Las Vegas daily optic. [volume] (Las Vegas, N.M.) 1880-1908, 1903-10-13
A GREAT FUND.-.
Of which Or. Charles p. Walcott

N vi WAiAt y 1880 t@AW -
the director.
Mr.. Frederick III. Newell, chief OF
the division Of photography, who has
devoted his life to the scientific study
OF the construction and maintenance
OF reservoirs. canals, and the many
adjuncts 10 d highly diversified system
Of irrigation. Will be In personal
charge Of this labor.
Surveys for the reservoir sites have
been going on for many years, 80 thai
the plans for the storage Of water
can be- Immediately put into operation
and tracts Of useless desert reclaimed
for the many immigrants who are anx+
iously waiting upon the borders Of the
virgin country Of the far west, AZ
rangements have been made BY the
department TO undertake. flye projects,
one In Nevada, n In Montana, one
In Wyoming, one In Arizona n one
In Colorado. The work In Nevada y
completely planned, and contracts
~aggregating one million dollars have
already been let for the Trnckee.Car'
son system, which Will cover the re
~c,alsation Of three hundred and forty
four thousand acres Of now waterlesa
desert. The canal Will be thirty.tWo
miles long, fifty-three feet wide and
fourteen feet deep.
According To Prof. Hilgard, an au'
thority upon this subject. the soll y
the arid region contains on the aver
age three times as much potash, SIX
times as much magnesia, and four
times as much lime as does the humid
country lying east Of the mississippi
In the east the soil Is being continu.
ally taken away and disintcgrated; IN
the west the soil Is ~recreatiye. Year
after year the same process Of earth
creation IL repeated.
When the Mormons arst applied wa
ter to tho sanl and sage brush, the,
but initiated a previous race, VINO, y
Arizona and New Mexico. had hyec
In peace and plenty thousands o
years before. In the Salt River val
ley In Arizona there has been iounu
4 highly complicated system Ok It'll
eating canals, spread over q large
area, and supplying a tract oil iarn
land which wa able TO support a pop
ulation vastly larger than that which
this territory maintains at present
Today the government engineers ars
exposing the works Of people wh'
must have inhabited our continent
many years before Its discovery BY
Columbus.
Forty Years Ago.
irrigation was understood befof'
the Christian era and was practice'
in Egypt, Asia Minor, Persia and A.
syria. England has always recos
nizcd It's value. and has cxpende'
three hundred million dollars In lndl
upon irrigation works. which hay'
done much TO render more certain ~
crops OF that region. England Is q
day expending millions of dollars @
the Nile, in extending the area Of LIT
cation.
Thus the government In taking COZ
troll Of the vast arid region Of u ives
and so constructing an intelligent syi
tenn Of reservoirs and canals As '
render an unfruitful land productive
merely follows In the footsteps OF al
Gent dynastIes. and adopts the idea
Of intelligent men who have gone b.
fore.
Forty years ago, whom the first hui
bandman was SO pleased with a It'll
Nevada valley. hemmed In upon ever
side by the great Sierra Neyadas. tina
he determined TO build there his hous
OF logs and piastered mud, and begi
to irrigate the desolatc soil, he d
not think that upon the very grcun
which he chose would sprins up
prosperous town Of many thousand y
habitants.
His work was very simple. Turl
ing 10 the crystal Truckee, be cut
large canal leading from the bank
This he fitted with a sluice.box an
dam, so that be might control the 10
Of water In his excavation, From q
larger canals smaller bitches wei
dug across the nat sage.busn-coser,
ground. aud thcae. In turn. we're G.
with smaller channels. Eventual
his miniature system Of llfe.bringli
arteries covered many acres OF secI
ingly unfertile soil.
He flooded the ground; the sag
brush died; be removed the roc