The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1904-09-23
Irrigation Will Change Deserts to Gardens and
Provide Lands for Millions of Homes.
ROOsEvElT'S STRONG, FRIENDLY HAND
a Policy that increases the Sum of Human
Happiness and EEnlarges and Strength
ems the Republic.

! country abounds in mountains. plain!
and valleys. 1t is here that the govern
ment proposes to apply the workings o
the National Irrigation Act and to re
claim all OF the arid land which ma,
be ascertained 10 be arabic and which
Is found to be susceptible of reclama
ton by the amount OF water available
Government experts estimate that the
present amount of land which may he
irrigated is about one hundred million
acres. Ihis can be reclaimed by apply.
lnS the amount OF water now available
direct. 1t is also estimated that after
irrigation has been applied to the soil
for three or four years, Il less quantity
OF water is necessary and hence an ad.
ditlonal area of perhaps fifty millions
acres more may possibly be added to the
reclamation area.
Nature Did the Needful.
Nature seems to have employed every
resource at its command to make the
mountain and plain region the most fav-
ored portion of the earth's surface for
the habitation of man. This section will
one day be the seat of empire of the
United States, and. consequently, the
world. For n distance of more than Il;
thousand miles there are successive
chains of mountains. in general course
running north and south and on parallel
lines, with numerous valleys occupying
the immediate ground.
Each valley, large or small, has its
stream, carrying, with rapid fall, the
melting SHOWS of the tributary noun
tains. The grades in general favor the
operation of %irrigating canals which
take the water from streams and carry
it at a moderate fall to lines above
the cultivated land. As the spring sea-
son advances, the rainfall decreases, the
crops need more and more water, which
is furnished automatically by the gradual
increase of the temperature along and
up the mountain side, reaching the light
est deposit of snow first. md then, during
the later and hotter months, drawing
upon the reserve 81 Ahe deeper and less
easier melted ice at the higher attitudes.
Fertility of Arid Soil.
Under the rains of centuries much of
the soluble plant foods in eastern soils
have been washed into the sea. Where
rainfall exists the plant food remains.
The government analyses of soils show
that the arid lands average three times
as much potash, six times as much mag
nesia II fourteen times as much lime
as the humid lands. Any farmer will
tell you that a limestone country is n
rich country. To replace the food taken
by growing plants the eastern farmer
resorts to fertilizers and anure. Start
ing with a rich soil, the irrigationist also
finds fertilizing strength in the water he
uses. The manurial value held in solu-
ton in SO inches of water-the mount
applied to n acre in a season at the
University of Arizona-amounted to
S9.07. Ten acres under irrigation aver
age better returns thar 40-acre crops, in
the usual. way.
Land Very Valuable.
In those communities of the west
which have been created by irrigation,
the average yield of wheat, potatoes and
small fruits far exceeds that of the best
farming district in Iowa or Missouri
or the best part of the Mississippi VAL
ley. Although comparatively remote
from the worlds markets for products,
an acre or land under water rights in
the very heart OF the arid region, will
command a higher price than an acre in
the humid Mississippi Valley. The farm
ers have learned that 40 acres, we'll till
ed, will yield more profit than 400 acres
in the old, haphazard way. In
farming and larger profits from
farms are making closely settled
communities, establishing nearby neigh
hors, schools, churches and libraries. and
the isolation of old farm life no longer
n yicfo FINhn "a w ,,,1.o, ,..-
and the deadly nlonotony of life does
not drive his children from home, or
his wife to the insane asylum.
Roosevelt 1mmortaHzed.
The passage of the National Irriga-
ton Act is tantamount to saying that
the west is already redeemed-it is now
only / question Of time. Perhaps no
law has been passed since the founda-
ton of this government winch has been
or can be SO prolific in great and last
ing results to the United States. No
law has ever been enacted which will
add so much stability. wealth, happi-
ness and general prosperity to the peo-
pie and the government as the National
Irrigation Law.
Here is a new field for the most hope
full speculation. 1T cannot be that n
human mind has yet been able to esti-
mate the far-reaching. the fruitful re-
suits which will follow in the wake of
National Act Lincoln is immortal
lied for his Emancipation Proclamation.
Roosevelt will be i~mmortalized because
he has done that which will set free
from the thraldom of the congested CEN
ters of population, millions Of families
who can and will fool proteful to him,
and his memory as they sit under their
own vine and fstree and enjoy all the
comforts and contentment of their new
and enlarged life OF health, happiness
and usefulness.
Make it easy for the average citizen
to become a land owner and you
strengthen tenfold his allegiance and de-
votion to his country and family. Mil
can now get homes in the irrigated