The ranch. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1902-1914, 1905-01-15

the total of two millions of dollars.
Thus it can be readily seen that it
costs much money to build and operate
such system of irrigation. lndivid-
uals and small companies cannot fur
nsh the money necessary to carry on
irrigation on such scale, hence,
either the government or corporations
that can command millions, must push
such enterprises ahead or this kind
of reclamation must remain undone.
The policy of the government is not
to interfere where others are doing
the work and give evidence of ability
and intention to carry the work on
properly. In fact, the government could
not interfere with vested rights with
out legislation that would be unjust
to those who have invested their
money in such enterprises. There is an
idea prevalent in the country that the
cure for many of the ills of business
life is to put everything into the hands
of the government This idea is very
largely Utopian and when the govern
ment shall have built and operated
canals without doubt many will be
disappointed | would not have any
corporation but such as are amenable
to law But the laws passed by our
Legislators must protect both the users
of water and the companies that sup
ply the water.
The above gives some idea of what
can be done and has been done in
building one of the large canals for
the reclamation of arid land in the
great northwest. The Sunnyside canal
is the largest irrigation ditch north
of California What has been done
by the use of money and brains in
this case, can be done in other
sections Of the arid west, and, in fact,
it is being done. This work will be
carried on partly by the government
and partly by corporations till millions
of acres of what at one time were
considered desert wastes will become
the homes of millions, of the most
prosperous and happy people in this
great round world.
1t may not be inappropriate to add to
the above imperfect sketch, few
lines giving some idea of what irriga-
ton has done in that section of our
state covered by the Sunnyside canal. |
The writer travelled over this country
when it was uninhabited except by
the coyote and jackrabbit. Dreary
wastes of sage brush met the eye in
every direction. In many places a
COW would have starved to death on
forty acres in the summer had she
been confined there and furnished only
with drinking water. If a man now
travels a distance of fifty miles under
this canal he will see as prosperous a
country as can be found anywhere on
American soil. One advantage of ir-
rigation is that the farming is in
tensive rather than extensive Many
of the farms do not exceed twenty
acres and on these small tracts the
people are laying up money. The peo-
pie live close together. They have
rural free delivery of mails and a
local telephone connects most of the
homes in the valley. Even the coun-
try schools in most cases employ two
and three teachers and the schools
are graded and compare very favor
ably with city schools. Soon we are
to have a trolley line through the
valley if reports can be depended
upon. What more could we ask to
make living in such a place desir
able?
Farming under irrigation is almost
entirely removed from the realm of
uncarta intV We never Suffar from