The Spokane press. [volume] (Spokane, Wash.) 1902-1939, 1908-09-21
BY HERBERT QUICK.


Senator Newlands is from Ne
vada; and in Nevada water is
merely a Renaissance to the immi-
grant and fable to the native
born. Yet the best bill, the broad
est measure, the most far reaching
and statesmanlike scheme ever in
troduced into any American legisla-
tive body dealing with water and
water resources nationally is the
NeSfandST bill in the senate. Sen
ator Newlands is member of the
inland waterways commission, and
the spokesman of the movement in
the senate. Jokes have been made
about the interest of the "maratime
state of Nevada" in the waterways
movement. Such witticisms are
quite gratuitous.
Mr.. Newlands is a statesman;
and being such he would act for
the nation in this matter, even If
Nevada had no more interest in
waterways than has Switzerland in
navies. But Nevada-every one OF
the mountain states-has a deep in
terest in waterways and the con-
servation of our water resources.
In the first place, the reclamation
service is of interest to any state
in direct proportion to its dryness
and aridity--and the reclamation
service has large uart in the
waterways program. In the second
place, even in the matter of naviga-
ton, Nevada is not without prac-
teal interest. The Colorado is the
boundary of the state for $50 miles.
What can be done to make the
Colorado navigable is a problem;
but the commission has suggested
that the stream is not valueless for
navigation. And one can imagine
this turbulent steam, sunk into the
twilight of it's stupendous canyon,
damned for the generation of hun
dreys of thousands of horsepower,
and locked for the admission OF
commerce into the heart Of the
mountain states. AS a matter of
fact, the more turbulent the river
the greater its power. 1t may turn
out that the tanning of the Colorado
is one Of the best business proposi-
tons open to us as a nation.
This may be far in the future;
but it must interest the citizen of
Nevada to see in anticipation the
commerce of the great interior
basin passing through the Grand
canyon, under those frowning cliffs
beside which those Of the Rhine
are hillocks. The Colorado gives
Arizona water front of hundreds
of miles, cuts Utah In two, and its
headwaters gridiron the western
half of Colorado, where they ap-
proach Mississippi tributaries in
the Platte and Arkansas, and touch
heedwaters with the Rio Grande
between Gunnison and Creole. All
these rivers are likely to be les.
ects. The Rio Grande and the Ar
kansas now are much reduced for
this purpose. The Yellowstone will
have every drop of water taken
from it by Mr.. Newell. Yet, IS per
cent Of water used for irrigation
seeps back into the streams; and 1t
takes comparatively small supply
for canal. In an era of waterway
development 1t may be assumed
that even where the natural cur
rent Is diverted for the watering OF
farms, the old channels will be
tempting routes for canals which
will need no water except for lock-
age. In such an era, PUEBLO, the
iron metropolis of the west, and
Denver, its commercial capital,
may well hope for water communi-
cation down the Arkansas and
Platte valleys to the great Mis-
souri-Mississippi systems. in spite
of the irrigators.
Wyoming has such valleys run
ming out in all directions-to the
Gulf of California through the
Green, to the Missouri through the
North Platte, to the Yellowstone
through the Big Horn and through
the Snake to the Pacific commerce
Mt Portland.
Montana has the navigable Mis-
souri, now, and with the improve.
ment of that stream above Great
Falls will have splendid waterway
system, and perhaps more miles of
inland waterways than any other
state. She looks both ways with her
water routes, too; through the
Clarks Fork and the Kootenai---
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