Chicago eagle. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1889-19??, 1905-04-22
THE CHICAGO EAGLE.
Conquest q IA. Great
American Desert
Great Irrigation Projects.

Surveys have been completed for
thiiAeen great irrigation projects In as
many different States. contemplating
the reclamation of 1881 ,OOOOOO acres
Of desert land. at Il cost of S3i ,30j. 900.
or an average of S2I.2G per acre. The
land thus improved will be sold to the
public at that price in ten annual in
stallments, and thus the entire amount
of money expended will be refunded to
the government. The President 10
greatly gratified at the rapid progress
that is being made by the irrigation
bureau. Contracts have been let and
thousands of labOrers are already en-
ployed in Arizona. Colorado. Idaho. Ne
braska, Nevada and New Mexico.
The law allows enough land to each
settler to support family. No cash
payments are required: no cOmmuta-
tions, but the settler must actually
live on it and cultivate it for five
years and pay $3.50 an acre each year
Tor ten years. when he will receive q
title to the land and own the water
rights without additional payments
Private land which receives the ben
eft of the water must pay at the same
rate-S2.GO per acre for ten years.
After ten payments the owner of the
land will have the water rights free
of cost for all eternity. The land Is
good for alfalfa. sugar beets. potatoes
and all the root crops and fruits OF
the temperate zone. II is only twelve
hours from San Francisco by rail. fifty
miles from the capital of Nevada. and
is surrounded by mining settlements in
every direction.
Part of the land reclaimed will be
the old Forty.Mile Desert. or carson's
Sink. which was Il horror of early en-
igrants-thc worst spot on the over.
land trail; and was lined the entire
distance with the bones of men and
animals. Thousands of poor creatures
died there from thirst and exhaustion.
Farmers who plow there now turn up
In almost every furnpw gun barrels
which were driven into the earth to
mark graves and have siucc been
buried deep In the drifting sands. As
an Illustration of the pervcrslty of ma.
turc. the engineers who have been lay
ing out the proposed irrigation system
have found an abundance of cold, pure
water u few feet below the surface
wherever they have made borlngs. All
of this desert will be redeemed, and
when the present proposition Is fin.
ished the works will he extended to
In II ,.I. a all. ii.
which will bring several hundred thou.
sand acres more under irrigation and
make a paradise of what is now the
most desolate spot in Nevada.
How One Comfy Wa. Redeemed.
Thirty-two years ago there was only
one house In the town Of Fresno. In the
central desert of California. says
writer in the Worlds Work. 4 hole
was dug under IT, forty feet deep. into
which the inmates lowered themselves
by Il bucket and u windlass. to escape
the heat Of the day. Around it. as
far us the eye could see. stretched the
glaring desert, unbrokcn by any cult
waited spot of green. The whole coun.
try seemed II hopeless waste--dead and
profitless.
To-day this spot Is the center OF a
cheerful community of 5000 homes. in
land made fertile by irrigation. Ten
thousand children attend its public
schools. The industries there yield
Sl4,OW,OOO annually. The raisln crop
Of 1902 put into the farmers bank
accounts $2,3OOoO0.
All the raislns imported into the
United States in 1902 amounted In
value to only 100000. In 1902 the OF.
wells of Fresno County yielded so.
900 barrels of crude petroleum, worth
$2OO,OOO before refining. Eighty-nlne
thousand head of cattle Craze on its
rich alfalfa.
When the few struggling fortune.
hunters came to the county late in the
COS they were welcomed by this sign
hung over Frcsnos one building:
Bring your horses. Water. one bit;
water and feed, three bits" Fresno
was n "watering station" only. In
1872. however NJ. J. Church conceived
the idea of bringing water In bitches
from Kings river, twenty miles away,
TO lrrlgate the land. His proposal was
laughed at rs dreamer's scheme. But
persistence won; in 1876 he had water
on land within three miles of the town
Of Fresno. and the first years crop
proved the soil to be fertile. The area
Of watered ground was rapidly ex-
tended. To-day there are 100000 acres
under irrigation.