl9 per acre, the condition of the Indian would be wholly relieved and it is probable the government would be reimbursed for it's entire outlay. In addition to this, district onering ideal conditions for irrigation, with soil which is unexcelled, with a ,limate that will produce crops in continu- 0us rotation. will be made to support a population of 75000. and will add to the public wealth of the Territory. on q conser-