The Fargo forum and daily republican., 1907-05-08
FORTY MILLIONS
FOR IRRIGATION
SOME or THE THINGS UNCLE SAM
ls DOING TO RECLAIM THE
DESERTS AND MAKE HOMES
FOR THE INCREASING PoPuLA-
TON or THE UNITED STATES.

t Il r - IA y
i Guy E. Mitcheil in The Talisman,
The great engineering works OF tht
!! government reclamation service n.
i Voivlng the expenditure of forty mil.
lion dollars on irrigation construction
throughout the arid and semi-arid
/ states, are beginning TO attract world
| wide attention. The irrigation act has
j been in force only four years, vet
British engineers who have happened
/ 10 visit this country from India, where
1 The English government has expended
| over S2O0.0O0,000 in the building az
huge Irrigation dams and canals. have
| expressed the utmost astonishment at
| the energy and rapidity with which our
construction has been prosecuted.
Projects which, according 10 them.
would take eight or ten years for the
preliminary surveys and estimates.
they see under actual construction
This does not mean that the work is
Delng done hastily or upon ll-consid-
cred advise but that, in the first place
large measure of early surveys was
made by the geological survey and.
second, that Yankee push and energy
is everywhere evident in the work
The enthusiasm which is everywhere
evident in the field-camps of the, re-
clamation service, while, great. leading
IN many cases to personal sacrifice and
even dangerous venture, Is but typi-
car or american progress and con-
structive genius.
coming down to the more practical.
side of the question, scarcely a day
goes by that the government does not
either advertise for or award a contract
involving the moving of immense
quantities of dirt or stone. the boring
OF tunnel through the living rock.
the construction of roadways along
passable mountain sides, the building
of cement fumes which win carry
water for centuries, the construction
of bridges or other great works which
rival the historic structures. of the an
clients, 1t is all in the interests OF
making new homes on the desert and
providing for the increasing popula4
tion of the country. q .,z
FheysGe Hand.in Hand
fortunately for the. interests Of the 4
country there is the. most hearty and
intelligent cooperation between the
reclamation service land the forest !
service the two bureaus which. have
the control and administration of the
greatest natural resources of the ma |
ton. Z
Take, for Instances the general in4
Of the conditions on and 4
adjacent to the Salt river irrigation
project, which has been made by the
forest reserve in cooperation with its |
sister bureau, to determine the adj
of forest planting on areas
draining into the. Tonto Reservoir as |
an aid in preventing the sitting up of /
the reservoir. The director OF the rec- I
lamation service has approved plan |
of cooperation in conducting this |
work which involves the Immediate |
planting of cotton wood cuttings and |
ash seedlings on the power canal en-.
oankment; experiments with soil bind |
ing plants for canal banks: the estab-
ishment of a, forest nursery at the rec |
service ranch on Salt river i
and the experimental planting OF ash. /
and blackberry at favorable |
ocation on Tonic creek and tribu-
aries. T
The forest cover on the Tonto creek T
8 inadequate and owing to the fact
his stream is known to carry a larger
Der cent of silt than the Salt river. 1t
$ believed that the tree planting 1
llong the is miles of the power canal
will result in furnishing fuel. for which
~