Arizona republican., 1902-03-04

From time to time we have had oc casion to allude to the injury which
 has been done to EFFICIENCY the cause of irri- AND VALUE OF gation in the west RESERVOIRS. by the busy
 circulation of the misleading statement that private capital cannot afford to construct res ervoirs: only the general government can afford to put money in storage projects" Many enterprises of great merit could be namec, which have been forced to await a better educa- tion of the investing public on ac- count of the damage done to the general cause of water storage by over zealous advocates of national irriga- tion." And, since ownership of stor- age works by communities and municipalities must be classed for practical purposes with investments by private capital, it is impossible to es- timate the extent to which the de- velopment of the west has been re- tared by the michievous activity of few agitators for a one-plan system. A great work, which is for public benefit, therefore, has been carried on for year past by the bureau of irri- gation Investigations of the depart ment of agriculture, in collecting sta tistics concerning the number of reser- voirs in use in the country for the purposes of irrigation, the amount of money expended in construction, and the benefits derived. MT. James D. whelpley, the we'll known Washington correspondent, furnishes brief but very interesting review of some of the results obtained. When the depart ment prints it's report of these investi- gations it will prove to be one of the most valuable publica tions ever issued for the benefit of the irrigation indus try. It will then be made clear to all doubters that not only do reservoirs cause an enormous increase in the value of the lands served, but as rule they return a very satisfactory profit to investors. Says MT. Whelpley:
 ''One of the significant facts of re- cent 1rrlEaI1On ueNSlOpI,SnC UdS Det4l the amount of money expended in the construction of reservoirs. Reservoir building is rivalling canal building in its expenditures and is a great inn provement over the latter in the profits received from the investment. Experience has shown that many streams fail just when water is most needed, and that without a reserve supply the irrigator is in as much danger of drouth as his neighbor who depends on rain. Hence, wherever there are favorable natural opportun- ities the farmers under ditches are building dams and storing water for use when streams are low As re- suit of this, the area cultivated is being increased and it is made pos sible to grow much more diversified and valuable crops.
 ''The importance Of this develop ment has led the office of experiment stations of the department of agricult- ural to begin the collection of data showing the location and number of these reservoirs and the benefits which have come from their construction. This work is under the immediate di- rection of the irrigation investigation of the office, which will soon publish the result of last seasons work Some of this informa tion is given below.
 Tn one valley in Colorado there are twenty-seven of these reservoirs, and in another, thirty-four. In one of these valleys the reservoirs hold enough water to cover all the land irrigated to a depth of four inches; in the other to a depth of six inches, and furnish two-thirds of the water supply for the last half of the year.
 @Of these the Cache Ia Poudre las an area of 500 acres and holds 5000 acre-feet. It is owned by the farm CTS and helps to irrigate 30,0OO acres of land. It cost to build it s105,0O0 and it is now worth s20O, ,000. The drouth of 1901 was so severe that all of the crops under this reservoir would have been a failure without it and it is esti- mated that it saved the farmers of the valley over s500,000. or five times its original cost.
 'The Windsor reservoir has q sur face area of roo acres and capacity of 13,174 acre-feet. Its first cost was $50, 900, and it is now valued at S300,00O
 The Tom Wood reservoir furnishes water for 600 acres. It cost originally s2,OOO, and it now furnishes S2,OOO worth of water to irrigate each year
 Lake Loveland is the largest reser- voir in these two valleys. It cost $126 900. Its ownership is divided into 30' shares which are now worth 1,G00 each, making the value of the reser- voir more than twice it's original cost
 "The largest reservoir in Colorado is at Twin Lakes on the Arkansas. Ii has a surface area of about 2,6OO acres