The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1904-08-02
IRRIGATION FANCIES.

and unwholesome. There is doubt that tn,
Government works will be we'll constructed and
that expense will be spared to make them monu-
of engineering skill and construction, but
small part of it, far concerns the practical
irrigation of SOIL that it may produce and support homes
The engineers in charge have long been known pro-
of the theory, "a miners inch of water soc
acres of land" That quantity may that area in
some localities. In others it may be too much but over
the majority of the be irrigated it is entirely
insufficient to any such acreage.
1t may be sign of confidence, but surely is proof
of skill to lay down a hard and fast rule of water
service. The amount of water that will acre
Of land depends upon the character OF the soil and
subso, and if that uniform all the arid
region the effective service of would be found to
depend upon and vary with the kind of crop that
grown We have begun by admitting that there may be
places where a miners inch irrigates effectively 500
acres of land but we have such place and
know Of no who has.
1t will prove to be conducive the success of
Government irrigation that the scientific bureaus
cerned in divided and scattered in than one
department Washington and that the irrigation plants
being constructed and the money spent by men
who have practically irrigated square yard of
land have never ploWed and cropped and reaped on
such land They officials of the Interior Depart
men the least practical Of all the Cabinet departments
while the soil in the Agricultural Department
The result of the hard and fast rule will be dis
appointing. The who enter the lands already
the prospective victims of the limitations of the rri-
CATION law It is planned upon the theory that the
of land will produce the same everywhere,
yield the support family and to build up the
country. The fantastic gentlemen who have invented
much of the literature of the subject in their visions
and said that the land rrigable by the Government
would support population of So,oooooo; and in the
fine frenzy of prophecy they also extended the
high plaeaus to the short and cold winters of
the ntermountain region, the physical facts of Calfor-
MIA They harvested nnumerable crops of alfalfa in
their minds in regions where the rancher is in luck if
he get one and they said and did lot of things
ridiculous if they had said that irrigation would pro-
duce flying pigs and roofing birds.
Congress in its wisdom needed them in their folly
and the of homestead entry irrigated section
reduced low that much of the arid region
he must be brave who will undertake to support
family on if. A low minimum is needed to make
good the dream of the number of settlers who will be
drawn the lands. With that low minimum and the
belief that miners inch will 500 have
the train laid for the explosion of disappointment that
will sadly great many people If it be found
that miners inch will serve only 80 the owners
of a majority of the irrigated districts give up
But who will determine who shall surrender for lack
of and who shall take what there is and do the
best they with it?
1t is said that the first cost of the water is to be
$50 per acre. which the settler has pay the Gov
eminent nsallments annually. whether he get a crop
OF not OF give up MS Idiiu Aitel paying Hstdhhehts
enough years prove that the service units relied
by the Government idle dreams, and that miners
inch will not 500 acres. will the Government re-
fund his money the disappointed settler? No. Will
permit him sell that is going stay with
the proposition? No. for that is land monopoly and is
offensive large number of atmosphere farmers who
believe that of land, anywhere, is sufficient fol-
one family.
Let these things be remembered practical guides
The of service varies with the character
of the soil and the kind of CROP the physical conditions
of California exist nowhere else and the units of ser
vice here be guide anywhere else; there is nc
hard and fast rule of service applicable every
where. and there is common unit of area for land
holding