Arizona republican., 1902-05-04

In yesterdays Republican was print ed a table compiled for the water stor- age commission, show THE ing the acreage. cultiva- | VALLEY, ted and uncultivated, NOW AND under the various ca HEREAF- nals, ,of the valley. This TER. table presents the first authentic information yet given to the public covering this question.
 The figures show that under the pres ent system of water distribution ,eX- cluding the canals which would not draw water directly from reservoir. there is total of 255OSS acres. Of this total there are 117,7C0 acres in cultiva- ton, and 137,3S0 acres lying idle for l lack of water.
 | Thus, on the face of it, adequate wa ter would more than double the area of cultivated land under the principal canals. But in actual results, storage would more nearly quadruple the cul- tivated acreage. While there are nomi-
 
 is a water shortage in the summer. for i the entire area, and for much of it the supply is so inadequate as to make the production not more than a fraction of what it would be with full irriga- tion.
 A week ago we printed the report submitted by Mir. A. P. Davis, of the geological survey on the Tonto Basin reservoir and the water supply for the Salt river valley, which demonstrated that under the contemplated storage system there is water available to the extent of 600,0 900 acre-feet. This would mean more than 2-acre feet annually for each of the 255,O00 acres under the canals. As a regulator of the flow, a reservoir would be of infinite value, and a depth of two feet of water on each acre cultivated would, if applied at the proper time, yield such crops as would astonish even the people of the valley, familiar as they are with the possibilities of our soil under proper ir- rigation- And it should be remembered that the estimates on the water supply exclude the occasionally vast floods which would fill to the limit the great millionaire reservoir which it is pro- posed to construct.
 It requires but little imagination to see the difference between the valley Of today and the valley of the future which will be wrought by a reservoir. i Under storage there will be compact area of quarter of a million acres in tensively cultivated and producing wealth each year by the millions. Each year the direct loss by reason of the absence of storage is equal to the total cost of the proposed storage works
 Elsewhere in this issue we print the bill which has been introduced in con gress to enable Maricopa county to vote bonds wherewith to procure funds for construction. The original draft of the bill appeared in this paper but as finally approved by Judge Dillon and laid before congl ess it contains a num- Der of important changes, hence the corrected text is laid before our read CTS today.
 The people O; the valley now have before them the question of storag ge stripped of all doubtful elements They know what storage will cost, they know how much water can be stored, and they know the acreage available under the reservoir. These facts settle the question of revenue, for the water SUD- ply and the acreage leave nothing in doubt. The revenues accruing to the reservoir from irrigation alone, and taking no note of the equally valuable water power, would pay the interest in cost of construction and yield good dividend besides.
 The enabling act printed today of fers Q. certain means of obtaining stor- age, if congress can be induced to pass the bill. If that measure fails, the peo- l pie of the valley will be criminalIy neg ligent of their own interests if they Ct ] not keep working on the problem until success is achieved.
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