Arizona republican., 1901-09-30

 that the cause for the loss of crops ir | that section had been discovered and | point out a way to remedy the evil by an appropriation from congress, thsre is another side to the question. Has I not irrigation brought into existence the very evils whichlits advocates claim that it has destroyed? Is not nature. whose waste and arid places have bean watered by mans artifice. scourgins the land with fiery punishment in re- venge for that interference with her plans? There is certainly ground enough for belief in this theory to give pause before we assume broadly that irrigation is a mitisant of blightins heat and a savior instead of an incend- iary of crops.
 Certain parts of the country have. in the geologic development of the earth through thousands of centuries. become almost drained of moisture. In all other respects the soil is admirably suited to mans purposes; farming or stock raising. If the settler can bring water thither. the wi derness will bios som into riches for him. So he sets about tapping streams. scores or even hundreds of miles away. and presently the dry soil is drinking in moisture from long lines of ditches. New vege- tation springs up; cattle spread abroad over the ranges: land that was worth no mans attention assumes value, and settlers begin to flock to the region From the point of view of the earth on which we live the insults are highly satisfactory.
 But the atmosphere which surrounds the earth, and of the mysterious ana often terrific working of which we know so little is a highly volatile anu HhanUeS in the earth's surface may have far reaching effects upon the surrounding air. If a great body of water were suddenly in troduced into a region which before hal been a desert. such as was suSgeste in the induction of the ocean into the Sahara. there is no doubt but that tr's- mendous and permanent atmospheric | alterations would result. Similarly it l is reasonable to suppose that the irrl- gation of a great tract of land in the west will have been accompanied by alteration in weather conditions, not only local, but widespread in influence. | And here is al significant fact bearing upon this question.
 1890. when I made careful investi- gation for the Scientific academy oi New York of the theory that our ci;- mate was changing in consequence ot a shifting of the gulf stream, I found the alteration of weather conditions ! was much greater in the central west and in that part of the country just ] east of the Rocky mountains than along the Atlantic coast. Furthermore. 1t developed that many low pressure storms originated in the great plateau
 of the Rocky mountains: that some moved slowly northeastward. whiie
 others fingered with little or no energy
 until the whole central mountain sys-
 tenn would be enreloped in an -oblonS | barometic deprss:ion extending over several states and into the upper Mis- souri valley. Often these depressicns were s;vided by areas of high pressure forming two distinct low pressure -eis- ters of what was a sort of barometrie trough During the existence of these low pressure areas the temperature to the east and south of them was above the normal. Many low pressure areas passing inland from the north Pacitie were drawn out Of their natural cours. southward Into the states east of ths Rocky mountains, as shown by charts
 of storm tracks of the weather bureac c
 Some reason for this must exist IT. all appearances the reason was arti- | ficial irrigation.
 | Now let us see how the recent ter rible heat wave that has burned up tn, | corn anu OlneF NEtBS tit ihi6dft 'fc-
 came about. In the irrigation resior
 of southeast Montana. northern Wyo'
 ming and Nebraska an area of low
 pressure was formed. Storms or at
 mospheric depressions move across an,
 section where they are nourished b,
 moisture, but during the warm month
 they may finger for weeks over som
 section where they do not gathe
 enough moisture to give them motiv'
 energy That is what seems to hav'
 happened in this case 4 system Of ir
 rigation continued for years in tha part of the country has now extended
 over millions of acres. affording enougi
 evaporation 10 call the low pressur
 into existence. but not enough energ,
 to set it in motion.
 II A low pressure area is a sort O
 vacuum into which pour currents of ai
 from all sides. The areas of low pres
 sure centering over the eastern Rock.
 mountain slope and stretching into tn
 upper Missouri valley control the al
 rection of the winds for the entire re
 zion between the Mississippi and tn
 Rockies and from Montana to Texas
 the general surface direction being to
 ward the center of atmospheric depres ' sion. The last great heat wave held 1t
 position varying from Utah northeas
 to South Dakota. Consequently a vas
 volume of superheated air moved U
 from the torrid south, passing like
 blight over the intermediate corn re zion. Such has been the intensity an
 duration of the resulting heat way , that it has absorbed from the cart such an amount of moisture as to leav not enough for plant life. which draw z sufficient moisture from below the sur , face. ordinarily. to nourish it throug weeks of great heat. long after the sur , face crust of the earth has bee
 parched and burned
 I do not say positively that irrigatio ; has brought to pass these long sta tionary areas of low pressure. wit their destructive consequences, but I d
 say that it is a most significant fac that these Impressions should form an 7 finger in those very localities wher l ma n has artificiallX prnYided a Suppi