Albuquerque evening citizen., 1905-09-09

ettcent factor In his scheme OF exist
ence that chism of water which W,
contemporary western Americans ar,
beginning to value from afar.
The latter has passed the wild ant
woolly phase reported of him, wher
he was supposed osay to every new
conner:
Stranger. do you irrigate?" pro
ducing a stogy.
Stranger, do you irrgiate?' pro
ducing a flask.
And now begins irrigation in good
earnest. over the faint burrows traced
! by long dead civilization his canal.
will be redrawn. The green will re
clothe the arid slopes and hundred
new products will be added to the
old. Homes will rise above crumbllne
ruins; for this earth of ours moves
| in cycles, and where her population
! once was dense and her industries
most thriving and the problem of liv
| ing easy of solution. time and con.
/ quest and the encroaching desert
! drew a veil-and silence! But now
| new life invades the soltudes: as it
/ was. SO il shall be for there is no new
thing under the sun. And the Midas
! touch which turns the desert sand
! to gold is the presence of water,
where empires shall be rebuilt for the
child of the ages, heir of time"
Half a century after Lieutenant
! Pike had discovered Pixies Peak and
had made his unfulfilled prophecy
/ that these immense plains (meaning
| prairies) would be left to the wander
/ ing and unciyilized aborigines of the
region opening of mines made
increased demands for food supplies
and attention was directed to agricul-
ture.
In the fifties the transpianted east
ern farmer could not at first compre-
hend that Colorado's cactus covered,
alkaline, sage brush land could be
made to blossom like the rose. And
now he is learning the new condi-
tions of temperature and climate
although irrigation is as old as written
history.
Daniel Webster did not count for
profit or strength to the union from
the growth of the Pacific slope. but
President Roosevelt OWNED Alright
and it is largely due to his policy,
| t'lrrigatiOn of the sem-arid region
is the greatest question of public in
ternal policy in the DEVELOPMENT of
l
/ irrigation act was passed by congress
/ in 1902.
There are. in round numbers, 100. =
! 100000 acres of vacant public lands
! in Is semi-arid states and te. ritories
Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho,
/ Kansas, Montana. Nebraska. Nevada,
New Mexico. North Dakota, Okla
homa, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah
| Washington and Wyoming.
! Hereafter all the receipts of gov
ernment land sales within these same
states( which receipts fo merly went
to the national exchequer) will be de
voted to the reclamation OF proftless
desert by development, conservatism
and conduct of water thereon-mak
ing reservoirs with systems of irriga
tion canals within the semi-arid states
In the government treasury there
are more than $30000;000 received
from land sales in the semi-arid states
ready to be expended in the reclama
ton of arid acres in this same re
gion.
Uncle Sam is making valueless
land valuable by aiding the farmer
to apply water in thesemi-ari d regior
and the farmer pays Uncle Sam fol-
therefore, is renovating his stock in
trade, and where were to be seer
only the cactus and sage brush are
now apricots, apples, alfalfa and av
iaries. Uncle Sam now puts his form
er profitless and unstable lands at 8
premium and wakes rich.
Six remarkable irrigation project.
are today being prosecuted by me
OF
in Colorado; st. Mary's in Montana
Sweetwater, in Wyoming: Carson
Truckee, in Nevada; Salt River. in
Arizona; and Utah Lake. A tunnel
six miles long will lead the waters
of the Gunnison rive through the
mountains to redeem 125,00O acres OF
worthless land, which then will com
mand 5000 to $400 an acre in the I'm
compaghre valley.
Today Colorado has the greatest
area if irrigated land 0,700, 900 acres
of any state in our union, and it pre-
eminentle affords the best Illustration
of agriculture under irrigation in the
United States. Nowhere in the world
is found a better illustration of the
irrigation system of the present and
the capabilities of its future.
BY the timed, measured application
of water to the planted soil the Colo
rado farmer more nearl yrenders ag
rlculture an exact science and largely
determine sthe amount of fats in his
oats, or starch in his Greeley pota
toes and of sugar in his Fort Collins
beets.
As the mountain SHOWS and ice melt
with approaching summer the farmer
guides the streams into canals, bitches
: and furrows, to grow on desert sands
the wonderful golden harvests.
The irrigation planter is immune
from the toilsome systems of farming
disastrous drOuths and uncertainties
! or crops known in the regions depend
ent upon rain, from the clearance o
forests and boulders from too muci
rains, from cyclones and from fickl,
and trePcherous atmosphere.
The irrigation water carries dowI
. with il from the mountains in the sill
y requisite salts sufficiently and salts
factorily TO fertilize the soil and Sc
, ceure unheard of narvests
The annual cost of putting water OF
Il the land is from s. 10 $3.50 per acre
= and the Colorado farmer under irriga
!. tion practically has entire control q
+ his crops after fertilization.
Grains, fruits, edible roots. tuber
: and grasses are superior in yield an
= quality because they receive neithe
y too little or 100 much moisture /
Il Colorado. BY diligeut cultivation tn
. soil yields a crop double that of tn
n Oh. r.stI -f..1 o..