The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-04-07
IRRIGATION
WATER RIGHTS
How the Cost Figures-Gov-
eminent Will Be Repaid
Fully.
Special to The Globe.

Special to The Globe.
WASHINGTON, D. c., April G.
Some of the Washington dispatches
have called attention to the expected
increase in cost of irrigation of the
Western lands which the interior de-
partment designated the other day for
the first construction under the ma
tional irrigation law, pointing out that
this cost is double certain estimates
made during the discussion of the ir
rigation bill. which were placed at So
an acre. Five dollars would undoubt
edly be low average to place upon all
the Teclaimable Western lands. But
whether the irrigation works which the
government is to construct in the West
will cost at the rate of s. an acre or
So or $40 an acre is a matter which
need in nowise interfere with the
prosecution of the irrigation construc-
tionS under the national irrigation law
passed by congress last summer. In
every case the cost of putting water
upon the land is to be borne by the
settler and the farmer who lives upon
the land and will use the water. The
government will be repaid for every
dollar expended. The question then is
simply whether land with water upon
it will be taken by settlers at SO or
S15 an acre or any other sum which it
may cost to reclaim it. When it is
realized that irrigated farms and or
chardS in the West are worth from
four to one hundred times fifteen dol
lars an acre, and that the crudest ir-
rlgatlon farms produce annually more
than $15 an acre, it is not believed that
there Will be any dearth Of applicants
ready and eager to go upon the land
Which the government reclaims. I'm
der the irrigation act payment can be
made on exceedingly easy terms-ten
equal annual installmets.
The cost of putting water on Western
land may range all the way from four
to fifty dollars an acre. Some of the
simpler propositions require onIy the
digging of big ditch in order to Sc.
cure water for thousands of acres.
others necesSitate the building of i'm
mense masonry dams and the con-
StructlOn of very expensive canals and
headWorks. 1t is probable that even
tuaIIy the waters of some of the great
rivers OF the Northwestern states-the
Columbia and the Snake-may be
taken out at very large cost per acre,
yet HuIt lands in the Yakima valley of
washington today are bringing in an
annual revenue of as high as 5000 an
acre. OF course it would not paw to
spend 500 an acre in reclaiming lands
poses.
This question of the cost of irriga-
ton opens up the subject of the area
which it is possible to reclaim in the
arid West. photographer Newell of
the Geological Survey stated this mat
ter concisely the other day. He said:
The reclaimable area of the arid
region must remain an indefinite GUAM
THY for many years to come. No man
can say definitely how many acres are
capable of ultimate reclamation. To
Illustrate, suppose a large spring is
situated IN such a location-so far
from arabic land-that it would cost q
hundred dollars an acre to lead 1t onto
that Iand-itself one hundred miles re-
moved from any railroad or other i'm
proVement; the water would never he
utilized for irrigation. Suppose on the
other hand that a railroad should he
projected through the desert and
fourishing town be started on this
5anu, then 1t would ray to spend the
hundred dollars an acre for the i'm
provement
>, projects which are not today feas-
IDLE because of their expense nav in
Ten years. as the country settles I'D.
become very profitable ones"