Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1904-10-24

Washington, ID. c., Oct. s24.-t Special
Correspondence.)-Th second session
of the North Dakota Irrigation con-
gress at Mandan last month made q
strenuous effort to awaken an irriga-
tion spirit in the state, and to over
come the objection which good many
residents have to any agitation Of the
Irrigation question, based on the fool
ish prediction that the state has no
arid lands and that any advertisement,
of Dakota irrigation presupposes that
dry farming is . precarious occupation.
and that emigration to the state will
therefore be discouraged. :z' ]s=* NJ: !
Speeches were made by Senator
Clapp and Repre sentative Stevens, OF
Minnesota, who came down with q
carload of Minnesota delegates, in
which these statesmen renewed their
pledges to support the national irriga-
ton movement, and by Mr.. George H.
Maxwell, the executive chairman Of
the National Irrigation Association,
who plead for recognition Of the
national irrigation ideas as a great
national movement, not confined to
any state or territory, and who further
urged that the people Of the state
should take the initiative and proceed
to develop irrigation enterprises them
selves as far as possible, thereby learn.
ing, as only experience can teach, the
great worth Of irrigated lands. =, III.
Senators Hansbrough and McCumber
Of the state also spoke at length. The
former Senator suggested the old plan
Of the utilization of the waters of the
Missouri by the building of stipend
ous dam, comparable to the great Mile
dam, which cost 20 million dollars. He
said this was feasible proposition
and that congress was undoubtedly IL
g mood to entertain such an appropria
tipn and that he intended To- introduce
q bill next winter to provide for 4 snr
| vey and Investigation Of the scheme
The government engineers state. that
the surveyors Of the army engineers
the Missouri river commission, and
others, show such a proposition to be
not feasible, but the Senator believes
! that further surveys should be made.
p. Watched by Its Enemies. y.
AS both Congressman Stevens and
Mr.. Maxwell urged in their addresses,
the irrigation act Is now on trial be-
fore the whole people of the country.
1t is being watched closely by its enc
mics as well as it's friends, and those
projects must be selected which will.
beyond question, prove successful, not
only from an engineering standpoint
but from one of colonization AS well,
where the land when irrigated will be
settled upon and the cost of its re-
clamation paid back in full to the gov
eminent.
AS a matter of fact, but little inter-
est has been manifested by North Da-
kota in the Irrigation question up to
the present time, and none whatever
prior to the holding of the Bismarck
State Irrigation congress, a year ago.
No call was made upon the govern
ment by the congressional delegation,
Immediately after the passage of the
act, when all other western states
were clamoring for recognition, insist
ing upon a survey or investigation of
the irrigation resources of the state
no statewide movement for such
works was agitated by Senator Nc
Cumber or others, and it is not to be
expected that the same progress
should be found today as has occurred
in other western states where large
local and state appropriations had
been made for preliminary surveys