Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1905-12-08

but there are eight now under way.
These eight projects involve an outlay
of about $25,000,000, and when COM
'pleted will furnish water to about
] 10000 acres. When one stops to con-
slider that this land is very rich, and
that it's productive power Is great he
an undertaking.
Iowa contains about 100000 acres.
These eight projects will open UP to
settlement and to cultivation an area
one thirty-fifth as large. They Will
not only add many millions to the
value of our annual agricultural out
put, but what is of far more import
ance will provide healthful and hap
by homes for thousands and thousands
of men and women, and I'm valleys Sc
cluded from storm, where the climatic
changes are mild and the healthfulness
unsurpassed If the average value Of
irrigated lands, now in USE is SAT per
acre, as shown by statistics. these
eight projects will add more than $780,
100000 to our permanent values, be-
sides contributing every year $15,Oo0.-
900 or $2OO0O,O0O to the nations
wealth.
But this is not all. These eight
projects are merely. the beginning of
this gigantic enterprise. Already
plans have been perfected that will
provide water for two million acres
and the schemes now under consider
alton include about 10 million acres.
and it's is estimated that when all the
waters of the west have been har-
messed, fifty million acres of desert
will be made fruitful and fertile,
cultivatable area half again as large
as our state of Iowa.
/ have no doubt that the man who
reads this statement will be astonish-
ed. / will confess that it staggered
me, but the figures seem to be correct.
There are still 40 million acres OF
public lands in the west. An empire IN
itself. Do you wonder now that west
ern representatives and western sem
ators and western people were intense
ly interested In a national scheme of
It is In fact the greatest
and most stupendous work ever con-
ceived by man, to add to the food
products of the world, and provide
homes for the millions yet to come.
An area larger than Kansas, the rich
est and most fertile lands in the
world, the gift of wise legislation to
Another milestone In the
march of human progress.
The Salt river project is in Arizona.
There is the great Roosevelt dam, $50
feet high, storing an immense body Of
water twenty-five miles in length.
TT @f iS for a q
been wasted. During the spring fresh
cts countless tons flow down to the
sea, giving to the land subject to irri-
cation ample moisture while the wa
tiers last, but leaving the grass and
orchards and grain fields in a parched
condition when the dry season sets in
To remedy this, this great dam was
projected, to store the water. even as
Joseph stored the corn to provide
against the lean years in Egypt.
had wise premier but how
much better Roosevelt I'D those. hust-
ling fellows from the west would have
done. They would have damned the
Nile and stored it's water, as the Eng
lish engineers have since done.
The Roosevelt dam Is a tremendous
piece of engineering. Over 100000
barrels of cement alone will be used
to lay the countless tons of rock need
ed for it's construction. And to show
the thoroughness and endurable nature
of the work that these engineers are
doing, it is only necessary to mention
the magnificent roadway that has
been constructed from Mesa to the
dam, distance of sixty-two miles.
There was practically no thoroughfare
so they made one, at an outlay of
$780, 000 The distance made the
price Of cement prohibitive, so they
built cement mill: for the same rea-
son they built lime kilns to burn their
lime, and saw mills to saw their lum-
Der, and already 100000 feet have
been cut and used. No obstacle, no
matter how great is permitted for one
to stand in the way.
This dam will water 100000 acres of
the richest land in the world. It is all
in the hands Of private owners, and it
IS already valuable. The settler can
buy, but he must pay good price.
At Hondo, New Mexico, there is an
other project under way, but it is a
simple one, and not calculated to sup
ply water to more than 10000 acres.
ALI this land is owned by private
owners. But stupendous as the Roose-
velt dam is, the -Shoshone dam
IF the Shoshone project in
exceeds it in height. 1t
will be $40 feet, the highest storage
dam in the world. This project will
water about 10000 acres. This land
has not all been taken, and one can
get lands under the homestead law.
The Minidoka project is located on
the Snake in Idaho The Idaho CHM
ate is delightful, and the soil un,sur-
passed. am told that all the lands
under this project have been taken.
[ can not say whether this is true or
not. There are about 100000 acres,
and I suspect that if one should go
there with determination to locate a
homestead he would find one. was
told there were no open entries in the
gre valley, and very few in
he Carson Truckee valley. but when
| got there I found fully one-half
the lands yet open to entry in the I'M
and more than one-half in
1t is true that nearly
Ill the Uncom pagre lands have been
fled onl but in talking with the gov
officials of the land office at
Montrose, my suspicious We're verified.
Fully one half the entries will be cam
,elled. 1t is just like it was in the Da-
sotas in the 's0's. The people who file
ire not actual settlers. They have no
intention of becoming bona fide set
5lers. They simply file because the OPP
aortunity offers, and they trust to luck