Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1905-04-14
Conquest :, u. Great
American Desert
Great Irrigation Projects.

Great Irrigation Projects.
Surveys have been completed Tor
thirteen great Irrigation projects in as
many different States, contemplating
The reclamation Of 1881, oOo,0 900 acres
Of desert land, at cost of So, 1896, 600,
or an average of $27.26 per acre. The
land thus improved will be sold to the
public at that price in ten annual In
gtallments, and thus the entire amount
of money expended will be refunded to
the government. The President Is
greatly gratifed at the rapid progress
that is being made by the irrigation
bureau. Contracts have been let and
thousands OF laborers are already en-
pIoyed in Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Ne
braska, Nevada and New Mexico.
The law allows enough land to each
settler to support family. No cash
payments are required; no eemmuta-
tons, but the settler must actually
live on it and cultivate it for five
years and pay $3.50 an acre each year
for ten years, when he will receive a
title to the land and own the water
rights without additional payments.
Private land which receives the ben
eft of the water must pay at the same
rate-$2.60 per acre for ten years.
After ten payments the owner Of the
land will have the water rights free
Of cost for all eternity. The land is
good for alfalfa, sugar beets, potatoes
nd oil tho Qnd fruits Of
the temperate zone. 1t Is only twelve
hours from San Francisco by rail, fifty
miles from the capital Of Nevada, and
is surrounded by mining settlements in
every direction.
Part of the land reclaimed will be
the old Forty Mile Desert, or Carson's
Sink, which was horror Of early en-
igrants-the worst spot on the over
land trail; and was lined the entire
distance with the bones of men and
animals. Thousands Of poor creatures
died there from thirst and exhaustion.
Farmers who pillow there now turn up
in almost every furroW gun barrels
which were driven into the earth to
mark graves and have since been
buried deep In the drifting sands. AS
an illustration of the peryersity Of ma
ture, the engineers who have been lay
ing out the proposed irrigation system
have found an abundance of cold, pure
water a few feet below the surface
wherever they have made borings. All
of this desert will be redeemed, and
when the present proposition is fin
ished the works will be extended to
the Humboldt and Walker rivers,
which will bring several hundred thou
sand acres more under irrigation and
make paradise Of what is now the
most desolate spot in Nevada.
How One County Was Redeemed.
Thirty-two years ago there was only
one house in the town of Fresno, in the
central desert of California, says
writer In the Worlds Work. A hole
was dug under it, forty feet deep, into
which the inmates lowered themselves
by a bucket and a windlass, to escape
the heat Of the day. Around it, as
far as the eye could see, stretched the
glaring desert unbroken by any cult
NdlCo GpSL Va SACI1As AAC NhCAC NOoA1-
try seemed hopeless waste-dead and
proitless.
To-day this spot IS the center of
cheerful community of 5000 homes, in
land made fertile by irrigation. Ten
thousand children attend it's public
schools. The industries there yield
$14, 100000 annually. The raisin crop
Of 1902 put into the farmers bank
accounts $2,3oO,0Oo.
All the raisins imported into the
United States in 1902 amounted in
value to only 100000 In 1902 the oil
wells of Fresno County yielded 570,-
900 barrels Of crude petroleum. worth
100000 before refining. Eighty-nine
thousand head of cattle Craze on its
rich alfalfa.
When the few struggling fortune
hunters came to the county late in the
COS they were welcomed by this sign
hung over Fresno's one building:
Bring your horses. Water, one bit;
water and feed, three bits" Fresno
was a watering station" only. In
1872, however, NJ. J. Church conceived
the idea of bringing water in bitches
from Kings river, twenty miles away,
to irrigate the land. His proposal was
laughed at as dreamer's scheme But
persistence won; in 1876 he had water
on land within three miles Of the town
Of Fresno, and the first years crop
proved the soil to be fertile. The area
of watered ground was rapidly ex-
tended. To-day there are 100000 acres
under irrigation.
CASTRO A REMARkARLE MAN