The Springfield herald., 1904-09-02

From its birth the Republican party
frasa been the party of lomcstends for
th.. people. 1t has enacted and en!orGrd
th.- laws permitting each adult male ct
la.u of the United States 10 establish
Hn- own home and rooftrcc. at merely
p.irst,nal cost.
When good homcStcads began to grow
s.;trce. and corporations, by double
.%aIing. had largely usurped the birth
ri,.h, of the individual. the party o!
fI,p,siom and justice began to look int"
tl,s. question OF irrigation. Ii proposed
tn nank the subtle movements of land
rnaoopolists. and to practically create II
new heaven and new earth. Tor the
Suihicr of homes. upon %hich rests the
s.rrnrr stone of the republic.
Clu~ie Sam owned the whole arid re-
lrsnn- and he owned the water supply.
tn,- lie decided to bring the water to
che sand. and by this union I" make pos
-lhi,. a mea surelcss bounty for the pres
-aatr- and future generations. He prohts
f,y ..aperience. So he decided to fix
SYp this new land business in such a way
riiat monopolists could never again stul-
tifY good citizenship by r0bbing II oi
its OWN.
Origin of National Act.
In keeping with the wishes of n Re
publican President. II Republican Con
xrr..sS passed "A law. June Il, 19O2. nu-
rhorizing the Government to enter upon
gtrfs work of reclaiming arid Americn.
1Nhs law restricts the amount of such
Ilud 10 be owned by any one individual
in 100 acres, and requires continuous
residence of five years on the same. to
s,1s,uire title. Such occupants will re-
suud TO the Government. in n number of
.yJunl annual installments, the actual
..,st OF bringing water to the land. Such
enfries cannot be commuted.
Under the act approved June Ia. loO2.
(Which is properly the beginning Of the
present Government Reclamation Serv-
i.-.. an "endless chain of funds was
provided by appropriating the receipts
xxasn the sale and disposal of the public
lands an the thirteen States and three
Territories of the arid region. These
S&xt,.s are: California. Colorado. Idaho.
Eansns, Montana. Nebraska Nevada.
North Dakota. Oregon, South Dakota,
Utah. Washington and Wyoming. Ter
~it,ries: Arizona, New Mexico and
elAssboma. This fund at present hovers
somewhere near the $50 .OOO.OOO mark.
The arid regions of the United States.
rs generally designated. include abort
Jwo-fifths of its entire area. extending
from about the middle of the continent
westerly nearly to the Pacific Coast and
Ir-aehing from Mexico to Canada. There
z4r.e no sharply marked lines or divisions
'tstween the arid and the humid areas.
snut there is, especially near the center
of the United States. broad inter
mediate belt, neither distinctly arid nor
distinctly humid, which is called the
sub Aumid or semi-arid region. This belt
s.1rends over North Dakota, South Da-
iSota, western Nebraska, and western
Eamsas into Oklahoma and the Pan
bandle of Texas.
What Is Being Done.
Since the passage of the Reclamnt ion
Act the Government has had large
ooocps of engineers and assistants ex-
ztn,ining the arid region and studying
its streams and water supply carefully.
important Investigations have been made
=sc the following places, and at some
of them mammoth irrigation projects
1rs. now under way: Milk River project
IN Montana including the investigation
OF the proposed dam sites ut st. Mary
LAKES. In Wyoming examinations have
b-srn made of the possibilities of storing
vaaters in the Bighorn Mountains for
use along their eastern slopes, and ut
the proposed dam site for the Sweet
,aater reservoir on the river of that
tInDe n tributary of the North Platte.
La Colorado, In the vicinity of Sterl-
ing, work has been done in connection
with the plan to utilize the Pawnee
Pass reservoir site for irrigating lands
oa the north bank of South Platte Riv-
err Surveys have also been made for
ofEvcrting the waters of the Gunnison
River through tunnel into the I'm
s-pmpahgre valley for irriga ton. The
Grand River project. involving the use
x.( 81, nf ,rn,
the plains west of Grand Junction in
Colorado and Utah. has also been the
.subiect of surveys and examinn tions. In
Nevada the Truckee-Carson basin has
been examined with view to utilizing
She waters of these rivers and exam
arinx the storage possibilities of Lake
Tahoe and other lakes in the Sierra Ne
Vatia- Investigations have also been
made in the valley of the Walker Riv-
s,r, Nevada. In Arizona and Colorado
sn examination of the Colorado River
FROM the Needles to Yuma has been in
.srisated for the study of plans for the
reclamation of the low lands along both
.sidcs of the river. The practicability
OF storing the flood waters of the Salt
River has also been investigated. There
are many other instances.
Measureless Possibilities.
Tie records show that at least one
ri,ird of the area of the United States.
exclusive of Alaska and our outlying
possessions. consists of vacant public
LAND. One of the great economic ques-
tfou~ now before the people of this coun-
Try. is the utilization of this vast area.
suuch of which has a rich soil. and un-
der good management would be capable
s,f ststa ining Il large population. The
possibilities are stupcudous. Govern
srent engineers estimate tlInt the total
S,lsSsible water supply Of the arid re
syion is sufficient. if properly conserved.
10 irriEate 1OO,OO0,OOO acres: which. re-
ports show could be made available.
This unwatered empire, brought from