The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-06-09

OL tuC the demand carry fruits is limited, and the climate is not
 adapted to citrus fruits. There is one fruit. the date. for which the desert is perfectly adapted, and in the course of few years an important new indus- try will be developed in this section. Dates are grown nowhere In the United States at present in commer cial quantities. Tests made in the des- Iert country have been so successful that date palms are being planted as rapidly as the proper varieties can be germinated from trees imported from Arabia.
 The great value of this land, However.
 lies in its capacity for the production of
 ilfalfa for stock feed. Throughout the
 Southwest and Northern Mexico there
 are tens of thousands of head of cat .le on wild ranges which cannot he fattened there. These are taken to alfalfa growing sections to be fattened.
 If such feed can be found for them.
 but the supply of alfalfa ground has
 been so limited that most of the cattle
 have been sent to market directly from
 the plains, though by no means in
 prime condition It is expected that
 hundreds of thousands of head of 2at-
 tie will be either raised here or brought
 here to be fed. making of the desert
 OhC VI lhC 6LSob NssNhAS JoAAo Nt tAS
 Southwest.
 Pecuiiarities of the Colorado River.
 The Colorado River is a peculiar
 stream for this section of the world.
 Most of the streams here run bank full
 during the brief rainy season, and be-
 coming almost or completely dry dur
 ing the long summer. The Colorado is
 the largest river in the Southwest, and
 is estimated to carry sufficient water
 for the irrigation of S,000,000 acres of land. and its great peculiarity is that 1t Is at flood in June. It drains parts of Wyoming, Colorado. Utah, Nevada. New Mexico, Arizona and California. bringing from the North waters from snow clad mountains for delivery here in the middle of the summer. and find ing on its immense drainage area such variety of conditions as to preserve continuous supply of water through out the year. exceeding any possible demands that can be made on it. Un- fortunately, through a great part of the territory traversed, it's banks are So high as to make it impossible to utilize the waters for irrigation, and the Colorado desert and Southwestern Arizona are the only exceptions to this condition.
 There was an international question to be solved by the projectors of the irrigation system here described. Naturally Mexico would never consent to the drainage of the river exclusively for the benefit of the United States, but the Imperial Land Company secured harmony by undertaking to divide the territory to be irrigated practically evenly between the United States and Mexico.
 Only persons who know the Colorado | desert by the experience of weeks spent | upon it can comprehend the transform | ltion which is to be affected. Upon | this desert it is further between sources | of water supply than on the Sahara, | and it also equals the African waste in l the fury of its sand storms and the | Neirdness of its mirages. Within the | last few days the bones of two men were found who perished from thirst | three years ago, and many persons nave met a terrible death there. But | Ill this is to be changed. A new prin- ,ipality is to be created there in a body | )f land as level as a floor, without q square foot of waste, and able to pro- luce a billion tons of hay per year, md to sustain a million head of cat le.
 The desert is a part of the public do- main, and settlers are pouring in to ake up land and arrange for getting water from irrigation, though the hot summer season is now close at hand, md summer on the desert is not invit- ng save to those who have become ac- 'ustomed to it's great heat. With the coming of autumn, for the first time n it's history, this vast waste will be populated with thousands of people who nd made arrangements for cultivating heir property on a large scale.