The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1906-01-24

eminent IN OfdeF Uudu VIC o0o0AU may
hIoesom as the rose, says a Washing
49,, 5isnatch. Towering dams, fash
,oca5 of massive granite blocks, walls
afooncrete and thousands of tons Of
oorth are rising day by day; rivers
ava turned from their courses and
artificial lakes are forming in the hol-
5o,vs If the hills. And all of this is
aoirg brought about that life-giving
voter NAV be conducted to the parched
coil in regions now destitute of vege-
tation.
The average overalled and perspir-
ing granger" who Yields pick and
shovel in the arduous labor of making
bitches to carry water to his l6O-acre
homestead" out in the western plains
is not. as a rule, aware that some four
thousand years ago the dusky sub
iec4s of the PharaOhs performed the
same work for exactly similar pur-
noses. AS far back as history takes
ne we find the sons of the soil devils
inc wav and means to get water to
their fields. In Egypt and the southern
mart of Asia, especially in India, arch
apo7oglsts are constantly unearthing
evidence, in the shape of little canals
and bitches, that the inhabitants of
the dry counties, where the rainfall
was scanty or unequally distributed,
not only made use of irrigation, but
practiced it on a large scale at the
very dawn of history.
In America the idea of scientific ir~
rigation is of comparatively recent
growth, but already many a western
wilderness has been transformed into
a garden land. To appreciate the
change it is only necessary to mount
a sad-lOOking but temperamental cay
use at some little way-statiOn in any
of those western states that spread out
on either side of the Rockies, in what
once was the free range country, " and
''hit the trail" for a long hike. ="
Mile after mile of heat-cracked earth,
of stunted sage brush, of pugnacions
looking cacti are left behind. The only
signs of life are an occasional rat
tier with "don't-tread-on-me" writ
ten all over him, and now and then
prairie dog village where, on your APP
proach, the shy little fellows flop into
their holes like miniature nine-pins
knocked over by invisible balls.
But when after five or six hours OF
this you reach the top of little hill,
and see below you 3 substantial log
shack set in the midst of four or
five acres of "alfalfa" of that vivid
green which is only seen on the paint
ed trees that come in children's Noah
ArSs, it seems like a mirage almost
AS you lie on your back under the
''cotton-woods" putting tobacco smoke
while your pony is dong his best to
I'LL in the interstices between his ribs
with cool, rich alfalfa, you fervently
bless that wise old farmer of ancient
days who first hit upon the idea of ir-
rigation and thus made possible such
cases" as you are then enjoying,
During the late eighties" of the last
century the national government began
to investigate the possibilities of scien-
tllc irrigation. The result of this in
yestigation was the discovery that
there were from 125, 900, 900 to 200, 900,
OOO acres of the vast waste lands OF
the west susceptible to reclamation by
irrigation, an area six times that OF
the improved farm land of the New
England states, New York, New Jer-
Sey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Mary
land, Virginia, North Carolina, South
Carolina, Georgia and Florida com
bined.
Since that time the government has
Deen more or less interested in irriga-
ting projects, and two or three years
ago congress voted large appropri-
aIlon to carry on the work of reclaim
ing natures waste places in our west
ern territory. With the large fund
available under the National Irriga-
ton Act, the work has been pushed
along vigorously and effectively,
with the result that today works are
being built to reclaim more than a
million acres of arid land which will
De made to yield bumper crops" OF
Doth cereals and feed stuff.
One of the most remarkable feats OF
reclamation being put through by the
government engineers is that of the
0alt River Valley in Arizona. Nearly
quarter of century ago the Sail
river valley, part of the Great Amer
Ican desert, was as desolate spot as
the world could show. Today thai
same valley supports a population Of
over $4,000. Three thriving cities
nave sprung up within its boundaries