Durango semi-weekly herald., 1904-12-01
IRRIoATIoN's PART IN
THE WORLDS FAIR.

people who have viewed with amaze
ment the magnificent fruits and g aims
from the western states. exhibited at
the st. Louis fair-far more notable
in size. appearance and yield than
anything they ever saw in the east
how many of them have realized the
cause of this effect? How many OF
them have thought out the wonderful
fact that these products were born
upon lands which few years ago
| were useless deserts, but now made
fertile by the art of irrigation?
No irrigation exhibits" of promi
nence were in evidence at this worlds
fair. as such, yet in everything agri-
cultural they formed leading part
and their withdrawal would have left
huge gaps and have taken away the
, best. Had the products of the dam
and the ditch all been labeled Grown
by Irrigation" the irrigation exhibit
would have been very big one. The
West is proud of irrigation; why not
thus call attention to its superiority
OF production?
| In grains and grasses Colorado's
exhibit led easily, though splendid
showings were made by other arid
states-Oregon. Washington, Monta-
ma, Utah, California-but the Centen-
NAL state showed 100 different kinds
of grasses and 1870 varieties of grain.
1t had oats 8 feet tall and timothy
heads s inches long. 1t took $40
prizes and SO gold medals And its
separate fruit exhibit included almost
all the products of America except
the truly tropical
| Oregon had mortgage litter" wheat
7 feet tall Think OF a wheat field In
which an army of men G feet tall
could stand concealed. And snow
white onions inches across And
Idaho and Utah and New Mexico, and
Ill the West, set forth a dazzling dis
llay of irrigated apples and plums.
peaches and grapes of a color, size
md beauty which 1t would take
book to describe.
| But ahead OF all the West in the
| extent and variety of her exhibit
stood California--that vast strip of
golden land reaching from Oregon to
Mexico and including the vegetable
wealth of the tropics.
Fruit is the mainstay of the Golden
state and s250,0O0 is represented in
ler showiings at,. Sts,.l e"is lii1SN largest
5hil,ilng OF the exposition, covering
10 acres, and 1t seemed as though
would never get outside of the domain
# the California exhibit Such things
'aught the eye as life-size elephant
If English walnuts. the state capitol
,uilding constructed of almonds, the
amous Lick observatory done in
Tried fruits and big enough to contain
everal families.
| The wine exhibit took the grand
,rize above all foreign competitors.
rhe most luscious and enormous
'ears. peaches, oranges, lemons grape
| ruit, plums cherries. and all kinds of
iuge vegetables were stacked in rich
'rofusion alongside of great branches
md clusters of fruits of all kinds
moving how things can grow under
irrigation. The grape punches are al
most of the Biblical kind, requiring
wo men to carry single bunch. No
nan can carry the product of single
line.
Practical methods of irrigation
we're demonstrated at the Govern.
nent building by model of the Salt
liver valley in Arizona, showing the
5reat government dam now under
obstruction In the mountains and
he system of bitches and laterals by
which the water is distributed onto
he farms and orchards below. Real
water was running through these
litches. This great work of Uncle
'am's In Arizona is progressing rapid
y. was told by Engineer Savage,
whom | recently met in Montana. A
'ement mill. to make the 100000 bar
els OF cement needed in the masonry.
completed. 800 600 mountain road
20 convey the dam material from
'hoenix is finished, and, most remark
lble, the river itself has been car
led through tunnels around the dam
site, and is furnishing some 900
electric horse power with which to
build the dam. This is to be ued to
construct the giant works, and thus |
he river will build It's own dam and
orm reservoir the greatest in the |
United States
OF all sizes and classes were the ir. |
rigation pumps exhibited in the farm
implement department of the st. |
'souis fair; but more striking than
these were the windmills. These busy
machines. rearing their tall heads !
iboye the surrounding buildings and
whirring gaily in the breeze, formed
a striking example Of mans ingenuity |
n harnessing the elements. The high |
est of these. built by one Of the larg.
ast windmill manufacturers, spread |
It's galvanized steel wings 12O feet In |
air. and with a moderate wind pump
ed 10000 gallons an hour. The water
gushes up like a fine artesian well |
and supplies a ditch to irrigate good
sized farm.
What will be the next irrigation ex-
hibit at Worlds Fair? Some say
that for many years to come, this is
the last of the big International ex-
positions. II this be so. and 1t should
be fifteen or twenty years before an