Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1901-10-15
RsCLAiMlNG A DESERT.
VAST IRRIGATION SCHEMES TO FERTII.-
IzE MORE TRAN A MILLION ACRES IN
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA AND ARIZONA.

The most remarkable series of irriga
ton projects ever wrought out in the
United States are rapidly taking form on
the Colorado River, the greatest stream
in the southwest, which carries sufficient
water to irrigate eight million acres OF
land. On the California side of the river
! is the vast Colorado desert. Across the
international line in Mexico, on the pc
ninsula of Lower California, the desert
extends to the southwark. On the
eastern or Arizona side of the river the
desert extends from Yuma to the head
of the Gulf of California and beyond.
The series of projects now being exc
cuted, and which have led to the pro-
duction of crops this year for the first
time, includes three irrigation canals in
Arizona, leading from the river, for the
irrigation of about $50, 900 acres of land,
a considerable portion of which has
been brought under cultivation in the
last few months.
Another project is that about Indio,
where sixty wells have been drilled in
an artesian belt discovered a little over a
year ago, and which has led to filings
being made on about 100000 acres, sew
eral hundred acres of which territory is
under cultivation at present.
The greatest of the projects, however,
is that of the Imperial Company, which
has entered upon the gigantic task Of
Diego County, CAL, and 800, 900 acres in
water in June of the present year. The
water now deliverable to the Imperial
lands is sufficient for the irrigation of
more than 100000 acres, and to this
additions are being made rapidly. Sew
eral hundred acres were planted in June,
on the arrival of water, and fully $4,000
acres will in all probability be sown in
alfalfa during the coming winter. Be-
fore water was placed on any land under
this system over $4,000 acres were filed
BY settlers under the Desert Land law
and the Homestead law, and hundreds
of people are now rushing into the
country anxious to take advantage of
the opportunity held out by the govern
ment to acquire cheap land under the
insurance of crops provided by irriga-
tiol.
| From the present rush into the delta
it seems probable that, within year or
so the entire area of irrigable land on the
desert in the United States will be taken
lup. The average holding will be about
100 acres, implying that some 1900 fam
| lilies will find farm homes on the delta
within the next year or two.
| The land on the California side of the
river constitutes what is known as the
Colorado Desert, the most perfect type
II -, hn Ir,,ta1 tafa anA
not second to the great African desert
in the distances between sources of
water supply. Many person has per-
ished here of thirst since the Spanish
conquistado~es made its existence known
to the world, and such deaths have con-
tinued at intervals of few months up
to the time of the development of the
irrigation system.
The popular conception of desert is
wide expanse of light, drifting sand.
That is erroneous. There may be drifts
of sand, and there are here, in places,
banks of sand off the edge of the desert.
But the main floor, hundreds of thou
ands of acres in extent, is not of sand,
but of sedimentary deposit made by
the great Colorado River-the dust and
shavings, as it were, produced by the
carving out of the Grand Canyon of the
Colorado. The soil is compact, and
teams driven over it's unbroken surface
trot along at ease. Yet it is easily
worked, and chemists who have analysed
\ il declare that it even exceeds in fertil-
ity the soil of the delta of the Nile,
while the water of the river carries
greater fertilizing properties than does
the water of the Nile.
An illustration of the productive
power of the soil is the growth of
sorghum, planted in June, which is be-
ing harvested in September, the stalks
being nine and ten feet high and the
yield running six tons to the acre. The
earliest melons grown in United States
this year were planted in February at
Indio, few miles from Imperial, this
being the first year of extensive cultiva-
ton of land there. The growers realized
from 800 to 800 an acre for their
crops.
| While this delta is known as the
earliest producer of fruits and vegetables
/ in the United States, and as natural
home of the date and raisin, the major
ity of farms will find other utilities be-
cause of the limitations of the markets
and the immensity Of the tract. The
greatest industry will be the raising and
| fattening of cattle. For this reason
alfalfa, sorghum and other varieties of
cattle feed will be the leading products.
The cattle industry has been waning of
late years because of the encroachments
on the ranges of the West by settlers,
and in consequence the price of beef has
steadily advanced, until cattle raising
under favorable conditions is one of the
most profitable industries in the cOun-
try. This condition has led to the
creation of branch industry, that of
maintaining cattle fattening grounds.
Cattle are brought from the ranges,
often poor and scrawny, and placed on
alfalfa grounds to be fattened. This is
a profitable method of marketing the
farmers crop, while the cattleman is
benefited in getting higher price
pound for his stock.
One cannot comprehend easily what
vast tract of land this is. The 100000
acres TO be irrigated by the Imperial
company alone is of oval form, ninety
miles in its greatest length. 1t borders
on the Indio country on the northwest,
and is only separated from the Arizona
land being irrigated by the Colorado
River. Including all these lands there is
a stretch of country about $50 miles in
length from the southeast In Arizona
and Mexico to the northwest, where it
approaches close to the present cultivat-
ed portion of Southern California, the
whole including more than million
acres.
No such gigantic irrigation work has
ever before been attempted in the
United States, and it seems not inapprO-
pirate that the capital of this new en-
pire, which is springing up on the delta,
J should be known as Imperial City. 1t Is
true that it has not assumed large pro-
portions yet, but something of its pros
poets may be seen from the vast tract
surrounding it, much of which must be
placed under cultivation in the next four
years to perfect the titles which are
being acquired from the government.
The development of this land Ia giving
the city of Imperial rate OF progress
which few towns have acquired so early
lin their existence. While year ago
there was not habitatiOn within many
miles of this SPOT, not a drop OF water
, but that which had been hauled fol-
miles, there is now community OF sew
eral hundred people, hotel, news
paper, a church, school, and other evil