Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1905-12-05
IRRIGATION In the West.
[By D. w. Norris. of Grinnell.1

ophy Of Senator Beveridge in his CAD
vice to Young men," President Roose-
welt found hostile chairman OF the
committee to which the bill must 60,
he was also from the middle west, and
he swore by the great horn spoon that
no such extravagant piece of leg1sla-
ton should ever come from his COM
mittee. 1t became necessary not only
to win over the speaker, but some
means must be devised to placate
Cannon for an out and out appropria-
ton from the treasury was out of the
question. Next there was the atti-
tude of the eastern members
some more than indifferent, others
hostility, especially in the senate. The
opening up of large area, producing
the necessaries of life did not appeal to
them if it drew on the treasury so as
to endanger appropriations involving
personal interests. But this remarka-
BILE man was equal to every emer-
gency, as he has been recently IN MS
fight for rate control and the bill. a
just, wise and generous measure, be-
came a law.
Briefly the plan ds this: The
proceeds from the sale OF public
lands are held as a special fund Tor
purposes of irrigation. From the pas
sage Of the bill until now over thirty
millions have been paid into this fund.
The peculiar feature Is that this mon
ey is not expended permanently 1t Is
only loaned. The expectation is that
every irrigation plant will, within ten
wears from it's completion pay back
into the fund all that 1t has cost the
fund. The engineer in charge first de-
termines by series of measurements
and these have been going on for
years-just how much water he can
rely on. 1t is then merely a QUESTION
of mathematics how many acres he
can supply with twelve or fifteen
inches of water. I mean by this
water equal to a twelve or fifteen-ineh
rainfall during the season.
The next thing in order Is for the
government chemists or soil experts
to determine the nature OF the soil to
be irrigated Not all of it is good. The
white alkah dust, resembling very
fine. white wood ash such as is found
in the valley OF the Snake, is unex-
ampled in fertility and produouveness.
All such soil is considered very de-
srable and in most valleys 1T Is sim.
liar. In some places there rs found too
| much alkah, in other places there are
many square miles of an elastic.
sandy, gummy composition, known
locally as "dobe." This is undesirable.
Some areas are rocky while others are
more or less bjectionable Tor various
| reasons. The volcanic ash Is all good,
and the beds of the ancient lakes like
the Carson Sink are necessarily rich.
| In general the level sage brush, sandy
desert is found to be of the very
highest order, very rich, much
resembling q guano bed, but
still not too rich for fer
tility. In proportion as the larger
bush called grease wood prevails, the
soil deteriorates When speak OF soil,
do not mean loan, such as we have
in Iowa. In the desert, the soil looks
like sand or ash. do not know Its
depth. Here In Iowa sandy land IS
worthless, there 1t hardly has any linn
litations In productiveness. Having
determined what is desirable, that land
is Thrown open to entry. You may ME
on 100, but the right Is reserved to
limit YOU to 80 and even 40 where the
work is done, If 1t Is found that there
isn't land enough to go around. Inc
object Is to make homes, and it is be-
lieved that 40 acre highly cultivated,
will support an average family.
When the work is done and the cost
is determined. it is easy to determine
the cost per acre. This then is divided
by 10 and the settler pays one-tenth
Of his water tax each year, no inter-
est It will average about $26 per
acre.
Thus you see the money all comes
back in ten years, but it earns no IN
terest, neither would 1t earn anything
lying in the treasury. At the end OF
ten years. the works are turned over
to what is called "The Water Users
Association" an institution attached
to each project. This association must
then, thru it's officials, conduct the
plant. suppose the cost will be met
by a nominal tax. This association
is a part of each project from Its In
ception The reclamation act carries
with it the right of eminent domain.
The bitches already in use must OF
course be abandoned, 1t is the work
of the Water Users Association to as
certain the extent of the water right
already owned by each settler. Then
he signs an agreement to surrender his
right in consideration Of similar
right in the new plant. If he already
has 12-inch water right for 40 acres,
and actually has that much water, he
is entitled to that much government
water, but If he owns 80 acres and
wants water for the other 40 acres
he must pay for that Often 1t hap
pens that man owns 12-inch water
right, but only gets or 3 inches. In
such cases he is entitled to free water
8 or 8 inches only. The whole plan
seems to have been we'll thought out
and matured deliberately and wisely.
ITO be Continued
A Fearful Fate.
It is a fearful fate to have to endure
g