Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1900-12-21

irrigation was practically confined to
utah. Ten years ago Idaho had 217 900
irrigated acres in crops; Utah, 263 900:
wyoming, 229, 900: Montana, $50, 900; Ne
braska, 224,00O: Arizona, 65,S21; New
Mexico, 9l,t45. Three years ago the state
engineer OF Idaho reported the acreage
in the state cultivated by irrigation as
$4,000. and the total area that was under
ditch or that could be covered by lat
erals from existing canals as 1850, 900
acres. Colorado reported a proportion
ately large incease. And what are the
results? Most amazing / find them. Chi
cage gets its best melons and it's finest
peaches from irrigated Colorado. Thence
also come the best mutton, excellent beer
and pork. ma niticent cantaloupes, choice
celery and caulifiower, and the most lus-
cious of fruits. A recent Illustrated issue
or a New York daily pictures marvellous
orchards ow1 in the desert orange
trees fourishing beneath all but rainless
SKIES, and broad, irrigated fields where
the watermelons cry out to one another
tor room to EXPAND Results? Did
you ever hear of such results?
Suppose, now, that the federal govern.
ment should seriously undertake the
irrigation of our vast unwatered empire:
what then? How would the thing affect
the rest OF the country, and more par
tlcularly, how would the thing affect
New England? l had views of my own
views held tentatively-but l wanted to
sound the opinion of the Bostonianst o
see how far l was right. I therefore
walke up and down among the people
ana asked questions. l soon enough ran
foul OF the opposition. Mr.. Whitaker OF
the New England Farmer kindly called
to my attention the resolutions passed
1 n & q ~, nv Vln
recently reattirmed in their convocation
at Washington. AS good old Mallory
would have said, the rangers are
wonderfully wroth.' In a word. their
position is this: There is already in
America a tendency toward over-pro-
duction of agricultural commodities. The
market is weak. For the federal govern
ment to augment the forces of COMPETE
ton and stimulate the tendency toward
ovcr-production by opening to tillage the
now arid or semi-arid lands would be a
gross injustice to the American farmer.
With such opinions l found myself #in
so radical a disagreement that l went
to a man who thoughta s l did. He
happened to be a very distinguished gen.
tleman (whose name, however, l am not
free to use). and he said the New Eng
land farmer had no need ts-be anxious.
A few moments later Iecornered my
friend, philosopher and guide, Prof. r.
Spencer Baldwin. and he not unnaturally
agreed with the distinguished gentleman
whose name is nameless." Said Pro-
fessor Baldwin: I'm regard to the New
England farmer's being hit by western.
competition, he has already been hit as
hard as he ever will be hit. The mar
ket truck that will be raised on irrigated
land will never come into competition
with the products of New England farms.
There is never any very wide market
for that class of products. The market
is strictly local-never national or inter-
NATIONAL This made me feel better.
Continuing. the professor observed:
The indirect benefits of the opening of
the arid regions would be considerable in
New England and the east at large. 1t
would furnish a market for our boots
and shoes and teXtiles-in short, for most
of our manufactures. The development
of any section of the country benefits
every other section"
Edward Atkinson thought likewise.
Turning up a copy of his letter to the
irrigation congress, the most significant
paragraph ran like this:
1T is plain that for a long period, at
least, the section devoted to irrigation
must be mainly agricultural, subject to
oCiiiS SuppiNCu "lth SOOoo
from other parts of the country. THUS
everyd ollare expended in the development
of this section will tend to create a new
and constantly increasing market for the
products of the mills and workshops Of
the east
1 found also that the great railroad
barons had an eye to the future. the
national Vacant Lot holds for them an
infinite potentiality. Irrigate that UNI
watered empire, and you double your
toll for transportation by doubling our
~freightage both eastward and westward.
Count out the vast mass of p~erishable
western produce and you will have still
enough traffic in live stock and other ag-
ricultural commodities to get very rich
upon; and there are princely fortunes to
be got out of carrying supplies from,
the east to the new villages that will
spring up along your canals and bitches
to be opened in the arid regions. The
very building of those villages means the
trundling of lumber and bricks. Besides,
the thrush of population means an enor-
nous mileage of passenger traffic.
Eastern sociologists look cheerfullv
upon the project. The Vacant Lot will
attract the disconnected, unsuccessful
Outrivalled classes who aggravate the
difficulties of existence in large cities.
The Salvation Army now maintains a
thriving farm colony, composed of just
. such inadequate people, on irrigated
> western soil. The Mormons are contin-
. uany welcoming the poor whites o!
the south and the sl~um-denizens of our
, over-crowded towns to irrigated Utah
By and by, when the federal government
! has developed the arid and semi-arid re-
gion, it will be easy enough to coax other
unfortunates thitherward. Many will &c
= without the coaxing.
Another thing, mar portions of thu
; nations Vacant Lot are rich in lead
: p gold and silver. This is wei
known: it is, however, by no means wei
known that hundreds of mines lie un
developed because of inadequate trans
9 portation facilities. What use is a tor