The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-07-09
WINNING ARID WEST
 BY IRRIGATION Enormous Project Without Cost to the Government GREAT DAMS IN ARIZONA Reclaimed Land In Washington State Is Now Valued as High as $500
 an Acre-A Town
 Established.
GREAT DAMS IN ARIZONA
BY FREDERIC ]. AAsKIN.


 When Theodore Roosevelt wrote the Winning of the West" he told the tale of combats with the Indians which pre-. ceded the triumphal march of the Amer- iean empire westward from the Alleghen- fes. Under the administration of Tneo- dore Roosevelt as president of the United States the most savage of the aborigfnes the Apache-has forsaSen the blanket for overalls to aid in the conquest of the desert land of his fathers
 The Egyptians knew the secret of irrl- gation before the days when Joseph donned his coat of many colors. and in ancient times a great empire was built in Arizona by artificially supplying water to quench the age-long thirst of these lost lands. Then for centuries and centuries man neglected his work of sup plying the needed moisture. In fact, the desert was left to itself so long that It came to be looked upon as a mistake of nature. But not the wide sweep of a circling age has brought the engineer and his diggers once more 10 the forefront Of empire builders, and the waste places are being made to bloom again.
 In Arizona the United States govern ment is digging hundreds of miles of irrigation canals along routes carefully surveyed by the most expert of engi neers, but these routes follow closely the course of those ancient canals which supplied the moisture to turn a brown desert into green garden long before the Romans built acqueducts to supply their luxurious baths. In fourteen western states and two territories the United States is behind the work that will event. ually cause the name desert to loose it's significance The irrigation projects now in process of construction by the fed eral government will give an irrigable acreage of nearly as much land as is comprised in the improved farms of Lou isiana and will cost over s50,OOooO0. Other projects under consideration will re- claim about three times as much more land to the uses of agriculture.
 All this vast work is being accom- plished without taking one cent from the general funds of the government. and without the imposition of a dollar in taxes. The reclamation act passed in June 1902, just five years, ago, provided that all money derived from the sale of public lands in fourteen western states mad two territories, should be set aside and appropriated for the reclamation of arid lands by irrigation The lands thus reclaimed are charged with the propor- donate cost of the irrigation work, and are opened to settlement under the home stead laws. The settler must take water from the government supply, redeem at least half of his entry for agriculture, and then pay the cost of the Irrigation pro ject in ten annual payments, without ln- terest. The money thus paid back to the government Is continued as a part of the reclamation funds and Is used to further new irrigation projects and to maintain the old. It is a simple plan, and one which does not cost anybody anything, because it soon pays for itself from the hitherto worthless desert lands.
 In these short five years the federal reclamation service has worked wonders and performed miracles. Over fourteen hundred miles of principal canals have been dug, distance equal to that from Boston to New Orleans. Work has been begun on the largest dam in the world, the Shoshone dam in Wyoming, which will be BIO feet from the bedrock. An other great dam Is being built at Roose- welt, Arizona, which will form the larg- est artificial lake in the world. This dam will be 2S6 feet high and 500 feet long at the top.
 The city of Roosevelt has been built by the army which Is winning the arid west It Is doomed to be destroyed by that same army, for when the dam fs completed and the lake filled, the water will be 200 feet deep over the site of the now bustling city, with its electiic lights it's waterworks, It's schools, it's public library and its hospital. Here, too, is the great government factory making the cement being used in the dam and canal construction, and when its work is done the sears it makes upon the face of the earth will be hid in the bosom of lake twenty-five miles long and two miles wide.