The Arizona sentinel., 1904-03-09
RELIABLE fACTS AND FIGURES
Bureau of the Census Irrigation Sta
 tistics for Arizona for 1902.

A preliminary report of irrigation in the territory of Arizona for 1902 has been transmitted 10 the director of the census by Chief Statistician L. G. Pow CTS. The report wss prepared under his direction by C. J. Blanchard and is based upon information obtained by correspondence and through field inveS- tigatione by Wm. J. Barrows. It will soon appear as part of the irrigation report for the United States for 1902 The statistics are for the several drain age basins, and indicate considers ble progress in irrigation since the crop year 1899.
 The industrial art of irrigation in the United States began in Arizona, and in- dicstions are found throughout the val leys of the Gila and Salt rivers that large areas, now barren and fOrbilding, were once occupied by numerous pre- historic race. The canals now in use in many places follow quite closely the lines of those ancient systems. These early ditches reveal engineering skill of high order, and must have required an immense expenditure of labor. Their origin is lost, even in tradition, for they were abandoned as early ss 1542, when Coronado visited these valleys in search of the "seven cities of Cibola, but ethnologists date their operation as early as the eighth or ninth century. Portions of the beds of these ancient ditches are today utilized in modern systems.
 Arizona, geographically, consists of two distinct regions, plateau and plain. More than one-half Of the territory has an elevation of over 5000 feet, and forms what is generally known ss the Colorado plateau. One-third of the territory is below the level of 5000 feet, and along the valleys of the Colo rado and Gila rivers, in the extreme southwestern corner, the elevation is less than 100 feet. Several short, ir- regular mountain ranges extend from the southeast to the northwest, the highest being the San Francisco range, 5000 feet in elevation, in the north central part of the territory.
 With the exception of few square miles in the extreme southeastern part, the entire territory of Arizona belongs to the Colorado river drainage basin. The Colorado enters the territory near the center of the northern boundary, flows sothwesterly and forms all but sixty miles of it's western boundary. The deep canons which the streams have cut through the plateaus form 8 distinctive feature of it's topography. The Grand Canon of the Colorado is in the northwestern part, and scattered throughout the mountain ranges are many smaller ones. s-.e
 In some portions of the. territory, par ticularly the plateaus among the mountains, farming is practiced to a limited extent without irrigation, but it is only in the valleys, where water may be supplied to large 1areas,. that agriculture has been especially deyel- oped. As yet, little more than 0.3 per cent of the total area-of the territory has been reclaimed, and, while there is still large area of arabic and irri- gable land, reclamation cannot be car ried much beyond it's present state without resorting to the storage of the spring and summer food waters.
 The climate of sections in the south ern half is so favorable and the soil so fertile that as long as 2 supply of water can be had one crop immediately suc- coeds another. The principal field crops are alfalfa, barley, corn, oats and wheat Orchard fruits, grapes, and the semi-tropical fruits also do well. The peculiar fitness of the soil and eli mate for the cultivation of these high priced products will make the large expenditure necessary to construct great storage works a paying invest ment in the end.
 GENERAL STATISTICS.
 In 1902 the total number of acres irri- gated was 247, ,250, an increase of 61, ,854 or 33.4 per cent since 1893. The 7S1 systems represent a total construction cost of s4, ,688, POS, an average cost per irrigated acre of s1S.96. In 1899 the average cost per irrigated acre was $23.94. The decrease in average cost per irrigated acre in 1902 from that of 1899 is explained by the fact that tho 1899 report included several systems costing S900. .O00 which were not in op- eration in 1902. The well systems are included in 1902, but 64S were stream systems as compared with 519 in 1899.
 Of the total irrigated area 242, ,07g acres received water through CHS sys- tens heading in streams; 1,0G1 acres were irrigated by springs; and 1, llC acres by wells. The total construction cost of the stream systems was S4, ,591,- 570, an average of s18.97 per irrigated acre: of the p spring systems, $6, 7G6 RaEERsszsszIszzssz ! A ,