The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1911-08-06

vantage. SO that II the water used In
year should stay on the land 1t would
cover it TO the height of ones chest.
In the Yuma project. which is still
farther south. at the junction of the
ella and Colorado Rivers, the climate
is still hotter, and the land can drink
up five and a half feet of water per
annum. so much that II left 1t would
drown out all the girls under Ave feet
six who will soon be living upon IT,
The Roosevelt dam is made of sand
stone and cement 1t is as high as
any office building of twenty-one sto-
ries, and its length at-the top Is equal
TO two city blocks. 1t is in fact over
1000 feet long. 1t is ITO feet thick at
the bottom. and over a third of a mil
lion barrels of cement were used in its
construction. This was made by the
government at works created for the
purpose, resulting in saving OF $780,
DOC on that Item alone. This dam will
furnish electric power, which will be
used for pumping water from under
ground in the Salt River Valley add
ing something like a thousand more
farms to the cultivated area.
Uncle SIMS Irrigated Firms.
These dams and the others connected
with them now being made by the re-
ly to our national fruit and bread has
ket The lands reclaimed are natu-
rally the richest of the world They
are made up of the earth washings of
the mountains. whose fertilizins mate
rlais have not been carried away by
the rains. The soil is rs hot as that of
a hotbed. In most places II surpasses
that of the Nile Valley, and altogether
there is SO much of 1t that 1T will add
more than seven Egypts to Uncle Sans,
farms. All the land now cultivated VI
Egypt is little more than 5000, 600
acres When our reclamation projects
are completed they will reclaim 49,
100000 or 5o.0oo,0o0 acres. and II the
land should support proportionately as
many people as does the valley of the
Nile. they will feed something like
100000
This means results which are far in
the future and somewhat beyond what
the engineers now claim Mr.. Blanch-
ara tells me that there will undoubt-
edly be enough land for 100000 fam
Mes and in this he estimates the farms
at thirty or forty acres each. One
acre Of any of these GASES is easIIv
equal to five or ten acres of Illinois dr.
Iowa, and II Is said that family can
be supported on five or ten-acre
patch About 100000 acres have al
ready been covered with water and
homes by the hundreds are being cut
Out OF the sand On many OF. the GA ses
towns have already gone up. street
railroads have been built, schooihouses
and other public buildings constructed
and social and political communities
are we'll under way
What Hns Been Done.
Let me run over some OF the nro-
jects and tell you little of what bae
been done. Take Yuma on the Colo
RADIO River, on the southeastern boun-
daries of Arizona and CalIforni,
There is dam there almost a mile
long that is as high as a two-storv
house. which will eventually irriqate
ABOUT $4,000 acres OF land. The dam
was completed about two years ago
and distribution system of 1877 miles
OF canals has been laid out and Is weI,
under way The lands here are partIv
In California and partly In Arizona.
The total area redeemed will be about
100000 acres. OF which 10000 will he
In Arizona. About 5000 acres of LAM,
are already under Irrigation on Tn.
California; side of the river, and other
lands, are open to settlement.
The country never has frost and its
hot tropical sun fta it.. for the cult.
walton of oranges, lemons grapefruit,
dates, etc IT is an ideal region for
ostriches. and It will vie with South
Africa in the raising OF feathers for
our American market.
Jumping to the extreme north.
where the Shoshone River has now
been turned on the lands. number