The daily sentinel., 1909-11-02
FRIEND
OF CANAL HERE

One of the most interesting mem
bers of the distinguished party of
men that is in this city today and one
/ of the most notable members, is F. H.
Newell. director of the U. S. Reclama-
tion service. He has visited Grand
! Junction two or three times in years
past and has quite a numb Der of per-
sonal acquaintance here. He is the
man who initiated systematic gov
ernment investigations of the .extent
| to which arid lands might be re-
| claimed by irrigation and under
whose direction nearly 100000
acres of western lands have been re-
claimed. providing homes for at least
! so, 600.
In speaking of Mr.. Newell one
writer says:
Newell has been connected with
the vast reclamation enterprises of
| the government for so long that he
speaks of the millions of dollars of
money expended and still needed, and
of the hundreds of thousands of fer
tile acres made productive, as
Western farmer would speak of OBJ
tanning water for his forty-acre apple
orchard or bringing his l6O-acre
farm under ditch.
He announces in an off-hand man.
ner. as If he were dealing with ord
mary family expenses, that Uncle
Sam has 100000 available for
work on reclamation projects already
begun within the next year and might
spend twice that sum economically, if
1T were available. He is confident
that the funds needed will be made
available and that the senatorial
committee. as a result of its extensive |
of hn ri
prises the government is undertaking |
in the West, and the great benefit the |
West has derived and is yet to derive /
from them. will devise means of OBJ |
tanning money as rapidly as it is
needed.
Newell has nothing to say re-
garding methods for obtaining the |
money. though he does not object to |
having II understood that he fayors .
the plan of issuing bonds. He is now |
engaged In doing his part toward ex-
planning to the committee the need .
for additional funds to carry out the /
enterprises already begun or contem-
plated, and says he will leave it to
them to devise means for raising |
funds. The reclamation fund is made |
up from the sale of public lands. and |
with the great progress that reclama-
ton has made under his direction, the |
income has not kept pace with the .
expenses of the work"
Some idea of the immense amount |
of work that has been done under |
the direct supervision. or with the |
aid of Professor Newell since he be-
came chief engineer of the reclama-
ton service in 1902. is shown by the |
following figures. which he gaze out |
last night:
The service has partially reclaim |
ed and will eventually supply water |
for 767 ,959 acres of Western land, |
and has actually irrigated 424,549 /
acres" he said This entire area |
VIII supply homes for more than |
80, 900 people, and we hope to have 1t |
all under irrigation within two or
three years.
"lt has built more than 200 miles
of irrigation canals and sixty-two +.
tunnels, the total length of which is |
0O,3SS feet. We have provided stor-
age for 903. 800 acre-feet of water. all |
of which is now available, and have |
built dilles and levees in many dis
tricts, the total being 1884 linear |
feet.
The service has also done consid-
cradle bridge construction and road |
making, having finished 359 miles of |
roadway and 975 bridges, with a |
total length of 25,66S feet The total
excavations made amount to about /
60,000.0O0 cubic yards.
Some idea of the magnitude of .
the work is given by the fact that |
100000 barrels of cement have |
been used and 765,S97 cubic yards |
of concrete. In the course of its |
work the government has purchased |
land to the extent of 1.761.024 |
acres