The Roswell daily record. [volume] (Roswell, N.M.) 1903-current, 1905-12-13
Morrison Bros.
Roswell, New Mexico

rigation as to secure the expenditure
of federal funds in the section they
represent.
Has the Enmity Of Land Grabbers.
The exercise of such impartial
judgment as Secretary Hitchcock has
displayed has of course given rise
to more or less adverse criticism and
attack, especially from men who
have viewed the reclamation act as
a great opportunity for either direct
or indirect personal advancement.
The men to whom the public domain
has long been considered a legiti-
mate prey, hailed the passage of the
irrigation act as an improved meth
cd of converting to their Use the
nations in the west. Mr..
Hitchcock's vigorous measures, how
ever, have seriously interferred with
their proceedings and they are cor
re~spondingly bitter in their denunci-
ations of his acts.
The states thus far to chiefly e
fit through the irrigation law are
Arizona, wyoming, Montana and Ne
vada, although some of them have
themselves made of it considerable
contributions. Wyoming, because of
its strategic geographical position
and the fact that much of the water
supply of the west originates in that
part of the state, must of necessity
have the storage reservoirs built
there, not only for the benefit of wy
oming but for Nebraska as well. The
Secretary has set aside $2,250,OOO for
the Shoshone River, Wyoming, pro-
ject and 1880, 900 for the Pathfnd-
err project on North Platte River, to
be partially expended for the benefit
of Nebraska. Thus about Is pei cent
of the entire reclamation fund will
be expended iP Wyoming, although
she has contributed only about four
per cent of the fund. Scenes along
Platte and the Shoshone canyons
are among the widest and most pic
turesque in America.
A Gigantic Project in Southwest.
Second to Wyoming comes the
territory Of Arizona, with the great
Salt River project at an estimate cost
of about four millions dollars, re-
curing upwards of 9 per cent of the
entire reclamation fund, although
Arizona has contributed less than
one per cent. 1t is stated by the en-
gineers that the opportunities Tor
water storage in Arizona are, next 10
wyoming, the best in the arid West,
while the soil of that territory is not
only extremely fertile and lying at
4 moderate altitude, but the climate
is semi-tropical, and under careful
ten or even five acres
will support a family. Southern Cali
fornia today, with a similar soil and
climate has thousands of prosperous
little five and ten acre farms.
The third state in order of irriga-
ton benefits is Montana, which, al
lying far north, has a splen-
did water supply and likewise rich
begun by the government on the
Yellowstone, where, owing to the
plentiful flow of water, none OF the
embarrassing complications of vest
water rights exist, which have
thus far prevented work on the Mis-
river and on the Milk river The
funds allotted to Montana FOR the
Huntley, Lower Yellowstone and the
Milk River projects amount to over
three million dollars, Or nearly nine
per cent of the fund, which is in ex-
cess of the amount contributed by
Montana.
The fourth state in order of bene-
fits is Nevada, contributing h least
money to the fund, but probably most
needing it's benefits. 1t was, in fact,
through the dire needs of this state
that the law received its inception,
being originally known as the New
lands bill. introduced by Senator
then a representative, in
the spring of 1901.
Following Nevada come Idaho, !