Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1904-08-27
BLOSSOM LIKE A ROSE.

General e. A. Williams and |. p. Baker
Tell Of the Possibilities Of Irrigation
Along the Missouri River.
st. Paul Globe: When certain irri-
cation plans for North Dakota shall
| have been put in operation North
Dakotans declare that the "slope''
country, now a semi-arid region, will
be made to blossom like the rose, and
that the state will be the richest ag-
| ricultural state in the Union.
E. A. Williams, United States sur
veyor general for North Dakota, who
is at the Merchants Hotel, is an en-
| thusiast on the subject of the reclaim
ing of the great areas on each side
of the Missouri and the Cannon Ball
rivers by pumping the waters of the
| rivers up to the table lands and dis
tributing it by means of reservoir sys-
TENS over a great area of land.
The state has fund of more than
$3,500,0O0 for the reclamation of the
! dry lands of the slope country, and
the expenditure of only a part of this
sum, it is said, will bring under Guilt
walton an area of fully 100000 acres
of lands only awaiting the introduce
ton of comparatively small quantity
of water in addition to the annual
rainfall. Said Surveyor General Will
| liams:
"The cost of pumping water from
the level Of the rivers to the table
lands, for subsequent distribution over
the prairies, can be kept at mini
mum by the presence of great beds
of Ignite coal found in limitless guam
titles along the streams, and which,
it is asserted, can be mined for a sum
Insignificant when compared with the
cost of bringing coal from the coal
fields of Illinois or Iowa. Nature
seems to have provided at first hand
the means of Irrigation the great ex-
panses of now practically unproductive
land.
Plenty of Water.
"There is plenty of water in the
Missouri, the Little Missouri, and the
Cannon Ball, there is coal available
for driving the pumps, and only the
pumps and the system of irrigating
bitches remain to be installed to con-
vert the great area of now almost
waste lands into highly productive
farms, capable of producing immense
crops of every grain grown in the lati-
tude of the state. Added to the crops
expected to be raised under the big
irrigation scheme, a cheaper freight
rate to the seaboard than is enjoyed
by any irrigated tracts in the entire
west, and North Dakota will almost
: revolutionize agricultural and incident
ally the business conditions in wide
q areas on each side of the Missouri
river several hundred miles along it's
J. length across the great state.
"Our state has $3,5OO,0O0 to it's cred
it in the national fund for reclamation
. purposes. This money is from the
sale of public lands within the borders
'. of the state, and the report of the
-, commissioner of the general land af-
flee, just issued, shows that more pat
ents were issued to North Dakota
. lands last year than in any state in
- the Union. There is a healthy demand
8 for our public area, but it is fast dis.
;, appearing. There is an area along the
Missouri river and some of its trtbu
taries that needs just little more
rain each season than falls. Crops on
this land are not success. The
character of the soil is rich, but it
. lacks moisture.
Chance for Giant Plant.
"Government engineering experts
who have traversed the section Of
country that I describe say that there
-, is the greatest opportunity for giant
irrigation plant in the country. The
:. bed of the Missouri is many feet be
). low the crest of the slope, and on eact
-. side Of the river the lands gently de
cline for miles in either direction. Ir
- rigation is not only possible, but cas-!
- of accomplishment by reason Of the
grades on all this land.
- "The plan is to provide great pump!
ct o' lne0' '"'s "'oAe 'no 1A1'sO1 y:
- will have immense capacity, and will
be operated by the use OF the Ignite
=, coal found along all the rivers in in
- exhaustible quantities, which can b.
:. provided as fuel at minimum cos
r. to the users. Reservoirs can be bull
for the storage of the waters to b.
~ used for irrigating purposes, but sine
:, the supply is to be replenished b.