The herald-advance. (Milbank, S.D.) 1890-1922, 1904-09-02

y0e lAWS permitting each auulL mdle CIT
hen Of the United States to establish
his own home and rooftree, at a merely
Aominal cost.
When good homesteads began to grow
scarce, and corporations, by double
dealing, had largely usurped the birth
Eight Of the individual, the party Of
frsedom and justice began to look into
s0s question Of irrigation. 1t proposed
- dank the subtle movements Of land
ano0opolists, and to practically create a
heaven and q new EARTH" for the
builder Of homes, upon which rests the
Garner stone Of the republic.
Uncle Sam owned the whole arid re-
g3on, and he owned the water supply,
10 He decided to bring the water to
~ land, and by this union to make pos
Abls q measureless bounty for the pres
Ant, and future generations. He profits
experience. So he decided to fix
- this new land business in such a way
that m~onopolists could never again stul-
tfy good citizenship by robbing it of
OWL.
Origin of National Act.
In keeping with the wishes Of a Re
1ublican President, a Republican Con-
1rsas passed a law, June II, 1902, au-
IHAoEixing the Government to enter upon
this work of retaining arid America.
4h1s law restricts the amount of such
Tnand to be owned by any one individual
80 100 acres, and requires a continuous
asssidence of five years on the same, to
acquire title. Such occupants will re-
fund to the Government, in q number of
equal annual installments, the actual
oost Of bringing water to the land. Such
~antries cannot be committed.
; Under the act approved June II, 1902,
which Il properly the beginning of the
present Government Reclamation Serv-
~, an "endless chain" of funds was
provided by appropriating the receipts
from the sale and disposal of the public
hnds in the thirteen States and three
territories of the arid region. These
States are: California, Colorado, Idaho,
Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada,
North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota,
Utah, Washington and Wyoming. Ter
fEitories: Arizona, New Mexico and
Oklahoma. This fund at present hovers
.eomewhsre near the $25, 1000 mark.
= The arid regions of the United States,
- generally designated, include about
two-6fths Of its entire area, extending
from about the middle of the continent
westerly nearly to the Pacific Coast and
4eaching from Mexico to Canada. There
ere no sharply marked ines or divisions
1ekwsen the arid and the humid areas,
but there IL, especially near the center
ol the United States, a broad inter-
mediate belt, neither distinctly arid nor
distinctly humid, which il called the
oub-humid or semi-arid region. This belt
extends over North Dakota, South Da-
tOta, western Nebraska, and western
Kansas into Oklahoma and the Pan
handle % Texas.
what IL Being Dome.
y Since the passage Of the Reclamation
At the Government has had q large
oorpe Of engineers and assistants ex-
Amlning the arid region and studying
III streams and water supply carefully.
1mportant investigations have been made
- the following places, and ut some
~ them mammoth irrigation projects
nv now under way: Milk River project
- Montana including the investigation
the proposed dam sites at st. Mary
Lakes. In Wyoming examinations have
Aoon made Of the possibilities Of storing
Nsacors IN the Bighorn Mountains for
- along their eastern slopes, and at
90 proposed dam site for the Sweet
water reservoir on the river Of that
aamA / tributary Of the North Platte.
Colorado. IN the vicinity Of Sterl-
~. work has been done In connection
WITH the plan to utilize the Pawnee
iPnW r-sservoir mite for irrigating lands
- tho north bank Of South Platte Riv-
Surveys have also been made for
Gfysrttng the waters Of the Gunnison
tRiver through i tunnel into the I'm