Mountain Home maverick. [volume] (Mountain Home, Idaho) 1906-1911, 1906-09-13
TIME AND MATER
WORK MARVElS
This Great West of Ours
is Destined to be
DenseIy POpu-
lated.

United States included between the
prairies of eastern Kansas and Ne
braska, and the Pacific coast, was
looked upon as an inhospitaDle des-
ert, incapable of supporting any
considerable number of inhabitants
and destined to remain forever with
a sparse population and with in
considerable and widely separated
Centers of population. The exper-
fences of the Colorado pioneers, and
OF the Mcrmons in Utah, gave the
first rcfutation of this theory, but
although there has been steady pro-
gress in the developmenet of the
resources of the west for the past
forty years, the people of the
Rocky mountain states are only
just beginning to appreciate that
the peculiar local conditions, when
properly understood land used to
advantage, afford the foundation for
a civilization as flourishing, and
a population as dense, as may be
found in any of the eastern states.
Special attention has been direct
ed recently to the work of the
tering the great irrigation enter
prises of the west. 1t has been a
case not only of furthering engi-
neering projects that could not
have been successfully operated
under the limited amount of private
capital available at the present
time. The United States govern
nent, through its engineers and
surveyors, has also taken up the
matter of developing new sources
of water supply. 1t has assumed
to manage the water distribution of
some states for the benefit of the
citizens of other states. 1t has
sought water available for irriga-
ton, not only in the running
streams, but it has also prospected
for subterranean sources. 1t has
established pumping station in
Kansas and at the present time the
United States surveyors are in the
field for the purpose of discovering
and developing the sources of
water supply in the Nevada des-
erts.
All these things point to flu
ture population in the western
states much greater than has hith-
erto been supposed to be possible.
Irrigation naturally tends to an in
tensive cultivation and to a dense
population in the farming districts.
And although there may appear to
be larger amount of waste land
in the western states, yet it will be
H0t he
conditions are used to the best adj
vantage, the average population in
these states will no fall behind that
of many of the eastern states. One
OF the main advantages of govern
nnent aid to irrigation is that it
may lead the way in reasonable
development of the arid lands The
problem of agriculture under arid
land conditions is a complicated one
at best. And as the difficulty of
water increases, new
elements are introduced in the
problem. Agriculture here is
matter of irrigation, and irrigation
is a problem, first, of water supply,
and to an almost equal degree of
engineering.
Even where the water supply is
known to exist, and where the en-
gineering problems involved nave
been worked out by competent ex-
perts, it is often difficult to secure
the necessary support from capital
lists, and this is especially true OF
an enterprise where any new or
unusual feature is found in the
scheme.
The Garden City, Colorado, ex-
pertinent involves the pumping of
water upon a large scale from an
underground source for purposes of
irrigation. The success of the ex-
pertinent is assured in advance, for
the United States engineers would
not enter upon the plan unless they
knew that the water existed in the
source from whichIfit is planned to
take it, and the cost of operation
has been carefully calculated in adj
vance.
Such pumping plant in success
full operation is certain to have a
far-reaching effect upon irrigation
operations in the west, and especial
1y along the border land between
the rain belt and the really arid
country. Pueblo Chieftan-
indians Remain at Iemhi.