The Elbert County tribune., 1906-08-23
IRRIGATION BOOM
COMING CONGRESS OF IRRIeA
TIoNIsTs AT BOISE.
MUCH WORK ALREADY DONE


William E. Smythe, the gifted writer
and talker. who is, perhaps, more
nearly responsible than any other one
man for the organization of the Ma
tional Irrigation Congress at Salt Lake
in 1891, while acting as editor OF the
Irrigation Age of Denver, is again
bringing his pen to bear upon the need
of such an organization, emphasizing
the good that it has done in the past,
and the immensely greater good that it
is possible for it to accomplish in the
future.
THE Father Of the Irrigation Con-
gress, as he is frequently called, is at
present making his home in San Diego,
California, but he had an editorial ar
ticle in the Nevada State Journal of
Reno. under the caption, THE Irriga-
tion Congress- in which he said;
The National Irrigation Congress
began its history-making career at
Salt Lake City in September, 1891.
Its fourteenth annual session Zone year
having been skipped in the early
period) will be held at Boise, Idaho.
September Sd to Sth, inclusive, and
promises to be the biggest event in
remarkable series of conventions. The
reasons for the unusual success of the
Boise meeting are obvious enough af-
ter little thought, yet it is worth while
to mention them.
Idaho enjoys a central location in
the arid region, and this factor always
colnts heavily in favor of large at
tendance. The meetings at Salt Lake
in 1891, and at Ogden in 1903, drew
larger and more representative crowds
OF delegates than any similar occasions
in the history of the irrigation move
ment. This influence will produce a
similar result this year.
None of the irrigation states
piQues the popular interest more than
Idaho. The public is dimly conscious
of wonderful attractions in that part
of the West, but the locality is not so
well known by contact as most other
states, especially Colorado, Utah and
California, three states in which the
convention has assembled five times.
People want to see Idaho; they will
avail themselves of most unusual op-
portunity to see it to the best adyan-
tage in September, when its hospitality
will be as deep as its canons, as lofty
as its mountains, and as wide as its
plains.
All things considered, Idaho has
more to show the visitors in the way
of irrigation achievement than any
other state. 1t is a fine example OF
what can be done by average men.
with average capital, under average
conditions of soil and climate. Those
who think little irrigated farms can
not be made to pay away out in the
sasebrush wilderness will change their
minds after they have in inspected the
valleys of the Boise, the Payette and
the Weiser. Those who imagine that
the city-bred man cannot score a sue
cess as an irrigator and farmer will be
enlightened by studying the story of
Idaho's New Plymouth on the ground
And those who are laboring under the
delusion that profitable fruit-growing is
limited to the semi-tropical climate of
California will be amazed when they
go among the orchards and study the
balance-sheets in many localities.
Apart from these local attractions,
this years irrigation congress will be
a magnet for all who are interested
in the land and water problems of the
West because of certain big questions
which are sure to come up for discus
sion. The foremost of these is the
manner in which the reclamation SER
vice is administering the Newlands
law
The officials of the reclamation serv-
ice Newell and his men," as their
critics are calling them-were com
PEELED to walk in an untrodden path.
The greatest piece of social legislation
ever enacted in this country was COM
mitted to their hands, with no prece-
dents to guide them. Extraordinary
power was vested in the secretary of
the interior, not only in the matter Of
making appropriations for various
projects, but in purchasing property
needed for government purposes and
in adjusting a multitude of details in
regards to land and water problems.
While power rests with the secretary.
the young men of the reclamation ser
vice are his "eyes to the front" as
Lincoln said of some of his assistants.
These young men come in contact with
the western people, and are generally
held responsible when there is occa-
sion fol criticism.
In carrying out the law, 1t has fire.
quently been necessary to have deal
ings with private irrigation interests
Sometimes the government has felt
disposed to enter upon projects which
private enterprise wanted to handle
Itself; in such cases opposition has
arisen. Sometimes the government has
refused to buy property when private
parties wanted to sell and frequently
private parties who were quite willing
to sell demanded a price which the
government was not willing to pay.
During the four years that the law
has been on the statute books a good
sized grist of private grievances has
accumulated, not all of which are of