Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1912-01-20
NOT AL EASE ON
IRRIGATED FARMS
HARD WORK AND SOME CAPITAL
: REQUIRED TO MAKE AoR,cuL.
!TvRE PAY IN WEST.
GOVERNMENT PROJECTS
HAVE ATTRACTED MANY
Several Thriving Communities Make
Desert Bloom = Government Has
Spent Isl. 100000 in irrigation osv.I.
opmsnt-w.tsr Sole Source Of Land
Values.
Especial Correspondence

B
Especial Correspondence
Washington. Jan. 20.-A statement
given out by the reclamation service
says that approximately $67,00O,O00 has
been spent by the government in irri-
cation work. This vast sum. however.
Is less than half the amount that will
have been spent when Uncle Sans
engineers have completed the present
program Of reclamation. In nearly
the streams are being impounded and
already thousands Of families are bene-
lting from this stored water.
The activities of the government in
reclamation work have resulted In
awakening a widespread interest in
irrigation. 1t 10 now suggested that
1t Is not a system that should be con-
hned to the rainless country but that
it would be profitable to extend 1t
everywhere where intensive agriculture
Is essential. as in truck farming and
small fruit growing.
No SIipshod Methods.
Many eastern farmers have the idea
that the irrigation farmer is in a
chronic state Of water shortage, or has
to fight excess alkali in the soil, or is
80 FAR from market that profits are
eaten up by transportation charges.
These things are sometimes true but
they do,not apply to all irrigation dis
tricts. In building its irrigation pro-
jects the government selects only fer
tile soil; then 1t Guages the size Of the
area to fit the available water supply.
The reservoirs and canals are built as
substantially as engineering skill can
devise and, when the farms have been
laid out and water is running in the
canals, then and not until then. settlers
are invited to use their homestead
rights on the land. The money actual
ly spent in building the irrigation
works is prorated against each acre Of
land and 10 repaid by the settlers in
ten equal annual payments. without
interest. Under this system. new
homes are being made by the thou
sand every year.
Not Al Easy Money.
The statistician OF the reclamation
service says that success can not be
attained without hard work and that
the man who expects to farm an ir-
rigated homestead without hard work
will be grieyously disappointed.
Neither will he get rich over night. The
government holds out no hope Of fabu-
lous profits or rapidly increasing land
values. The facts are these: Tracts
Of first-class farming land varying
from forty to $50 acres are now open
to entry. In their raw condition they
produce nothing and are worth little.
When properly irrigated they produce
large crops Of alfalfa, grain. vegetables
and fruit and. the reclamation officials
insist, do this in greater abundance
and more surely than in states where
farmers must depend on the rainfall.
Cultivated land with an assured water
supply is worth from 500 an acre up
ward and in some OF the older and
more highly developed fruit districts
prices OF $4,000 or $4,000 an acre have
been frequently recorded. These high
cultivation. a thorough knowledge OF
packing fruit for market and well-or-
ganized selling associations.
undermining the West.
Reclamation officials say that set
tiers now locating on government irri-
CATION projects are frequently sur
prised at the modern conditions which
surround them. The government pro-
ject known as the Huntley project in
Montana is an example of what can be
done In three or four years by progress
sive people. 1t includes an area TWEEN
ty miles long and Ave miles wide d.
vided into farms Of forty acres on the
average. About 500 people now live
there. Two railroads pass thru the
area and four small towns are grow
ing steadily. A telephone system will
soon coversthe whole project and there
are thirteen good schools. The fertile
soil Is well adapted to alfalfa, wheat,
oats. sugar beets. vegetables, small
fruits and. berries and many farmers
are adding to their incomes by the
steady demand for dairy products.
hogs and poultry.
Need Money TO Start.
| In order to be successful the aver
age man needs from 81 900 to $1,000 to
cover the cost Of necessary equipment,
house. fences, and preparing the land
| for crops. He must also provide for
himself and family until his farm be-
! gins to pay expenses and this will re.
quire at least one crop season. Forty
acres Of this land intensively farmed
will yield a net annual profit Of from
$500 TO $4,000. and this is statement,
not Of theory, but Of results already
accomplished. While previous farm
ing experience Is desirable, II IL by
no means essential, and some Of the
most successful homesteaders on the
various government irrigation projects
had never handled plow before they
made their. filings.
On the Huntley project there are
now eighty five farms ready. for set
tiers and canals have been completed
to supply lands in several other pro-
| iects In Montana. South Dakota. wy.