Evening star., 1912-11-17
RECLAIMING THE WASTE LANDS

| x4AOAXAAAJ0 IVA AVN IL
People Of today no longer watch for the
possible rediscovery Of Aladdin's lamp.
In fact. they are usually SO
Modern prosaic that they scoff at
1r. the idea Of modern conjur-
"0. ing. And yet out Of the
waste places OF the west have come cit
les: orchards have &. own up where be-
fore was only barren land; thriving
towns have appeared where once only
the sand lay. and human beings move
in a world Of flowers. trees and natures
products. No lamp was rubbed to bring
this about. nor was 1t accomplished in
the twink.ing OF an eye. Still, the fact
remains that out of the waste places
have come life and growth.
Instead Of a lamp, the force which
brought this about consisted Of strong,
determined men. money. work and pa
tience-always work and patience. In
stead of the name Aladdin, we find the
words reclamation service. Seventy mil
lions of dollars has been spent during
the last ten years to reclaim arid lands.
Thirty projects have been undertaken;
some have been finished and some are
9Th ~ pc IOHplclcO "A T0pOTI VI OAlC
years work shows that $4,000 ac.e es
were made irrigable, Almost 1850 mi aes
of canals were constructed and fifty
three tunnels were dug. having total
length of over uOs00 feet Approximate
~ 600 bridges were built, with a total
length of 61.O0O feet Nearly 800 build
ings were erected. 625 miles Of road
made, over 1900 miles Of telephone lines
put up and nearly $50 telephones install
ed. More than 91.OOO,OOO cubic yards of
mo al ol uyar nt0a
Arid lands were reclaimed in twenty
states. The three highest dams in the
world are among those constructed by
the service. while the dam being con-
structed at Arrow Rock, Idaho, will be
even larger than any Of these.
Each month approximately 81 .OOO 900 is
spent. The working force of the service,
executive and field. numbers nearly 10 :
co., while the correspondence received at
the headaua rters here ranges from 1000
| to 1900 letters every month, practically
all of which requires to be answered.
Estimates vary in regard to the area
of arid lands possible Of reclamation. One
conservative e st m q t {
POSSlbl tiles places it at 10000. .O0o
r4 acres, but more sanguine
GSI1AudIeu. experts say it will be
possible to water from 7OOO0.000 to 10o,-
600 600 acres The total number of acres
already reclaimed is aoout 100000. The
| value of the crops produced on these irri-
gated lands In one year amounted to $lt,-
OOOO 900. AS result of the work Of the
| reclamation service land values nave IN
creased more than ,AAJ.OO0.OOO. APPROX
mately 5000 families are now residing on
farms which are being watered by gov
ernment canals. Not less than 2o'oUV
people have been added to the population
of the cities, towns and villages, as ol'
| rect result Of this work.
The reclamation service is redeemlng
arid government lands by bringing water
to them. That may mean digging mercy
a few miles of canal or 1t may mean
digging $50 miles. 1t may mean bullolns
a comparatively small reservoir or IT may
mean constructing huge dam. once tne
land is made irrigable, it is plotted on
into farm sites, usually from forty 70
eighty acres each. The total cost Of re-
calming the land is then figured and the
total is divided equally, according to the
act similar to the homestead act, any
citizen with sufficient money who is the
head Of family can secure one OF these
farms. The only cost is that or the
water right" that being the amount
due for making the land 1rrigable. After
three years. provided half of the land has
been cultivated, a patent Is granted and
the land Iasses from the hands OF the
government to the individual. The cost,
| per acre, ranges from $50 to sos, accord
| ing to the extent of work necessary IC
make the land irrigable.
| Reviewing the history of the reclama-
| ton service as whole. its maximum ac-
tivity and expenditures were
Annual in 1907 In 1902, which year
marks the establishment OF
"VAA' the service, less than 500,
coo was spent. In 1903 the expenditures
amounted to less than 100000. Then
came a steady increase, until in 1907
$14,OOO,OuO was spent. Since then the an
nual expenditures have decreased, unit
81, ,OOO. coo can be taken as an average.
Among the several large projects, one
| is the dam recently completed in Wyo-
ming, the highest in the world. beng
32s feet from base to top. That means
!. tt,at the Flairon building in New York
! would fall short of reaching the top by
AZ feet, and that the top of the dome
of the Capitol itself would fall short u
| feet When the spring showers and sun
shine fall upon the snowy peaks of the
eastern rim of Yellowstone Park thou
| sand streams rush down to fill Shoshone
river This composite torrent, when
checked by the dam, Will form a lake lO0
| feet deep and covering ten square miles.
| When the crops are thirsty the dam gates
are opened and the water is released into
| the river below. There another dam, q
low concrete structure, d1yerts the water
| through three-mile tunnel and into a
forty-mile canal which passes along the
| upper edge of a valley containing loO.ooJ
| acres. Four years ago this land was
desolate. Today 1t contains more than
$50 farmhouses and three thriving towns,
while 10000 acres produced crops in
single year.
| In ). yoming eight projects have been
| begun, two of which are now completed
The total area of land is about 100000
| acres In the southern part OF the state,
where the North Platte river flows into a
| deep canyon, another masonry dam has
been constructed. It rises 215 feet above
bedrock, and back of it is a lake with a
capacity great enough to cover Rhode
Island foot deep. This dam is situated
forty-five miles from the nearest railroad
consequently 1t was necessary to transpor
all machinery, cement and provisions Ovel
| the desert during it's construction. Many
| miles down the river another structure
turns the stored up water into a ninety
five-m.le canal. through which 1t is car
ried to the valley. When this project was
undertaken only six farmhouses could
be counted Today there are more than
$50. while more than 1,5OO families are
living in homes of their own.
/ It remained for Colorado. however, tt
| be the scene of the most spectacular
project which the reclamation service has
accomplished. OF all the valleys Of
the western slope two in Colo