The Imperial press., 1904-06-11

China. Probably a know ledge "f the hr~i steps and methods ot irrigation was forced upon the inhabitants of thu~,. countries by the periodical over flow ui the. rivers Owing tn the high altitude and distant latiiudrs ut the suuu-. uf these grrat waterways, the overflow in the aulhlr districts would u,cur only in midsummer, when the growing grain would bc most iu need ot moisture At later period We find the Greeks and Romans constructing great auu,Vlucts, few oi which last even to this day. As -arly as b20 or tlD B. C. the Tyrant of Athens con structcd a waterway leading through miles ni difficult, mountainous country. About UpO B. (. tunnel !, rO feet long, exclusive of approaches, eight feet high anl eight feet vide, was built through the rock. tn bring water to Samus. Later the Roman empcrors constructed tlt, Anio Netus, the Aqua Claudia and the Anio <uVeus The two latter wrrr, respectively. fortv-ivc and sixty-tiv miles in length, and were begun about B \. D. under C1ligula. The first was sixtv-two miles in length, and built al a much earlier date.
 Of course, these huge aqueeiucts were primarily designed to supply the several cities with water for domestic purposes, but so far did the supply exceed the de- mani for that purpose, that the pro- gr,-s-ive irrigation of adjacent districts may be traced from that time.
 So remote. in age, aUd so widely separ- ated by distance Is the beginning ot irrigation, that to trace its successive stages of development is as dlfiisult as tn trace the evolution of the modern rifle from the stone weapon of the truglodyteS.
 Tn Bibical times the lsraeliteS were promised a land where they would not need to water tie ficlds with the loot. The method referred to then ls common :niav-the guat-skiu of water sluug over the shoulder, and oIeucd by the pressure on iuot valve. And the same tedious methods that made the A-y-rian fields yield in pleuty-thc rawhide bag, the incline from the river, and the labpring oxen-arc in vogue tn- da~. Prehistoric America is rich in ruins, which point out an extensive irrigational development. The lncas constructed equeducts far greater in length and in regions more difficult than tho-. undertaken by the Greeks and Romans. \ portion of these mag niiic,.nt works remain tO this day tO testify to their pristine glory. When the Spaniards, under Cortez, reached the citie- of Mexico, they marveled at the wundrou- gardens and foliage, made possible by irrigation. Even they, des- c,.ndants of Semctic and Turauiau peo- . ples. accustomed to the results of irri- gAtiOn. were astonished at the results of desert wesldeI to water. Some five wears ago the writer was engaged m pre- ] liminary irrigation survey near Phoe- nix, Arizona, and was amazed tO find : indications of an extensiv. aboriginal ! irrigation system in a district which Was supposed tO have been desert for thousands of years. Oi course it is true that geological changes are constantly taking place, but in this instance the water sour e, as indicated by the trend oi the canals. was no longer deteTmln- ate. and the Seismic change must have occurred many hundred years before the white man discovered America. The mystery lay. not altogether in the fact that canals had existed. but that any trace of them should remain after the river source had been buried under three hundred feet of ernde'l debris, a- was shOwn tO b" the case by excavations made by @ railruad-bridgc surveying party.