Tonopah daily bonanza. [volume] (Tonopah, Nev.) 1906-1929, 1912-08-30

And this prepares us for second |
statement, which in a sense summar- |
ICES the agricultural Nevada of the
future. Water" the author ineisive
ly says, lis the golden key which I'M
locks the door of state colonization"
And the point is clinched still fur
Their With "And there is no other
| key"
( And so 1t is. Thousands of through
passengers on the transcontinental
ftrains have been wearied and bored
Iby Nevada-because they thought
THAT Nevada was almost nothing but
hot sands. sagebrush plain. barren
hills, rock mounds. They saw only
from the train. They did not have
the knowledge, and the vision, of the
commissioner of the bureau of in
| dustry who approximates that the
soil of at least 100000 acres of
Nevada lands lis all that could rea-
sonably be desired by the husband
imam"
But this estimate neglects water
the key to agricultural Nevada
What. about water?
AS regards water, Nevada is most
freakish Nevada first became noted
as mining state. 1t is trimmed
about and sliced through by noun,
tains These mountains gather a
large amount of precipitation, and
this precipitation is carried down to
the lowlands But here is the freak
ish feature. The water does not
gather and accumulate into rivers,
and form great fertile valleys which
are easily irrigated. The water
merely disappears. The waters of
only five small Nevada rivers reach
the ocean The other rivers stink
away and disappear in the plains and
the deserts.
For example, the dreaded Forty
Mile Desert" of old immigrant days
I is almost surrounded by water which
pours down from the mountains
Though it has not enough precipita-
ton even to grow sagebrush, and
is the reputed dryest spot in the
United States. excepting the Death
valley. yet this dreaded desert has
several small lakes on its surface.
Early immigrant parties. in the da.
of the California gold rush. suffering
and almost famished from thirst,
found these lakes But they also
found the water so brackish that it
would lather in their mouths, and
: so maddening in its effect that il
: would only too often transform the
oxen into ferocious uncomfortable
wild beasts. But had the many per-
sons who actually died from thirst
and left their bones to whiten on
this terrible desert only knew-had
they only known-they could have
had pure water in many spots by
digging down 10 or 20 feet
|, The farmers have learned And
Uncle Sam is capitalizing for the
people, the freakshness of the sec
ftion For example. on the edge of
the desert the writer saw rows of
forming beautiful lanes. But at one
time these shade trees were mere
a cottonwood posts, which took root
5 because the water was so near the
surface Uncle Sam has located on
the desert his great Truckee-Cars
g irrigation project-his 100000 farm
= which will when completed reclaim
s 100000 acres of very fertile land In
# this project Uncle Sam has joined
= two rivers, and is storing their sur
d plus waters in reservoirs.
n SO the water problem in Nevada
o is to save the white fluid that goes
l. TO waste in the sands. In the words
e of the state booklet. ''the state il
e being exploited today by the irriga
n tion engineer for available water
~ IiSulS Will tdStihtSS
less keen than that of the prospectoi
2 for gold" And the water search i!
0, taking some unique by-ways. Between
II 20 and 40 boring outfits, for instance
s. are drilling in different parts of the
10 state for the hidden artesian watel
is that is known to flow down man!
Q. of the fertile-soiled valleys of the in
re terror.
~ This artesian water search is als'
,e bringing up new problems for th'
to state. For instance. Nevada /
re thought to have made the first ap
". plicatlon of the Carey act TO arte
ct sian water The national Carey act
"a designed as II is. to encourage pr
az vate capital to reclaim eOyernmen