Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1900-11-14
IRRIGATION IN THE WEST.


IRRIGATION IN THE WEST.
/ Certain far Western members of Con-
gress, backed by large business and
farming interests, have combined to
present an irrigation scheme to the ma
!tional Legislature which will involve a
great deal of money and some sharp
discussion before it b adopted-if it
ever is. The idea is to irmgate the
great sage brush prairies of the West
and turn them into cultivated fields.
land fifteen million dollars is asked for
large for the probable results to be
gained, but there appears to be decid-
ed misrepresentation in the minds of
some newspaper writers as to the condi-
tons, for elaborate articles have been
written as to the cost of fuming wat
er from the mountains, the distances to-
+ be covered by such operations, and the
Inadequate supply.
This is arguing from a false prem
Use. 1t is true that the major portion
of the artifcially conducted water now
7 used in the West is brought via fumes
from the mountains, and vast benefits
have not only resulted from this meth
cd, but still larger beneficial results
may be attained by a persistence in
that direction. But fortunately, the
mountain water is not the only source
of supply by any means, although it is
all that is in plain sight. The writer
Of this article once made rather care
full preliminary study of this very mat
ter throughout the entire length Of
Wyoming and Utah, and was convinced.
from an observation of the land, from
talks with local people, and from some
experiments along the line of the Union,
/. Pacific railroad, that an ample supply,
of water for irrigation purposes can
be obtained throughout the sage-brush
country through the simply expedient
{of artesian wells, sunk to a compare
lively shallow depth.
I The sage-brush plains lie between.
ranges OF mountains once very much
higher than at present and Of vastly
greater bulk, while the original valleys
were much deeper, say from five hun,
dred to one thousand feet. In the
course of ages erosion o5denuded the.
mountains and filed up the old valleys
until they are now practically level
plains, topped with coating of light
grey and ashy appearance, but very
productive when supplied with water.
THIS SOIL in it's natural state, produced
about one s.ckly sage brush to every
ten square feet and nothing else, aside
from a few prairie dogs and an occa-
sional coyote OF wolf, but give it water.
and 1t will produce anything in the
shape OF vegetation. That the water is
close at hand is abundantly proven by
The fact that at intervals along its line
the Union Pacific has caused wells to
De sunk, and thus it is that after rid
ing for fifty miles through what more
closely resembles an old ash pile than
anything else, one suddenly finds the
train halted az a station where every
thing is green, grass growing, trees
thriving, and where small vegetables
and limited amount of cereals are
produced, the crop being only limited
by the water supply and the extent of
ground cultivated
This is the secret of how to make the
sage brush desert productive. 1t only
needs a sufficient number of artesian
wells to be made to blossom as the rose.
The old valleys, long since filed up.
still contain the beds of the ancient
streams intact under hundreds of feet
of de5nis, and wherever these streams
are tapped by we'll there is an immed-
late reward in an abundant supply of
water. To flume water from the melted
snow of the mountains was the cid way.
Fortunately there is an easier and a.
better method; and it is also vastly
cheaper.