Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Benton County, Or.) 1900-1909, 1905-04-28
Conquest . d: Great
American Desert
Great Irrigation Projects.

Great Irrigation Projects.
Surveys have been completed for
thirteen great irrigation projects in as
many different States, contemplating
the reclamation Of 1,131, 600, 900 acres
Of desert land, at cost of $31 ,395, 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
stallments, and thus the entire amount
of money expended will be refunded to
the government. The President is
greatly gratified at the rapid progress
that is being made by the irrigation
bureau. Contracts have been let and
| thousands Of laborers are already en-
ployed in Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Ne
braska, Nevada and New Mexico.
The law allows enough land to each
settler to support a family. No cash
payments are required; no commuta-
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
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
and all the root crops and 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 8
Sink, which was horror of early en-
1grants-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 plow 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 illustrad don of the perversity of ma
ture, the engineers who have been lay.
ling out the proposed irrigation system
have found an abundance of cold, pure
water a few feet below the surface
wherever they have made borings. AL
of this desert will be redeemed, and
when the present proposition is I'm.
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
9 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 g
writer in the Worlds Work. A hole
was dug under it. forty feet deep, inte
which the inmates lowered themselves
by bucket and windlass, to escape
. the heat Of the day. Around 1t, a.
:. far as the eye could see, stretched tn.
glaring desert, unbroken by any cult
|
try seemed hopeless waste-dead ant
proftless.
To-day this spot is the center of {
cheerful community Of 5000 homes, IL
land made fertile by irrigation. Tel
thousand children attend it's publ,
g schools. The industries there yielt
$14, 900, 600 annually. The raisfn croI
Of 1902 put into the farmers banl
> accounts $2.8O0,ooO.
= All the raistns imported into tn,
|. United States in 1902 amounted IL
q value to only 100000. In 1902 the oil
+ wells of Fresno County yielded $40,
4 600 barrels of crude petroleum, WORT
d 100000 before refining. Eighty-nin,
a thousand head of cattle Craze on it
X rich alfalfa. 1-
oil When the few struggling fortune
A hunters came to the county late in tn,
% eos they were welcomed by this sig1
hung over Fresno's one building
6 Bring your horses. Water, one bit
e water and feed, three bits" Fresh,
d was watering station" only. Ii
J, 1872, however, M. ]. Church conceive,
+. the idea Of bringing water in ditche
from Kings river, twenty miles away
to irrigate the land. His proposal wa
n laughed at as dreamer's scheme. Blu
j. persistence won; in 1876 he had waite
W on land within three miles of the tow
n of Fresno, and the first years GRO
). proved the soil to be fertile The are
le of watered ground was rapidly ex
N tended. To-day there are 100000 acre
< under irrigation. =
le CASTRO A REMARKABLE MAN