Arizona republican. [volume] (Phoenix, Ariz.) 1890-1930, 1903-09-22
NATIONAL IRRIGATION
The Pioneer Advocate Was the Late
Col. Postcn.

The statement has been widely made
that the first man to advocate nationa!
irrigation or national aid for irriga-
ton was General Nelson y. Miles, who
first saw the possibilities of the crea-
ton of an empire in the arid regions
of the west. That is u. mistake. for
there is undoubted proof that the first
man to bring the matter before the
government was the late Charles D.
Poston. AriZona's first delegate in con-
gress.
Governor Brodie is making a collec-
ton of the papers of Colonel Poston,
having received the permission of his
grandson. Gustavus Pope. When they
are collected together they will be kept
in the territorial library Among the
papers so far secured by the governor
is a diary covering the greater part Of
Colonel Postons life in this territory.
beginning with 1854. The diary is writ
ten in that brusqueiy humorous style
| for which the Father of Arizona was
famous. Regarding national irrigation
, it is shown that while Colonel Poston
was d member of the Thirty eighth
congress he introduced bill appropri-
ating S150.G00 for the building of d canal
in Arizona. Commenting upon the bill,
"
said that it was apparent that by irri-
cation a territory equal to the rest of
the United States could be created out
of the arid part of the country and
that within 100 years the population of
the United States would be 1000, 600, 600
Frequent reference is made in the diary
to the subject of irrigation, and the
| colonel calls attention to d speech he
made on the subject in which he refers
| to the report of the secretary of agri-
culture of 1857 when the matter of irri-
| cation received first official notice.
In those days mileage VAS an object.
Colonel Poston was allowed something
mere than $1,000 to pay his expenses to
Washington as delegate.
The diary contains Il copy of an
| agreement by which Colonel Poston
was to be entitled to a. one-twentieth
| interest in Il tract of land of 900 acres
at the junction of the ella and the Col
| orado rivers. the site of the future city
| of Colorado City which was never built.
After his service in congress Colonel
| P0stOn was appointed commissioner
to Asia on immigration and irrigation"
That position took him to China. where
| he spent the most of his time. That
was about the time of the execution OF
| the 6ulHTSdlle treaty he " DIS III liz
diplomatic service in various parts OF
| the world after that. and for a while
| he lived in London and was engaged liz
| the practice of law. He speaks of his
residence in London as the happiest
period of his life.
In 1873 he was the register of the
| land office at Florence. Carl Schur2
Was then secretary of the interior. 1t
is mentioned in the diary that the reg
| lister and the secretary We're unable to
agree. and the former was given the
| privilege of submitting his resignation
He did so by telegraph. and it was ac
cepted with equal abruptness.
After that the diary says that the
colonel was engaged in the business of
! extracting moonbeams from cucumbers,
an occupation he followed the greater
part Of his remaining life. About this
time the site of Colorado city was sold
for $4,000.
| While he was Il member of congress
he introduced a measure on his own
account. 1t was d claim for $l.120.000
for an Apache raid on a mine in which
the colonel was interested in the south
| ern part of the territory. There is no
| record showing that the whole of the
claim or any part of ii was ever al
lowed.
The diary was originally written in
pencil. the events being transcribed as
they occurred. AT a later period the
pencil manuscript was over written in
ink