Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-08-20
DESERT LANDS FEW
Word Seldom Used in Once
Arid Country.
FAST DISAPPEARING
UNCLE SANS GREAT WORK OF
IRRIGATION.
Completely Changing Once Unat-
tractive Country-How Work
is Accomplished.
BY WILLIAM T.. CURTIS.
Special Correspondence Of The Star and the Chicago
Record Herald.
PHOENIX. Ariz., August IL, 1905.

PHOENIX, Ariz August IL, 1905.
The word desert is beng gradually
| erased from the dictionary The Santa Fe
| Railway Company does not permit IT TO
appear any longer in its printed matter. and
| the territorial authorities of Arizona and
| New Mexico never use 1t in off,
cial communications. The great Ameri-
! can desert disappeared under the plow
| of the Kansas pioneer long ago; the
| desert of Arizona is losing its individ-
| uality: the Colorado desert is now called by
| the sonorous title of the Imperial valley,
and soon the Mohave desert will disappear
under the systems of irrigation
| The government Of the United States is
| doing a graf deal to assist in the trans
| formation of what has been a useless and
! hopeless region. 1t is doing almost as much
| as the government of India with a true
| benevolent spirit. India is compelled to in
| troduce irrigation works as an antidote to
| famine, but the federal authorities of the
| United States are building them for the
| benefit of the farmers-brave pioneers who
| have had the courage to come out here and
! attempt to cultivate land that Is naturally
| as bald of vegetation a billiard table, 1t
| is not entirely benevolent enterprise. how
| ever The benefcaries are required to pay
| every dollar of the cost and are given ten
| years to meet the payments. The govern
ment might retain the irrigation systems
| and derive a large revenue by selling the
| water, and many people think it would be
much wiser to do so. But ours is not
money-making commonwealth, and its irri-
cation policy, be it wise or be it foolish, IS
only another Illustration of "a government
of the people by the people, for the people"
Salt River valley Is not an attractive
name. 1t reminds one Of Sodom and Go
morrah and Lots wife, and it does not look
attractive, either. 1t is broad stretch of
what used TO be called desert, the sandy
surface being broken only by gnarled mes
quite trees and punches of sage brush one
of the humblest. but the bravest and most
determined plant that grows. But although
the surface Is so forbiddng, the soil con-
tains an extraordinary amount of plant
nourishment, and wherever it is watered
seeds terminate and grow and bloom and
bring forth hundred and sometimes a
thousand fold.
The Salt river Is a reckless and incon-
sistent stream For nine months of the year
it is as dry Old Mother Hubbard's cup
board. The other thirty days it sweeps down
the valley at the volume of 100000 cubic
feet per second. Enough water flows by in
those few days to moisten all Of the year
all of the crops that might be planted in
the valley, and the government. under the
Newiands reclamation act, proposes to dis
clpline the stream and make it contribute
to the wealth of Arizona.
About siXtyffve miles from Phoenix the
river flows through profound canyon with
| lofty, precipitous walls. A dam is being con-
structed across that canyon which will re-
STRAIN ali Oh tHe HoodS ana create vast
! lake, holding 100000, 100000 gallons of wa
| ter-twice as much the Croton reservoirs
| of New York city. This will be sufficient
| to redeem about 100000 acres of arid land
and turn this desert into a garden-orch-
| ards. oranges, lemons, figs. almonds and
other fruits and all the vegetables and flow
| ers that grow IN semi-tropical regions The
| cost will De about s3.GOOOO0 paid in ad-
vance by the government from the reclama-
ton fund, the proceeds of the sale of public
lands and afterward collected in ten annual
instaliments from the people who own the
land to be irrigated and those who will buy
that part Of 1t which is still government
property.