The Florence tribune., 1900-07-21
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 Inaugurate the Much-talked- of system Of Federal Irri-
 gation.
From the Los Angeles Times. July lo.l

J. B. Lippineott, the representation in Lbs Angeles of the Photographic Office of the United States Geographical Survey, fur uishes The Times the following irrigation possibilities in Arizona:
 The Gila River Indian reservation is situated about eighteen miles south of Phoe- nlx, and extends along the Giia River for 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 lndians. They have always been peaceful in their habits, and azrieuI- tural or pastoral in their pursuits. They are now cultivating the lands where the prehistoric races built the now-ruined Casa sranee and it's neighboring canals. Irriga- ion has been practiced in this valley from prehistoric times. Many ancient ditches can oe traced across tho plain, showing evidences 1f engineering skill. and testifying to the act that large volumes of water were at one time cnfried.
 ''The Pimes and Maricopas have been. lntil recently, self-sustaining nation. They raise their orcps of grain and corn with skill equal to that of the whites ihe settlers. seeing he results which the IIi- Hans have produced, through the operation lf the desert land net, brought under culti- lation mIleh land in the valley of the Gila, ad1acetit tO this reservation. and have built sxtensiYe canals between Florence and thu eaill oad station of Casa Grande. Under the 5rovision of the United States law, ali lend lnught under the tescrt-and act must be made productive by the application of
 
 oaa of this law, the settler was compelled to make diversions from tie Gila River at points oDoVe the Indian reservation. Other ands were taken up under similar co1ii- ions on the upper portion of the Cila River ihese dtyersions by the whites quickly de- rived the Indians of their waiter sTin.,lv md Tor the past live years they have been eft on the desert without water for their reps and scarcely enough for their horses They arc put in the position of either havinsr seeal' starTe or be fed as public wards, 
 'ations tO them and feed them as it does the cidiers. Numerous court decisions have 1een rendered establishing beyond con rovorsy the fact that the Indian has the lrior and the better right to the water bI,t he whites have maintained their water upply despite the dictates of the court The development of this newer civilization ias become SO extensive that to cut of is water supply would mean the desolation of many thousands of acres of fine farms and richards. Evidently, the situation is diff ;ult one, and the Indian Bureau is hard 'resscd for proper answer.
 In l6s5 Gn allotment of s3500 was made rom the appropriation for the Indian Office or q preliminary investigation of the avail .ble water suppls for these Indians. Mr. Jewell was instructed to make this investi- .afion by the Secretary of the Interior and te delegated Arthur ?. Davis to take the natter up h the Heid. The surveys were eeessaTiiy of apreiiminary nature but the forage possibility Of the Gila River was uiiy demonstrated. II was shown that this
  mare miles Of the high Dlatea7l and rnoru ain region of Eastern Arizona. and that the tyer IS remarkable for its exceedingly He;tt rade- Consequently, the storage possibili- tns c4 the stream are great. RecoInmenda- Ions were made by Nr. Davis calling for urther and more accurate surveys and in he spring of 1893 Congress passed a second appropriation of S2O00G for the conDla4ion this investigation The hydroerapLic de- artment of the Geological Survey was gain delegated as the proper office to con net these surveys.
 The Gila River derives it's souree from re White Mountains in western New Mexico nd eastern Arizona, which rise to elevations rom ten to twelve thousand feet. At the oins where 1t issues from its mountainous asin, there are over twelve thousand tuare miles draining through is cauons he basin has been extensively explored' aa three large reservoir sites located and irveyed. The capacity of these reservoir tes has been determined and filings have cen made under the United States laws for ieir segregation from the public domain. point known as the Buttes dam I50 ct in height above the bed of the stream i'll store enough water to cover 174, ,O00 acres ne rect neep, or, as 1t is technically ex- fsssed, 1ll.y00 acre feet. A dam at this pint would be approximately 300 feet long the bed of tho stream and 800 feet at is ssf. At Riverside. Ariz., it was found that Jam ssy feet long at it's base, and approxi- ately oUy feet long on top will store a rll.feh eater quantity of water, the st.rveys at is site being still incomplete At San srios. on the Apache Reservation, the river tsses through a narrow gorge no feet idle, and a dam at this point I50 fea+ bieb ouid be bus 2O0 feet long at the crest. Such dam would store 351 600 acrcs one foot daeD hAtensive exploratioIs have been made to ftermine the depth of bed rock at each one these dam sites- At the Buttes the bed 'ck IS disapDointinely deep, the depths engIng ID the center of the channel from 75 Iz4 feet beneath the surface of the sttearn. Riverside the maximum depth on the iis of the dam is approximately seventy 'e feet, while at San Carlos the depth to 'd rock IS beleyed to be substantially less aTl at either of the other dam sites.
 The records Of the flow of tho Gila River we been kept at the Ruttes for number years, and the estimates of available ater supply are, therefore, based on ecf41al sasuremcnts, not on surmise. The crdi- rytiow ot this stream is ample to fill the -ecst or these reservoirs and on the driest ars of whiehwe have record it has been great ns POO. .0t9 acre feet.
 IT VIII he seen by the above figures that possibility of storing water on this cam IS very great It is doubtful if it any equal in this line among all the cams Of arid America. The San Carlos in sit9' parucnlarly, IS one of unusual 'rlt-, The size of the necessary dam, the aiiabie water supply, the great storage sin, and the proximity of railroad facili- are perfect; while tho other two sites have features of merit.
 Tho duty of water in Southern Arizona yreater than in California. For the rais- cf the staple crop of alfalfa a depth of enty-four inches of water is ordinarily slied to the l11d, which is equivalent to . 1 for six months of ono miners inch to sh thTeo and one-half acres On this lis, the San Carlos site will furnish enough ter % i-rfeate over 150ODJ acres of land. is assuned that each two acres will sup Ft gii9 nhaaitant. this would permit of Q 'uiatips of I5,OJO souls to Do sustained tn tiiis reservoir.
 These figures are more startling when fact is realized that ut the present time Ds tho canals below the San Carlos dam are absolutely dry, and that the country n She apache Reservation to the mouth ,ne Salt River IS in q condition of v ithered sisht, with it's inhabitants both white I Indian reduced almost to the condition lbject went. it is estimated that 10000 es of land should be irrigated on the a iHdinn Reservation in order to relieve condlfisn os the Indians. This would ,e oyer ie5.yt1 acres that could be irri- cd on tl4a public domain. If 100000 acres hasc public lands could be so irrigated being sgis1ipi,ai into forty-acre tracts
 to acstlfti settlers, at the rate of SI0 to per acre. the condition of the Indian fifi be wholly rciiesed and If is probable government would be reimbursed for it's Ire outlay. In addition to this. q district ring ideai conditions for irrigation j. soil which IS uneAcciied. with q atc thai ,slil produce crops in coufinit-
 FotatlDa will be made to support ss uiafIOn pf l3yN and will add to the 1ic we.llsh q the fefritofy. on colser- se eiti..A-tte ostr s5 5JJ oJJ