The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1912-01-18
MILLIONS FOR IRRIGATION
But United States Has Not Spent Half
What 1t Intends to Spend.

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What 1T Intends to Spend.
Approximately $67 100000 have been
spent by the government in irrigation
work, and this vast sum is less than half
OF the amount that will have been ex-
pended when Uncle Sans engineers have
completed the present program OF recla-
nation. In nearly every western state
the flood waters of the streams are be-
ing impounded and already thousands of
families are benefiting by this stored
water. The activities OF the federal
government in reclamation work have
resulted i'll awaking widespread inter-
est in irrigation, which is no longer
local question confined to our rainless
country. Experience has shown that
more general application of its principles
| throughout the whole country would re-
suit in material benefit, especially in
intensive agriculture such as truck farm
| ing and small fruit growing.
The farmer in the East and middle
West is subject in large measure to
the whim of an uncertain rainfall. What
would it have been worth to him dur
| ing twenty years farming experience
! if he could have turned on the rain
whenever his crops needed moisture
| His half crops would have been full ones,
his occasional total failures would have
| been successes, and the money actually
saved would amount to sum which
might well make him thoughtful. The
western man realizes these things A
man who has praeticed farming by ir-
rigation or who has carefully studded
its advantages rarely reverts to either
the theory or practice of rainfall farm
ing The farmer in humid regions real
ICES clearly the handicaps under which
he works but besitates to change be-
caiise he has not the object lessons or
experience of the westerner or has not
given consideration to the matter of
applying irrigation to his own fields.
Many eastern farmers have the idea |
that the irrigation farmer is in chron-
ic state of water shortage or has to |
fight excess of alkali in the soil, or is
so far from market that profits are |
eaten up by transportation charges |
These things are sometimes true but |
it is a grave mistake to believe that |
they are unavoidable defects or that |
they apply TO all irrigated districts In /
building its irrigation projects, the gov I
tAHuiNHt -titNlS bitA iNi tilE SUIT llAtH /
Il gauges 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 n the canals then and not
till then, settlers are invited to use
their homestead rights on the
land. The money actually spent
ia building rhe irrigation works is pro-
rated against each acre of land and
is repaid by the settlers in ten equal,
annual payments. without interest. Call
il paternalism if you like-it is max
ing homes by the Thousand every year.
The statistieian of the reclamation
service at Washington, d. G., states
that success cannot be attained without
work either in the West or anywhere
else. and the man who expects to farm
an irrigated homestead without hard
work will be grievously disappointed.
Neither win he get rich over night.
The government holds out no promises
OF fabulous profits per acre or of land
values increasing like SNOWFALL rolling
down hill. The simple facts are these;
Tracts of first class farming land vary
ing from 40 to 100 acres are now open
to entry; in their raw condition they
produce nothing and are worth very
little. When properly irrigated they
produce large crops OF alfalfa, grain,
and fruit; in fact, all the
crops common to the region in which
they are located, but in greater abund
aHce and more surely than in states
where farmers must depend on the rain
fall Cultivated land with an assured
water supply is worth from $50 an
acre upward and in some of the colder
and more highly developed fruit districts
prices of $1,000 or $1,000 per acre have
been frequently recorded. These high
figures are due to perfect state of
thorough knowledge of
packing the fruit for market, and well
organized selling associations.
The settlers now locating on govern
ment irrigation projects are frequent
" surprised at the modern conditions
which surround them, and the Huntley
project in Montana is an example Of
what can be accomplished in three or
iour years by progressive people. 1t
includes an area approximately twenty
niles long and five miles wide divided
INTO farms averaging forty acres of ir-
-igable land, and about five hundred
families now live there. Two railroads
passing through the project afford trans
facilities and four small towns
With stores and business houses are
steady growth. A tele
,hene system which now reaches about
lalf of the farmers will soon be ex-
ended to cover the entire project, and
thirteen modern schools, employing
rained instructors, provide for the edu
alton of the children. The fertile soil
5 well adapted TO alfalfa, wheat. oats,
ugar beets, vegetables, small fruits and
ferries, and many farmers are adding
o their incomes by the steady de-
nand for dairy products, hogs and poul-
ry. In order to be successful the aver !
&c man needs from one to two thous- ,
nd dollars to cover the cost of nee
ssary equipment, house, fences, and {