The San Juan islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1898-1914, 1905-11-11
CoI9neSt : Gre1t
American Desert


Montana Is coming in for 4 big
share Of the general prosperity of the
country, and it will only be a few
short years when she will rank with
any Of the Northwestern States in
agricultural greatness. The recent act
Of the Interior Department Of the
United States in setting aside $780,
600 toward retaining three or four
thousand acres In the Milk
River Valley is but a beginning Of
much vaster development Of this Sec
ton as the needs grow apace. Al
ready the agricultural worth Of this
to be famous valley has been ade-
quately demonstrated in the results
which have followed the irrigation
works already established. It has
been successfully proven that all kinds
of agricultural products grow in great
wherever irrigation IL used.
The soil is naturally rich and needs
only moisture to make It yield prolific
ally. The Great Northern Railways
main line practically cuts the valley
in two. The fact that the government
has decided to begin immediate oper-
atoms will prove great incentive to
the people of that section who have
always believed in the future Of their
country and will open to settlement
vast area of rich land to the home
seeker and investor.
Professor Elwood Mead, the irriga-
ton expert Of the United States De
partment of Agriculture, has borne en-
thusiastic testimony to the great capa-
bilities Of the Sacramento Valley when
supplied with water, in canals and
bitches, for irrigation. He says, in an
official report, that its available water
supply should make it 1.-THE Egypt Of
the Western hemisphere"
The irrigable area Of the valley is
estimated to be more than 100000
acres, and calculations show that the
average annual discharge Of the Sac
ramento River at its mouth is SUM-
cient to irrigate every acre Of this
great area. Professor Mead, after re-
marking that it is a sinful waste to
allow 80 much water to low unused
to the sea, save for purposes Of navi-
cation, thus illustrates the astonish-
ing variety of the products Of the
soil:
within a radius Of I'VE miles in
the Sacramento Valley I saw every
product Of the temperate and semi
tropical zones which I could call to
mind. Apples and oranges grew side
by side, as did oak and almond trees.
There were olives from the South and
cherries from the North. A date palm
seemed equally at home with an alfal-
IA meadow; figs and Tokay grapes
were apparently as much in their ele-
ment as the fields Of wheat or barley
or the rows Of Indian corn, some Of
the stalks of which measured fifteen
feet in height All of these could
have been grown on single acre, and
doubtless have been"
In another report the same authori
ty expresses like view. as follows:
In September last saw part of
the Sacramento Valley in its most I'M
lovely aspect. One Of the trips taken
was from Chico to Willows, two towns
about thirty miles apart, but the road
thirty-five miles shrdlu cmfwyp shrd
Travelled made the distance about
thirty-ivs miles. We crossed what II
potentially one Of the most fertile and
promising agricultural districts on this
continent For 1cores of miles the
land rises by q gentle and uniform
slope from the Sacramento River to-
ward the foothills on either side. Wa
ter would dow over every acre Of the
country traversed without requiring
much labor in its direction or skill In
the location Of lateral bitches. The
plains Of Lombardy are not better suit
ed to irrigation, nor the soil of the
Nile Delta more fertile than were
these lands originally. For a half
century they have been devoted to the
unremitting production Of cereal
crops. Each season the crop has been
harvested, the grain shipped away,
and the straw burned, and nothing
done to replace the plant food with
drawn. A more exhaustive form Of
agriculture cannot be imagined. Al
though this surprising drain has gone
on for hfty years, it cannot continue
forever.
The absence of rainfall during the
harvest period il one OF the great adj
vantages OF California, where tho
needed moisture can be supplied by
irrigation. 1t IL likewise one Of the
greatest obstacles to diversified agri-
culture where dependence IL had on
rainfall alone. The natural opportu-
mites, of the. district traversed are
equal to, II not greater than those OF
the country surrounding Riverside.
Cal. which has been appropriately
designated a. the Garden Spot Of
America" but difference IN asricul-
thral IDEAS has produced correspond
ing difference in conditions.
The bonanxa wheat farm and the
bonanza orchard were In accord with
the spirit which from the 1rst has
dominated the Industries Of Califor-