The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1911-08-08
GOVERNMENT ENGINEERS MAKING
GARDENS OF GREAT AMERICAN DESERT

Sixty Million Dollars Already Invested (
ard one Million Acres Under Water |
The Mighty Dams of the Arid |
west and What They Are Doing
An Irrigated Empire in the Heart |
OF the ROcl1ieS-Where Apple is |
King - California Projects - All |
About the Reclamation Service and
What 1t Has Already Accomplished. |
ICopyrights 1911, by Frank. G. Car !
WAsH1NGToN. D. G.
The great American Desert is a
thing of the past. Like Moses of old
in the wilderness of Sinai, Uncle Sam.
patriarch. has struck its rocks with
his magic rod, and the water has
gushed forth, creating oases richer
than the valley of the Nile or the Gan
ges He has piled up tens Of millions
to reclaim the bare lands, and has an
army Of engineers and laborers at
work turning them into farms for his
people. Last year he had a. 600 men
digging, blasting and damming He
has already built SO many canals that
if they were laid end to end they
would reach from New York to San
Francisco and back to New Orleans,
or if measured upon the Pacific would
extend from California to China
Some of these canals carry whole riv-
wagon roads, has excavated more than
twenty miles Of tunnels, and alto
gether has taken out enough earth to
equal a ditch three feet wide and
three feet deep running clear around
the world at the equator and in addi-
ton to equal hole three feet square
run through the globe from one side
to the other, and a similar tunnel dug
at right angles to this from pole to
pole.
Where the Gases Are.
This is the work of the reclamation
service, which is backed by capital
of about ninety million dollars, and Of
which sixty millions are already in
vested. There are ten millions left Of
the reclamation fund, and in addition
twenty millions more which have been
appropriated by Congress and are at
the command of the service: This
great work is headed by some Of the
ablest organizers and most skilled en-
gineers of Uncle Sans scientific army.
1 have spent this week at their office
building in Washington. 1t has
large number of clerks, although the
actual constructive operations are
scattered all over the West. The
Washington bureau has photographs
Of every stage of the work. 1t re-
ceives daily reports Of what is being
done, and one c:n get bird s-eye
view of the mighty undertakings
which are now under way. The gov
ernment scientists have made maps
OF the country, testing every slope.
hill and valley. They have measured
the water in the air overhead, and
with diamond drills have tested the
beds Of the canyons beneath in sink
lng the foundations for dams when
viii store up the rainfall. They have
done so much drilling that if the holes
could be placed end to end they would
los.
the rocky heart of kold Mother Earth.
In company with DR.. F. H. Newell,
the director. and one Of the engineers,
Mr. {. j. Blanchard, | have gone over
the maps showing where the various
recIamatiOn projects are situated
broadly speaking. they cover the
whole arid West, extending from the
which has been largely devoted to
great plains to the Pacific. Those Of
the great plains are in a country
sfazlng and which had enough ram
laIl to produce food for the millions
OF buffaloes which once wandered
over it. These projects are in the
western parts of Kansas, Nebraska
and the Dakotas.
Another division is situated on the
great plateau which lies between the
1iocky Mountains and the Sierra Ne
Nadas and Cascades. while others are
on the Pacific slope still farther west.
Ihere are in all thirty-four of them,
III each of which work is now going
Oh, and in many Of which water IS
already flowing over the lands
Uncle SANS Big Dams.
livery one of these GASES contains
wonders enough for letter and some
are so remarkable that they cannot
o9 passed without notice. They are
al Watered by dams which have ere
3ted reservoirs in the mountains. and
9oLle OF these dams are of enormous
cAleht. Take the ShOShOne which