The Washington bee., 1902-12-20
Mr.. Newell, Chief Hydrographer of
Geological Survey.
Author OF the Great Scheme of ARID
Land Reclamation in the West,
Recently IndOrsed by the
Congress.

1t seems odd that the man who is
chiefly responsible for the great
scheme of irrigation in the vast arid
regions of the west should have
learned his earliest lessons in irri-
cation in Massachusetts.
The man 10 whom, more than to
anyone else, is due the credit for
mapping out this great and expen-
sive plan of reclamation is Freder-
ick IL. Newell, chief photographer of
the United States geological survey,
who, though born in Bradford, Pa,
is descended from old New England
stock, and was himself brought up
on Bay state farm, after taking a
course of engineering instruction at
the Massachusetts Institute of Tech
nOlogy.
His father before him was a civil
engineer, and it is a curious circum-
stance that his grandfather, Arte-
mus Newell, who once conducted a
farm about II miles from Boston,
was the first man north of Mexico
and California, to introduce a prac-
tical system of irrigation.
This sturdy New England son of
the soil during the early part of
President Buehanan's administ ration
had occasion to make a trip to
southern France, and there had his
eyes opened to the value of irriga-
fInn a a Z ,ran1a-s,or E,-,,s%
full otherwise unproductive wastes
of sandy land.
Mr. Newell interest in this sys-
tenn appears to have been transmit
ted to his son and grandson, for the
latter, from the time he first set
eyes on the original irrigation plant
on the old Newell homestead, be-
came an enthusiast.
By the time he was six, as a re-
suit of his boyish studies of the
Newell plant ne had mastered prac-
tically every detail of irrigation and
could run the plant, with its bitches
and sluice gates, about as well as his
grandfather could.
After receiving the rudiments of
his education at Needham, Mass,
young Newell took a course in the
Massachusetts, Institute of Technol-
ogy, and after graduation went to
Colorado in 1882 to engage in min
Ing.
Subsequently he entered the geo.
l. h. v,,aaaaIu1
to make a speciality of irrigation,
and no man was more proud and
delighted than was he when the last
congress indorsed his ideas by max
ing an appropriation of some s5.O0O,-
900 or $6,OOO,OOO for the purpose of
beginning this great work.
A recent statement by Mr.. New
ell, in the Boston Globe, concerning
his course as a member of the geo.
logical survey, contains an impor-
tant lesson for young men.
"When I first entered the service
of the geological survey" said Mr..
Newell, II saw that there was very
little chance for any one to forge
ahead unless he originated some
II ing altogether new and aside from
the general line of work as it was
then carried on by the survey.
Every department was filed by
some person well advanced in years
who had originated and built up his
own particular line Of work. and I
determined. therefore. to turn my
knowledge Of irrigation to account.
Running my eye over the map Of the
west, l saw whole states and sec
tions of states, arid, unsettled and
unfit for habitation.
"Unless something WAS done to
convert these barren and arid tracts
into fruitful and habitable lands.
many of these territories could never
gain populations large enough to
become states, but would continue
for all time to remain territories.
'T, therefore. inaugurated and de-
veloped plans for complete hydro
graphic survey of the west, to ascer-
tain the practicability of irrigation
in those parts. This survey is still
IN progress, and has proven COM
plete success.
The areas in which the various re-
gions to be treated on this vast scale
extend from Canada to Mexico and
from the Missouri river to the Paci-
fic, and the work of survey has only
Just begun.
The reclaimed lands are to be sold
to settlers, not more than $50 acres
being allowed to one person, and IN
this way the work viii soon be made
practically self-supporting, the rev
enue derived from the first lands re-
claimed being utilized to irrigate
another section.
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