Arizona republican., 1911-12-09
Would Convert Goal OepOS- its Into Energy.
EXPLAINS HIS METHOD
Constructive Policy Advo- cated by Republican can didates for the Senate Would Add Vastly to Our Resources.

In his Phoenix speech HoVaI Smith devoted much of his time to a discus sion of the feasibility Of converting the great coal deposits of Arizona into electrical energy to be used for pump ing water for the reclamation of thous- 2uds of acres of arabic land and tho conversion of those acres of desert in |" productive farms the homes CT thousands of happy cOntented citizens Tn the course of his speech MT. Smith said:
 There iS only one way to bring into the profit bearing class large acreages m Arizona and that is to secuIe cheap power We have no large streams to allow us to secure electrical power tc run from the streams. but in the northern part of Arizona approximate ly 250 to 350 miles north Of Tucson we have, according to estimates made by the United States geological survey, an estimate which is absolutely cor ret, and which I have over the sig nature of Dr George Otis Smith. di- rector of the geological survey, which ] secured through our honorable del c@ate, Ralph H. Cameron: that in the mountains or Navajo. Coconino and Apache. We have over fifteen billion tons of coal of a good bituminus quail ity, of good commercial grade Also, in discussion with Dr Smith I was led to believe that this tonnage woull be doubled and tripled. resulting ulti- mately to a tonnage in this territory, arproXimating fifty billion tons.
 We have in nearly every county or Arizona. vast quantities of laad. where water can be obtained at d depth or from ten to sixty feet and eighty feet from the surface. Heretofore we have not been able to utilize these lands We have vast acreages of mineral land. not only in Pima county. but in practically every county of Arizona. l. is impossible to develop this at the present time, on account of the high cost of power. When we reduce the cost of power. We will bring in money at once. and increase the product O copper and silver and gold as the cost or 9Ower decreases.
 We have the agricultural lands. wit1 water near the surface. We have the mineral land with large quantities of mineral. We have large coal area within a mean distance of two hundred and fifty miles. The point is to secure that energizing force. because coal is the energizing force of all commerce. and is the basis of prosperity of nearly every nation of first class power to- day. The point is to find out some practical way of obtaining and senl- ing that power from the coal fields in the counties mentioned throughout. and down into every section of Arizo- | na where it is needed
 I have worked out one plan and that ! iS to try and secure federal coopera- tiOn and aid, have the United States government set aside a fund to be l utilized under what would be known ! as the National Power Act. as they set aside an amount of money under | the national irrigation act to make l habitable vast acreages of the once arid wastes in the west How can this be done? I might state here that these coal deposits at the present time | are locked up in the Indian reserva- 1 tions of the north. The first problem | will be to ascertain whether or not ! these Indian reservations contain more | acreage than is necessary. We have thirty-one thousand square miles in | Arizona alone locked up in Indian res | ervations. We have 35O.0O0 Indians in | the United States and only 3O.OOO in | Arizona
 ln other words we have over siN |