The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1907-07-09
WINNING THE ARID WEST
By FREDERIC ]. HASKIN

ed FOR the reclamation Of arid lands bv
irrigation. The lands thus recIaimeS e
are charged with their proportionate o
cost or the irrigation work. and are
opened TO settlement under the home.
stead laws The settler must take wa.
ter from the Government supply. re-.
deem at least half of his entry for ae.
Ilcnlture, and then pay the cost of the
irrigation project IN ten annual nav
ments, without interest. The MONEY
mus paid back to the Government Is
continued as part Of the reclamat tion
FUNDS and is used to further new ir-
rIgatlon projects and TO maintain the
Old 1t is simple plan, and one which
uoes NOT cost anybody anything, be-
cause IT soon pays for itself from tbe
hitherto worthless desert land.
In these short FIVE years the Federal
reclamation service has worked won.
ders and performed miracles. Over
fourteen hundred miles Of principaI
canals have been Ding. and a distance
equal to that from Boston to New
Orleans. Work has been begun on the
largest dam in the world. the Shoshone
gam IN wyoming, which will be 80
rect from the bed rock, Another great
dam is being built al Roosevelt, Arl-
zona, which will form the largest ar.
tificiaI lake in the world. This dam
will be 2se 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 is
completed and the lake flied, the water
VIII be 200 feet deep over the site Of
the now busting city, with its elec.
tr1C lIOhts uta IL
its public library, and it's hospital
Here. too, If the great Gov vsrnment fac.
tory making the GENET being used in
the dam and canal construction. and
when It's work is done the scars il makes
upon the face of the earth will be hid
IN the bosom of lake twenty-five miles
long and two miles wide.
Here. at Roosevelt, tn Apacbes who
once followed Geronimo have buried the
hatchet and are peacefully at work, max,
ing their living In the sweat of their
faces. They have forssken their war
paint. and no longer resist the onward
march of new civilization. 4 quarter
OF million acres of land will be given
water from this lake. and the wonders
which have already been accomplished
by private irrigation in that land of
never-ending sunshine and opalescent
vistns will be multiplied
Far TO the north of Arizona is the
wonderful Yakima valley, in Washing
ton. This valley is the rival of the rich
Redlnnds and Riverside Of Southern
California, and TO those who find a
perpetual summer enervating. ii is with
out an equal. A country where apple
orchards yield $500 an acre, and where
hops bring from S400 TO $500 an acre
is good country for agricuturists, and
il is little wonder that Yakima VALLEY
orchard lands sometimes sell for $1,000
an acre, or even more. In this vale,
the Federal reclamation service |!
! spending $13,00o,000 in canals, bitches
and storage dams. This work will give
the necessary water to 100000 acres oi
land which, with an assured water sup
ply. will he worth fortunes All ol
this land will be reserved for the sc
tual homcseeker No great comparie,
only to actual homesteaders in yer,
small farm units. probably forty o.
! eighty acres, certainly not more thar
! 1000 acres. The project in this val
| ley will take some years to complete
! and in the meantime a working MAJ
seeking home has an opportunity Il
earn high wages in the construction
works.
Nearly four miles of x.mile tun
mel have been completed in Colorado
through which the waters Of the Gun
nison river will be diverted to quicker
into life 10000 acres of land now "
ing dead in the Uncompahgre valley
in this valley there are irrigated land
which produce sugar beets that nette'
the farmers from $50 to $50 an acre
Some fruit orchards, twelve years old
netted $500 au acre. To bring waite
here and increase the area of this fer
tile field, the engineers encountere'
difficulties involving almost incredIbl
hardships. IT is the toughest countr.
in all the United States. The engineer
explored n canyon through which n
man had ever passed, and located