The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1903-09-08
From a staff Correspondent.


From a staff Correspondent
Kansas City, Sept. $50 far as Eng
lish- speaking Americans are concerned.
irrigation began with the Mormons at the
time OF their occupation OF the Salt Lake
basin, in Utah. The Mormons also dem
onstrated that irrigation was practicable
by their experiments in southern ,Califor-
mia, San Bernardino in 1854. Little. how
ever was known until federal troops, In
1858, were sent to Utah to suppress dis
order. In California, before and after that
time, irrigation was understood by some
Of the pioneers. and it brought them sue
cess. but science had not begun to con-
slider 1t.
Prior to the American occupation Of
California and the Mormon settlements In
Utah, irrigation in this country was con-
fined to the Rio Grande valley Of New
Mexico and to isolated portions Of south
western Texas; to few Indian tribes and
Pueblos In Arizona; to a score Of Catholic
missions, having Indian villages attached
to them; and to the Spanish settlers Of
southern California. All Of this early
work was Of the most rudimentary char
ncter. Scientific research in recent years
has brought to light the ruins Of extensive
irrigation works. made by peoples long
ago extinct.
indian IrrIgators.
AS showing something Of the wonderful
fertility of the soil in the irrigation coun
try, 1t may be remarked that the Pima
Indians of Arizona have cultivated the
same land-a portion Of which they still
occupy-for 800 years. No fertilizers have
ever been used. The mere application of
water seems to have fructihed the soil
and caused 1t to produce enormously sea-
son after season, and it Is claimed by the
geological survey that the yields to-day
are just as large those Of which tradi
ton has preserved the memory.
The Rio Grande valley for nearly 400
years as far north as southwest Colorado,
and far south as Eagle Pass, Texas,
has been the seat of Indian settlements
which have practiced irrigation. When
the American government first came into
touch with this race it numbered about
100, 900, organized into village commun1-
ties, each member of which cultivated the
land adjacent to the streams, all holding
the forests in common. Their descend
ants still form considerable body Of the
population, and their methods have helped
in shaping the industrial life of portion
of southern Colorado, of New Mexico and
of southwestern Texas. From the time of
up to 1870, however, no definite interest
was felt in irrigation by the people Of the
country as whole. This interest devel-
oped as population increased and it be-
= came necessary to open the vast semi-arid
L belt to settlement. Then, the expert
L ments successful notwithstanding their
crudeness, made by the Indians, were re-
membered, and from this beginning irri-
q cation has grown until it has been adopted
as a definite governmental policy.
Beginnings of General Irrigation.
The real beginning Of general irrigation
in the United States Gall Of these projects
until the passage of the new law by con-
gress two years ago. were carried forward
by individual and state add was in 1870
when there was an ambitious effort to
ncfr 1of >lyo Nv, Nv
: the Union colony. Fruit culture by irri-
d cation was first undertaken in the same
II year In the Riverside and Fresno sections
y Of southern California. Horace Greeley
e trip across the continent, and his refer
g ences to irrigation works in Utah and
r. allfornia, were the beginnings of a dis
d cussion which increased in Importance up
n to 1869. At about this time papers on
d irrigation subjects were first printed In
j. the annual reports Of the bureau, now the
Is department of agriculture. The New York
- Tribune began an agitation for an irriga-
j. ton colony In Colorado. and the Union
it colony was formed and the town of
If Greeley established, on a barren cactus
plain in the very dry spring Of 1870.
o. bitches the first year opened up $500
:. acres to cultivation. The land now served
A by the Greeley project amounts to hun
ls reds Of thousands Of acres, and Greeley
- itself Is prosperous and enterprising city
II OF 1923 population $500 census).
r Fruit irrigation IN CallfOrnia.
e. The success of the Greeley Union COL
p ony was soon widely reported. At the
j. same time, in southern California, irriga-
m ton began to grow in popular favor, the
lower foothills having already attracted
n attention by their fine yields Of fruit, and
ID the valley Of the Sacramento by its yields
le Of grapes. This was the early dawn of
le the fruit and grape culture Of California,
le which has grown to It's present enormous
mr. hV a Of
demand for land for wheat growing, for
stock and for alfalfa stimulated interest
in southern California and the construc-
ton of the Southern Pacific In the sew
entities determined the people to try the
v new experiment on large scale in the
San Joaquin valley. -
Congress came along In 1874 with com
Of mission to investigate the possibilities OF
l. reclamation In this valley, and also to in.
,g quire into the progress of irrigation III
D. India. This was. the first time the gov.
is eminent had treated the subject seriously
Meanwhile, in California, the irrigated
fields were becoming larger, and the frs
- water companies were organized. Al
= about this time the southern counties o.
/ that state turned attention less and less
! to wheat and alfalfa and more and more
, to fruit. Had the means of transporta
ton and the demand been sufficiently
great the fruit industry Of southern Cali
fornia could have come to full statur,
10 twenty years before it did.
The general progress Of irrigation wa.
slow during the decade between 1870 ant
nd 1880, but what progress there was wa
er substantial. The building of railways wa.
all helpful, opening new areas land furnish
e. ing an outlet to the markets. ,Interes
continually increased, as the necessity o
Dr.. irrigation to maintain successful cultiva
IL tion became more obvious and as tn
r. population grew larger. ~
ne Irrigation in the great plains between
te the Missouri and the base Of the Rookie
~ did not take definite form until the de
on cade between 1880 and 1890. In the frs
''' part of that decade population began t
pour In upon that region. The earle
~ years Of sufficient rainfall were followe
o by years Of drought, and 1t was soon un
% derstood that the only relief would com
,es thru irrigation. During the reaction how
Ia ever. 1t looked as If the entire great plain
~ belt, running north thru the Dakotas an
&C. and Montana to the Canadian line, woul
a have to be given over to the cattlemer
he 1t was during these years that the cattl
20 barons firmly established themselves ther
IT. and the fruits of that occupation are see
ne day in the difficulty over the fencin
In of public lands in South Dakota and Ne
I'll braska, and In the dissatisfaction Of tn
ief settlers with the overlordship and domi
M neertng rule of the ranchers.
So, Conditions Change on the Plains. 5
a. The evolution Of economic condition