The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1901-11-30
THE VALUE OF IRRIGATION.
THE SUBJECT TREATED BEFORE
THE INDUSTRIAL COMMISSION.

Professor Elwood Mead's Testimony-fs
Great Aid to Agriculture Fully Set
Forth-The Area Requiring Assistance
Enormous Values to Land Thereby
The value of irrigation as an aid to
agriculture and the enormous value that
would be added to the land OF the ARID
region by providing it with water was
discussed before the industrial conmls-
sion by Professor Elwood Mead. Prot.
Mead was formerly the State Engineer
of irrigation Of Wyoming, and he is
now expert in irrigation of the Depart
ment of Agriculture. He declared that
irrigation is destined in the near future
to occupy in the United States lead
ing place in national affairs.
Heretofore irrigation has been look
ed upon as a sectional industry, but the
experience of the past fifteen years has
shown that this is mistaken idea, he
said in southern Louisiana and south
eastern Texas an area larger than many
New England States has had its value
increased from $3.50 to S. an acre to
from $50 to $Ioo an acre through this
agency, and promises i'll the course OF
another ten years to make this country
an exporter instead of an importer or
rice. All along the Atlantic seaboard
irrigation is becoming an essential ad-
junct of market gardening, the appli-
cation of moisture being found as prot
liable as that Of fertilizers. The irriga-
ted districts of Italy and France have
an average rainfall equal to that OF the
New England States, and recent expert
ence in the middle West seems TO make
certain that the lesson Of the new world,
like that of the old, is to be that no
agent of agriculture OF horticulture Is
SO effective as the ability to apply mois-
ture at the right time and in the right
amount"
In about two-hfths of the United
States, exclusive of Alaska and the
recently acquired insular possessions, he
said. the ability to grow crops is de-
pendent on irrigation This is not be
cause the land lacks fertility, but be-
cause its lacks moisture. Wherever thli
has been supplied the land becomes ex-
cecdingly productive In seven States
and two territories irrigated agricul-
ture is the chief resource. The cities
cf Denver. Salt Lake, Los Angeles and
many other towns of lesser size and i'm
portance are as much the creation OF
irrigation as the orchards and fields
which surround them, Without the
winter forage which is grown in the
irrigated valleys of the immense stock
ranges of the West. the suffering and
losses of range cattle and sheep would
every year be disastrous.
Owing to the lack of accurate records,
in many States Of any records whatever.
we do not know and cannot know the
number of mileage of irrigation bitches
and canals, or the area which they wa
ter. 1t is known that there are over
10000 bitches and canals in Colorado
and about 5000 in Wyoming. There
are more than 5000 in the United
States. In the construction of these
there has been expended not less than
S2oo,ooo,ooo. and over $5oo,ooo,ooo has
been expended in the construction of
bitches and latcrals and in preparing
land for the distribution of water over
it without taking into account the fences
and habitations necessary for the culti-
vation of this land.
Continuing, Professor Mead said:
"The States Of Wyoming. Idaho, Color
ado and Utah. in accepting the Carey
grant to actual settlers at 50 cents an
acre, and as these States have the priv
ilege of selecting the best lands, within
their border and lands known to be
susceptible of irrigation, this can be
taken as the estimate Of those best in
formed Of the average value of unim-
proved arid land. After irrigation land
values range from S. to $1oo an acre in
the northern half of the arid region, and
from $40 to ST 300 an acre in the south
ern half, the high-priced products of
southern California and Arizona being
the cause of the greater values in the
south. The enhanced value of land is
not the only evidence of the wealth
created by irrigation in the arid West.
1t is more strikingly shown in the aug
mented values of rivers. To illustrate
this it may be stated that right to fifty
inches of water in California recently
sold for $4,000 This was wholesale
price. 1t is worth more at retail. The
estimated value of the rights to Color-
ado streams is $oo,ooo,ooo. This does
not include structures for diverting
but represents the value of the titles
to the streams in their natural channels
In the East the use OF water has not
as vet become sufficiently systematized
to assign it any particular value as a
merchantable commodity. In Texas
and Louisiana the party furnishing
water for rice irrigation receives one
third of the crop In other sections OF
the East it depends on the cost Of the
service. and is but little influenced by
the value of the water itself.
"The area thus far reclaimed is far less
than that awaiting irrigation" he said.
"The great rivers of the arid regions.the
Snake and Colorado-are as yet almost
untouched. Practically all their waters
run unused to the sea. The area irri-
gated by the San Joaquin and Sacra--
mento Rivers in California can more
than be doubled. and similar illustra-
tions could be made in every State and