Arizona republican., 1906-02-17
LATE LAND
 WITHDRAWAL
COnjeCtureS Regarding the
 Governments Purpose
One of the Areas is Rich i'm Mate- rial of Which Cement is hanu- Tactured.

interior has announced the withdrawal of two more land areas from entry or any disposition to private parties, both of which orders are of more than passing importance to this valley. Both withdrawals are made at the in stance of the reclamation service, one of the areas withdrawn being in the east end of the valley and one in the west end of the valley. Both with dTawals are also made under what is known in the land office as form 'one, which is the form that is usually em- ployed by the government and is un- assailable by any interest.
 The tract referred to in the eastern part of the valley is described as fol- lows; Sections 13, 14, 23, and 24, of township north, range 6 east These are the four sections which embrace the granite reef dam site, and the con- tiguous land, where the government engineers are now making explora- tions for a projected new heading for the Arizona canal. It is the land on which filing was made several days ago by the reclamation service off cials here, at the time somebody started the rumor that the Arizona Water company proposed to build the Arizona, dam or some substitution works, the filing being made to pre- vent any possible project of private parties to secure the possession of the site. The facts of the filing were pub lished in these columns the day it was made.
 The other tract withdrawn is situ- ated on the Agua Fria river about eighteen miles northwest of Phoenix or due west of Peoria. It comprises fav1 f- Fo1 lows: Sections l, 9, II, F, of township | ? north, range 1 west. and sections 12, 1s. 24, 25, 35 and S6 of township 3 north range l west.
 The purpose of this withdrawal was not apparent until inquiry was made at the reclamation offices here, when it was learned that the land was with drawn for the reason that is is pos sessed of valuable limestone deposits and possibly clay also, that may be later utilized in the making of cement. That is all that could be learned of the matter officially, but it is suffi- cient to bring up a very pleasing line of thought to anyone familiar with the irrigation enterprises of this val ley.
 1 All that may be said about the mat ter is purely speculative, but it is ap- parent that the government engineers have some practical idea in mind. The possibilities are suggested entirely by the needs of the valley. In all irri- gation countries, particularly in this one. the chief thing to be borne in mind is the economical use of wa 1 ter. There arc millions of acres be- tween Roosevelt and Yuma that could be reclaimed if there was sufficient water. It has been demonstrated that there will be sufficient water for all that is proposed at this time to be re- claimed but if more water can be de- ve.oped or the same amount of water can be made tO do a greater service, more land can be reclaimed. It is the judgment of all experien ced and ob- serving irrigationists that more water is wasted in this valley than is utiliz- ed, not criminally. but through imper- feet methods. If better methods can be adopted, twice the present area of land can be made productive. Farmers now often irrigate their lands when they do not need it, for the single pur- pose of wetting them up thoroughly against the day when they may need the water and can not get it. And in many instances ten inches of water are wasted in soaking up ditch which only carries five inches of wa
 
 is nobobdy's fault, and under present conditions it can not be well avoid ed, but it has been often stated by ob- serving men that if the ditches were cemented where they run for long distances from headgate to land the saving of seepage water in hot weatl- CT would probably amount to as much as all the water that is now used on these lands in hot weather This is only a rough guess of course, for no figures are available.
 At present, however, the cementing of ditches is almost unthinkable. The cost of cement is so great that a man who can afford to cement all his ditches is so rich he don't have to do much farming. But if a cement mill can be placed in operation at the edge of this valley either by the govern ment or by private capital it will al- ter the situation very materially l. would seem that if the proper mate rials for its manufacture have been: found near by, cement could be made here in the valley more cneaply even than at Roosevelt, where fuel has to- be freighted in at heavy expense. and at Roosevelt the cement can be made for approximately the freight haul to that point from other cement facto- rleS. with cement furnished at a min imum price to the farmers they could save money no faster than by invest ing enough to cement their longer ditches.
 Whether the government has this in mind, or whether it proposes to make cement for use in it's reorganiza- tion of the distributing system here no one who knows has yet done any talking, but the fact that land haS been withdrawn for the reason that it is valuable for its deposits of cement material, and that this location is not far from the railroad on the very edge of the irrigated belt, is, to say the least. one of the happiest prospects that have come into view in the nat ural procession of pleasing things that nave been developed through the gov ernments irrigation and reclamation. enterprise in this valley