The Republican journal., 1904-03-03
GREAT WESTERN PROJECTS.
Correspondence Of The Journal,


West come rumors of big things
which are being planned by the engi-
neers of the. Government. A great
system of works is being surveyed to
bring the. waters of Pend d'Oreille
Lake in Northern Idaho, out upon an
area of more than a million acres of
fertile, but arid, land in the eastern
part of the State of Washington. SINH
lar surveys are in progress in the al.
most voiceless valley of the Colorado
river, where it forms the boundary be-
tween Arizona and California. There
the matter has progressed to the actual
appropriation of the entire flow of the
stream not hitherto claimed. And the
new appropriation is made Gin the
name OF the United States of America -
The phraseology marks the beginning
of new epoch in the West.
The engineers are also busy with
plans looking to the development of the
great possibilities of the Sacramento
River, where millions of acres of land
not utterly arid without artificial mois-
ture may be made to support a dense
population on small farms when this is
supplied. The engineering scheme on
the Sacramento looks not only to the
diversion of the stream, but to the
reclamation of very large bodies of
rich land by the prevention of over
flow, and, possibly, to the building of
canals for navigation and power.
The Irrigation Congress which as
sembled at Ogden, Utah, last Septem-
Der, gave expression to the larger hopes
of the friends of irrigation which have
taken shape during the past year. 1t
declared in favor of systems of public
works which will rival those on the Pc
in Italy, the Nile in Egypt and the
Ganges in India. 1t urged that these
should be built on the Columbia, the
Sacramento, the Colorado, the Rio
Grande, the Arkansas, the Missouri
and their tributaries. These six river
systems drain practically the entire
Western half of the United States and
their complete utilization in the man.
ner proposed would at least double the
present population of the Republic.
On all these streams something has al
ready been done by local enterprise.
The smaller opportunities for storage
Of
proved, but beyond this it is imprac-
ticable for private enterprise to go.
Only Uncle Sam is big enough to assert
human control over the forces of nature
represented by these great drainage
systems and their surrounding water
sheds. 1t is indeed stupendous I'M
dertaking, but none too great for the
American people In fact, Uncle Sam
has already got his coat off and gone at
it.
1t is an interesting and singular fact
that the three biggest rivers of the Far
West take their rise at the foot of
Mount Union in Wyoming and pursue
their respective courses, east, south
and west, to the Mississippi, the Gulf
of California, and the North Pacific
Ocean. These are the Missouri, the
Colorado, and the Columbia. Each of
them receives scores of tributaries
along its course The other three
rivers mentioned in the Ogden plat
form-the Sacramento, the Arkansas
and the Rio Grande--are Independent
streams and each controls the economic
destiny of large region of its own
With the single exception OF the Sac
ramento, all these rivers traverse
regions which are but sparsely inhab-
tied and which contain enormous
areas of public land. Wherever the
construction of works is i'm mediately
contemplated, the Secretary of the In
terror withdraws the land from entry,
except under the Homestead Law with
out the Communication Clause. Any
citizen may acquire not more than one
hundred and sixty acres by living upon
and cultivating it in good faith for Fl We
years, AS rule, this is impracticable
until water has been furnished.
SO that virtually the land laws stand
repealed to the extent of the lands
withdrawn. When the Government
works are completed, the land will
again be opened to entry in homesteads
of not less than forty or more than one
hundred and sixty acres, according to
the regulations to be established by the
Interior Department. Settlers will
then have ten years in which to repay
the cost of irrigating the land, without
interest.
But the magnitude of the undertak-
ing is such that it may only be complet-
ed after many years. The greater por-
ton of the irrigable land cannot be
withdrawn from entry because funds
are available as yet for comparatively
few projects. In the meantime, the ex-
lstence of the Desert Land Law en-
ables those who have no thought of
making homes to acquire these lands
without living upon them for day or
an hour. The Communication Clanse of
+ Ia 4 r