The sun., 1908-06-14
RUSH FOR THE DESERT FARMS
A THOUSAND LETTERS A WEEK
ABOUT IRRIGATED LANDS.

Large Pr0flts OF the Setticru-G0V'
ernment Homesteading Requirements.
WARRINGTON June ls.--A thousand letters
. week are pouring into the Office Of the
reclamation service In Washington. They
are from people who want to go into the
s~w irrigated lands Of the far West. there
10 make-as they and the Government
,,,>:..ssve-their everlasting fortunes.
Al the rate these inquiries are increasing
4 looks as IL the whole middle West would
be moving on pretty soon. Even the rock
bound New Highlander is taking notice.
More than 400 letters from the neighborhood
OF Boston have been received within the
last few weeks
Hundreds Of New York State folks are
going into the Northwest. Even men
from Manhattan, who never owned any
moro of Mother Earth than the dust their
or some one else's-automobile loaded
them with, are talking about farm units
and projects
The word project. when used In connec-
tion with the reclamation service work.
has a definite meaning. There are about
twenty-five projects under way at present,
eleven of them being well along toward
completion. These are always referred to
as the shoshone project, the Teton project.
the Truckee- Carson project, and 30 on.
These projects are distributed throughout
fifteen States. All Of those west OF the
Mississippi except Texas and Oklahoma
are included. and millions OF acres have
already been settled. People back East
are Just beginning to find out that the
stories which have come from these re-
claimed desert farms are not fairy tales.
hence those thousand letters a week.
C. j. Blanchard Of the reclamation SER
vice mas had to get ,out printed circulars
covering the replies to these letters. No
Office force could handle them otherwise.
One OF the most ingenious OF these circu-
lars Is called Questions and Answers"
It contains seventy-fve inquiries. many
of them taken from letters received from
correspondents. Each question has its clear
and concise answer.
According to Mr.. Blanchard, who spends
every su inner gathering information at the
various projects. the settlement Of the irri-
pated lands is one Of the finest as well as
one OF the most remarkable things In our
farming history. They have drawn the best
class OF settlers which ever went into Gov
ernment lands.
One reason for this is that man has to
have some money to take up one OF these
farm units and to get 1t under cultivation.
It isn't the land that costs. 1t is the water.
An uneducated immigrant or a shiftless
American who hadn't saved cent can't
10 into these lands, put up a shack and
scratch the ground for a poor imitation OF
a living. He ought to have at least 81 900
to make his start.
What is moro it costs q good deal for a
man to 60 out and look over the ground.
And when it comes to moving his family
and his household goods couple OF thou
sand miles or 80 the expenses mount to a
figure which staggers the average rural
mind.
That's where the Easterner Is at big
disadvantage. He hates to risk so much
money chasing what may prove to be only
rainbows So he sticks where he Is and
hangs on to what he has, while his Western
brother boots scornfully and pockets the
agricultural prizes.
The stories which are coming back. how
ever, are 80 glowing that they dazzle even
at this distance. Up in the Yakima Valley
In Washington they pay 81, 900 an acre for
land and make money on IT,
In one place they raise four crops Of
strawberries a season. In another they
gather in FIVE crops Of alfalfa year. A
single valley turned out $40 0Oo. 900 worth OF
farm products last year.
And so it goes until even the complacent
New Yorker begins to tingle with a nove
excitement and figures how many motor
trips abroad he could finance from five
acre farm unit. The New Yorker is well
come enough, but the section where the
reclamation sirens are trying to sing their
sweetest song Is in the upper Mississippi
Valley.
1t is estimated that within the last few
years quarter Of a million families-and
that would mean over a million persons
have emigrated to Canada from the States
along the upper Mississippi When lows
farmlands got to be worth from $75 an acre
up to a considerably higher figure many
farmers saw a chance to make two for.
tunes instead Of one. They sold their lows
farms-that made one fortune-and wen
to Canada, where they got land for perhaps
S an acre, which they hope to see clint
to something near the Iowa figure.
These men were good, sound, intelligent
Americans of the best type Of citizens, anc
the Government was mighty loath to SEA
them go. With the prize of farm
unit in one of the reclamation projects
to dangle before tho rowing vision Of the
Mississippi Valley man. Uncle Sam expect,
to be able to snap his fingers trumphantly
at Canadian colonization agents.
But says the uninitiated, what is 6
farmunit anyway
We'll. farm unit Is piece Of grouno
as big as the Government thinks you neec
to make good living for yourself and al
big family as would satisfy even Theodore
patron saint OF storks. Tho size Of a farm
unit depends on tho soil. the climate anc
other conditions. Sometimes it is 100 acres
Sometimes it is only ten.
II the Secretary OF Agriculture and hi
advisers decide that you can raise crop
worth 81 900 an acre on the land they ar
going to offer you, they may say that yo,
sha'n't have more than ten or twenty acre
Of it. What they want is to get Who'll,
raft OF good Americans on these won
derful farms and mako 'em all rich ant
happy.
Lots Of these irrigated lands are alread,
settled by farmers who own their automo
biles live in housea coating from SlO M