The Churchill county standard. (Fallon, Nev.) 1908-1920, 1910-06-16
IRRIGATION POSSIBILITIES
Some Facts and Figures Con-
cerning Possibilities Of
the Arid West.

at the Hamilton club, Chicago, We'd
nesday, r. Isinger, of Spokane, chair
man of the board of governors, said
that in addition to having the forests,
storing the floods. reclaiming the deserts
and swamps and making homes on the
land, the organization also aims to bring
better and more intelligent class Of
settlers to the country, with view to
the utilization of every opportunity
offered by intensive farming TO increase
production and decrease the cost of
living. He added among other things:
''Thc national reclamation act,
adopted by the United States congress
in 1902, is the outgrowth of years of
work by this organization to obtain
the enactment of such law. This has
given the country 25 projects, repre-
senting the reclamation of 3,l9S, 900
acres of land at cost of more than
$50, 900, 900, while l3 projects held in
allegiance until the completion of the
foregoing, will add 3,270,000 acres
more TO the crop-producing area of the
United States. This total of 6,46s, 900
acres will furnish homes for $500. 900
persons and add several hundred mil.
lions of dollars to the taxable property
of the various states.
THE congress, which gained such
widespread recognition at the Spokane
convention, last summer, will have it's
18th session at Pueblo, Colorado, Sep
tember 26 to 80 under the presidency
of B. A. Fowler, of Phoenix, Arizona,
who has been actively identified with
the organization for years. 1t is
promised there will be several thous-
and delegates, including practical ag
riculturists and irrigationists, from all
parts of the United States, Canada and
Mexico, also from 80 to 40 foreign rep
resentatives and diplomatists, heads of
national and state departments, capi-
talists and engineers.
There will also be an exposition of
apparatus for raising and putting wa
ter on the land and representative ex-
hibits of products of irrigated tracts,
thus bringing together in the heart Of
the Arkansas valley the most compre-
hensive demonstration of the value of
irrigation in the history of the move
ment. Colorado has larger acreage
under bitches than any of the western
states and, as practically every approved
method of distributing water is in use
in that state, there will be opportuni-
ties to study the various plans of supply
ing moisture by artificial means to the
land.
I'm the states from the Missouri
river to the Pacific ocean there are
fully 100000 acres under irrigation
or to be watered in the near future.
Allowing an average of 20 acres to a
family and five persons to a family,
this acreage will support 100000 per-
sons. To this number might be added
150, 900 more, representing the number
of persons needed to supply the wants
of these tllers of the soil and to trans
port their products. Irrigationists
claim that an average of 10 acres to the
family is high enough. but to be con-
servative, an average of 20 is used.
On that basis these 100000 acres
would furnish a living, directly or in
to at least ], 800, 900 people.
Planted to wheat, producing an
average of 80 bushels an acre, this
irrigated area would yield $4,000, 900
bushels; or $4,000, 900 tons of hay, if
planted to alfalfa, while il in apples,
as grown in the northwestern states,
the yield would be 10000, 900 tons.
This enormous tonnage would call for
more railroads from the great lakes to
the Pacific coast, millions of dollars
worth of new equipment and the en-
ployment of hundreds of thousands of
skilled mechanics and laborers in mills |
and factories all over the country. 1t !
would also mean more business for the
banker and merchant.
Zone hundred and fifty million dol
lars has been invested in irrigation
canals in 16 arid states and territories
and harvest valued at $3.50, 900, 900 is |
the former deserts response annually
to the intelligent application of water
to the sun-scorched valleys. The pos
slbilties of reclamation and its bearing
on the future welfare of the nation
can be better realized when we con-
slider that fully 35,000,0 900 acres of
arid and semi-arid land can be reclaim
ed by irrigation, in addition to the acre
age now irrigated, and approximately
rs, 900, 600 acres of swamp land by
drainage. Between 10000, 900 and H.
600, 900 persons are now engaged in
agriculture in the United States, and
practically all of the arabic land in the
humid regions is embraced in the 6, ,000,-
600 farms under cultivation. The aver