The Black Hills union and western stock review. [volume] (Rapid City, S.D.) 1904-19??, 1909-09-24
|SEMl-ARID LANDS
Supplying Moisture One Of World
Wide Important Problems.
Question Be Discussed by Experts at
National Irrigation Congress to Be
Held at Spokane-Was Prac-
ticed by Anc:ents.

Supplying moisture to semi-arid and
desert lands by artificial means, one
of the problems of worldwide impor
lance to be discussed by experts at
the 18th sessions at the National Irri
cation congress in Spokane, August
8 to IA, was practiced by the Arabians
Egyptians, Assyrians and Chinese
long before the advent of Solomon
and it has since formed a port of ag
riculture of the countries bordering
on the Mediterranean sea. The an.
Gent art had it's origin in American
in prehistoric times, by the Pueblo
Indians, who inhabited portions OF
what are 10Y New Mexico and Ari
iona and their descendants were still
cultivating the lands when the first
Spanish colonists came from the
south, several centuries ago.
A census to-day would show fully
100000 farms in the United States un.
der bitches, watering more than Is,
100000 acres of lands. Colorado leads
in the number of acres irrigated, Cal
ifornia has the largest number of ir.
rigators, while Washington has the
greatest percentage in the number OF
irrigators. The science is also prac.
ticed in Canada, England, France, Italy
Japan, the Argentine, South America,
Algeria, Australia, Switzerland, Belgi.
UNI, Denmark, Bohemia, India, Spain
and Scotland. 1t is estimated that
more than 100000 acres are under
irrigation throughout the world.
History records that the valley of
March, in Arabia, was supplied with
water drawn from a reservoir made by
a dam 100 feet in height, and two
miles in length. This wall was con.
structed of hewn stones and it re
strained the swift current of an impor.
tant stream for more than 1000 years.
Mention is also made of the canal of
the Pharaohs, connecting the Red sea
with Potassium. Flood waters of the
river were used to irrigate the valley
or the Nile centuries before, and, the
plains of Babylon were literally crisis
crossed, with canals, some of them
hundreds of miles in length. The Ro-
mans also operated vast systems,
while the Chinese supplied moisture
to their rice lands by artificial means
before the Christian era.
Mormons settling on the shores uT
the Great Salt lake, in Utah, were the
first of the English-speaking people to
make a systematic application of the
principles of irrigation in the west.
They turned the waters of the Wa
satch mountain streams upon their
holdings, the present site of Salt Lake
City, mastering the art after years of
effort. Priests of the early missions
also made use Of water on the lands
in southern California, where to-day
may be seen the ruins of %pretentious
works built by the Indians. Placer
gold miners in California utilized the
water from their bitches for irrigation
purposes.
The result obtained in Utah and
California induced settlers in other
states and territories to try the plan
and small tracts of land were put un.
der the bitches in Idaho, Washington
and Oregon. The Indians in the Clear.
water country, in Idaho, were the first
in this part of the country to use arti.
fically supplied moisture in the cult.
walton of crops. Rev. Henry H.
Spaulding, who came to the north.
west with DIR. Marcus Whitman, men.
toned this fact in his early letters to
relatives in New England.
Less than 10000 acres were under
irrigation in the United States in 1870,
but during the next decade the acre
age was increased to 1,OOO,0 600. The
federal census shows 3,631,4S1 acres
on 54,136 farms under the ditch in
1889, the area doubling the following
decade, due largely to the extension
of the existing canals. A special cen.
sus in 1902 showed 126,0OS farms with
a total of 9,034,526 acres under irri.
cation. Congress adopted the nation.
al irrigation act that year, which saw
the beginning of the construction Of
work under the control of the secre.
tary of the interior, the fund being
derived from the disposal of reclaimed
lands. The law provides that the cost
of the work is to be apportioned to
the land and refunded to the govern.
ment in ten yearly installments with.
out interest.
SHEEP NOTES.