The Florence tribune., 1900-02-17
A GREAT PROBLEM.
Federal Storage Reservoirs Would lrrigate the Arid Land of the Western
 Emplrs.
From the St. Louis Manufactured

From the St. Louis Manufacturer.l 1 The Congress of the United States will probable be called upon at this session to settle an important question, that of irrigation of the arid lands of the west and jointly to control the over flow of the valleys of the different rivers. The two questions, while separate an q distinct in one sense, are indissolubly intertwined and must ultimately be taken as one question.
 If the water during the wet season and the season of snow IS confined in the mountains by U system of govern ment reservoirs, that water can be utilized for the irrigation of lhe arid lands. As it flows through the soil it will flow back again into the channels of the streams and be utilized for deep water in the time of drouth of the bigger streams.
 By confning the water in it's rush, it will aid in preventing overfows of lands along the large streams. Thus the storage reservoirs of the noun tains will serve triple purpose, that of supplying water when needed for irrigation; that of overfows at certain seasons of the year, and adding to the volume of water in navigable streams during dry weather.
 It the federal government takes up the question of storage reservoirs and makes the necessary appropriations for the beginning of that work, the strain upon the purse of the American people will scarcely be felt as the work pro- gresses and is made success.
 The results from that work will soon pay back into the federal treas- ury, not only the cost of construction aud operation, but a magnificent profit thereon, in the way of increased re- productions and increased values of land now worthless.
 The western half of the United States in 1890 had 4,000, ,OO0 people; the
  eastern half very near 7O,0OOOO0. The western half of the United States, if properly irrigated through federal con struction of storage reservoirs, would furnish comforta ble homes and pro- itable farms to as many people as are now in the eastern half.
 As that territory is opened up, i'm migration of the proper class can be carried there, not so much from the Eastern and Central States as from foreign countries. Those people will become Americans. They will add to the wealth of this country, and while many of the people of the Eastern and Central States will move West, others will take their places.
 If the Federal Government constructs storage reservoirs, the population of the United States in the next 9 years can easily be 15O,0OO,oO0 people, com fortably homed, prosperous, happy and eontented.
 This work would do more for us in furnishing home market, the best of all markets, than could possibly be done through the acquisition of terri tory, by conquest or purchase, separa- ted from this country by oceans.
 The main obstruction to the con struction of storage reservoirs comes in the form of few men in the West who want the government to cede the lands of the government to the States, and who feel that if this can be done, in very little while the States can be induced to cede the lands to large private companies, thus the public domain passes from the people into the hands of speculators and the great scheme of irrigation is set back half century, if not totally destroyed.
 Private capital, State investment, can never construct system of storage reservoirs in tue Rocky Mountains That must be made a national affair. The land could not be bonded to-day for what it would cost, and if private company did this work the land would be held at such value when profitable as to be beyond the reach of the home seeker.